Join the cycling community in Bike to Work Week

Cycling enthusiast RAdm Nigel Greenwood encourages the Defence Team to "Get Rolling" during Bike to Work Week.

This year more than 7,000 cyclists will lace up their runners, strap on a helmet and ride their bicycles to work joining in the 18th annual Greater Victoria Bike to Work Week May 28 to June 1.

Join the masses this year. It’s a win, win situation – it stimulates mental and physical health, saves on gas, reduces emissions, and provides an opportunity to win some of $30,000 in prizes.

“This year we hope to have 1,000 new cyclists and this would mean we will accomplish our goal because many of them will continue to ride after the week,” said Frank Hudson, Executive Director of Greater Victoria Bike to Work Society.

“Last year we cycled over 265,000 kilometers in total. If you were driving a vehicle 61.2 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions would have gone into the air. The purpose of this event is to get people to try using a bicycle as a viable means of transportation to and from work.”

Hudson says that putting on Bike to Work Week removes a lot of the barriers that people perceive there is to riding a bike.

Throughout the city 20 celebration stations are set up offering free refreshments from Booster Juice, Starbucks Coffee and Cobs Bread and many local bike shops set up tents where people can get their bike safety checked.

“We have 29 corporate sponsors and 49 community sponsors. There is a ton of community support. It costs a quarter million dollars in cash and in kind to put this event on.”

Cyclists can register as individuals or teams.

“Our team leaders are invaluable champions of the week. They get people within their own work sites to sign up on their teams, provide encouragement to those participants, and submit their teams’ cycling data in total kilometres,” said Hudson.

People need to register so they can have a chance at winning prizes such as bicycles, iphones, Clipper Vacations, restaurant vouchers, and a trip to the Kettle Valley Railway.

Two pre-week celebration stations will be held on May 26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the switch bridge near the Uptown shopping centre and at the city centre park in Langford. There will be free hotdogs and other giveaways including an iphone4.

Bike to Work Week promotes safe cycling and offers a full day cycling skills course for $30. “In the morning we go over traffic theory and in the afternoon we take the cyclists out on a ride though town to experience what we are teaching. Last year 2,000 people took this course,” he said.

All CFB Esquimalt cyclists are encouraged to stop and share a free breakfast with the PSP team on May 30 from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. in the CANEX Parking. There will be free bike inspections and tune ups.

“I am really excited to have CFB Esquimalt’s great support this year. We have lots of teams from the base and we have help from the base setting up celebration stations,” said Hudson. To register for Bike to Work Week click on http://www.biketowork.ca/victoria

To find the best route to cycle to work click on Google Maps which has a bicycle option showing the most bicycle-friendly route to take from point A to point B.

Bike to Work Week was formed in Victoria in 1994 by Government employees and grew each year. Now communities across BC have taken on this initiative in Bike to Work BC.

Shelley Lipke, Staff Writer