The 2012 National Bike Challenge started last week, and the results as of this morning show Stevens Point in 8th place!  In the entire country!!

It’s only the first week of a 4 month journey but when our little community has something to shout about, who could blame us for a little extra volume?

You can look at the results here – click on the “Communities” tab to see the standings.  Joining Stevens Point in the Top 10 are 5 other Wisconsin communities.

And if you click on the “States” tab, you’ll find Wisconsin is 2nd (behind Vermont).

It’s no secret that Wisconsin is a great state for bicycling, but we probably have an extra advantage from participation in last year’s Wisconsin Bike Challenge, which expanded to the nationwide competition this year.  The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin is running the 2012 Wisconsin Bike Challenge this year in parallel with the 2012 National Bike Challenge.  You can see my past blog post on the 2012 Wisconsin Bike Challenge here – it includes links to the BFW site providing more info.

If you want to be part of this friendly competition against other cities around the US, you can sign up for the 2012 National Bike Challenge here.  After that, you simply access your account every so often and enter your bicycle mileage on a daily basis.

The 2012 National Bike Challenge runs through the end of August, so even if you haven’t started logging miles yet, there’s still plenty of time remaining.

You can read more about what the 2012 National Bike Challenge is all about on the League of American Bicyclists blog here.

If you have questions about how the 2012 National Bike Challenge works, you can visit the FAQ page on the Endomondo site.  (Endomondo is described on the FAQ page as a “mobile based sports and fitness tracking community,” and it is through them that participants track their miles towards the 2012 National Bike Challenge.)

At the end of the summer, I would be thrilled to report on a Stevens Point Top 10 finish in the 2012 National Bike Challenge.  By contributing your bicycling miles, you can help make that possible.  When you’re ready to start logging your miles, visit the Endomondo site here.

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