From May through August, people around the country have been tracking their bicycle trips as part of the 2012 National Bike Challenge. Back in early May, I noted on my blog that Stevens Point was off to a good start, and I stated that “I would be thrilled to report on a Stevens Point Top 10 finish in the 2012 National Bike Challenge.”

Well, we came close. I’m still thrilled to report that Stevens Point came in 11th in the 2012 National Bike Challenge. We had hung around the number 10 spot for most of the summer, and we were still in the top 10 as of late August. But in the final sprint, we got edged out by Houghton, MI and Iowa City, IA and had to settle for 11th place.

According to the League of American Bicyclists blog, the National Bike Challenge is “a new nationwide initiative to inspire and empower millions of Americans to ride their bikes for transportation, recreation, and better health.” You can read more about the National Bike Challenge here.

In parallel there was also a statewide version of the competition, the 2012 Wisconsin Bike Challenge. The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin recently posted a wrap-up of this competition. In those results, Stevens Point finished 5th among Wisconsin communities, just beating out of La Crosse.

You can read more results from the 2012 Wisconsin Bike Challenge here.

For more details and other categories, check out the Endomondo results site here. (You might need to select “National” at the top and then click on “Leaderboard” to get to the national results.) In the selection box beside “Period”, select “Entire period”, choose the scope of results you want (States, Communities, Workplaces, etc.), and you can then easily review all the results.

As for me personally as an individual, I earned 3358 points which placed me 1413th in the 2012 National Bike Challenge and 328th in Wisconsin. Points don’t equate to miles – each day one rides their bike provides 20 points, and then each mile adds an additional point. So you can accumulate a lot of points without necessarily riding a lot of miles.

I ride almost daily, which is the primary reason my score was high. Over the 4 months, I rode over 20 miles only about 10 times, and I rode less than 10 miles almost half the time. The vast majority of my riding was in the Stevens Point urban area and was, as you would expect from Poky Pedaling Stevens Point, poky.

So if you think you might want to participate and help boost Stevens Point in the rankings next year, rest assured that you don’t have to be a big-time bicycle racer to make a difference. Even using your bicycle to go to the food store each week can get you a respectable score.

I hope you consider this, because next year I would be thrilled to report on a Stevens Point Top 10 finish in the 2013 National Bike Challenge.

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