The 2013 National Bike Challenge is about to begin. Tomorrow, people across the US will start entering their bicycle trips onto the Challenge website in a friendly competition among individuals, teams, schools, workplaces, cities, and states. The Challenge runs from May 1 through September 30.

Last year, Stevens Point finished in 11th place among all cities in the United States. We were in the top 10 going into the last couple of weeks, but strong final pushes by Houghton, MI, and Iowa City, IA, knocked us back a few places. You can read my writeup about last year’s competition here.

The Challenge is free for all participants, and it is easy to sign up. Just go to www.nationalbikechallenge.org, click on the Join button, enter your info, and you’re ready to participate.

Points are assigned for each day you ride as well as for each mile you ride. Someone riding one mile in a day earns over half the points as someone riding 20 miles in a day. So you can achieve a respectable score, and help move Stevens Point into the Top 10, even if you only ride a few miles once in a while.

You can read the rules of the Challenge here. And if you have more questions, you can check out this Challenge FAQ page.

The Challenge is presented by the League of American Bicyclists. The actual tracking of days and miles ridden is on the Endomondo website.

In parallel with the 2013 National Bike Challenge, the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin is running the 2013 Wisconsin Bike Challenge. When you log your miles for the National Bike Challenge, those miles will automatically count towards the Wisconsin Bike Challenge (assuming the zip code you register with is in Wisconsin). You can visit the 2013 Wisconsin Bike Challenge webpage here.

New this year, I created a Poky Pedaling Stevens Point team. Any Poky Pedalers who want to magnify their Bike Fun and be part of the PPSP team can join when they signup for the Challenge. Simply enter Poky Pedaling Stevens Point when offered a choice of teams to join.

Poky Pedalers have lots to look forward to in the months ahead. The 2013 National Bike Challenge is just another way to share your Bike Fun. I hope you participate and help move Stevens Point up in this year’s standings.

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