MassCommute Bicycle Challenge Underway Through May 22

Will Medford Trump Somerville & Cambridge for This Year’s Challenge Winning Title?

The 22nd annual MassCommute Bicycle Challenge (MCBC) is now happening, from May 14-22, during Bay State Bike Week in Massachusetts. Participants can register on the MCBC web site at masscommutebicyclechallenge.org to track their miles ridden and win daily prizes.

For the 22nd consecutive year, Massachusetts residents and employees are challenged to take some or all of their commutes and other trips by bicycle for a 9-day period. The Challenge is a free and friendly competition between businesses, communities, and institutions for fun and fitness, and seeks to encourage bicycling as a viable mode of transportation.

MCBC participants register and log their miles online. Winners receive their awards at the MCBC’s annual Bike Bash event held just over a week after the Challenge, and all participants are invited to participate in the Bike Bash door raffle. The 2016 Bike Bash is set for June 1st at Flat Top Johnny’s in Cambridge, MA from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Over 2,900 commuters signed up for the 2015 MCBC. Participants from 239 zip codes, 180 businesses and 21 educational institutions logged 146,001 miles, a five percent increase from 2015. These miles biked prevented over 136,000 pounds of CO2 by replacing miles that might otherwise have been driven by car.

Winners for 2015 included:

Communities: 1) Cambridge 2) Somerville 3) Arlington

Businesses: Meetinghouse Montessori School (1-24 employees), Digital Lumens (25-99 employees), Elkus Manfredi Architects (100-499 employees), MassDEP (500-1,499 employees), Biogen – Cambridge (1,500-2,999 employees), MIT Lincoln Laboratory (3,000-4,999 employees), Children’s Hospital Boston (5,000+ employees)

Colleges/universities: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1-999 employees/students), Harvard – Longwood campus (1,000-4,999 employees/students), MIT (5,000+ employees/students).

– Submitted by MassCommute