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For Immediate Release

Team Bike Challenge Races Toward the Finish Line

More than 100 bike teams competing

Contact:

Brenda Kahn 510-817-5773
Cole Portocarrero 415-246-8078

OAKLAND, Calif., May 23, 2006 . . . Bike to Work Day may be over, but it’s still National Bike Month, and the Bay Area’s Team Bike Challenge continues apace. More than 100 teams across nine counties are racing toward the May 31 finish, attempting to collectively log the most points and win the grand prize at the end of the trail.

Participants in the Team Bike Challenge have formed teams of five who log their bicycle trips on a personalized online calendar. Team members do not have to ride together, and each member earns a point for each day he or she uses two wheels to get around instead of four. Teams with “Big Wheelers” — public officials, company CEOs and other celebrity types — accrue triple points every day that person rides. Novice riders also earn a bonus, logging two points for every day they ride.

The competition could be described as “ ‘Survivor’ Meets the Tour de France.” Each of the 111 groups that have registered at the 511.org traveler information Web site has adopted a team name — some whimsical or self-deprecating, some straightforward — and often a team motto. Many also have submitted a photo of their team or another symbolic image. “Multiply that 111 by five members each, and you have 555 people who have committed to bicycling for work and errands during the month of May, and are having a good deal of fun in the process,” said Susan Heinrich-Beaty, who coordinates bicycle promotions for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).

The team with the highest score as of Monday, May 22, is “The Critical Macs,” of MacDonald Architects in San Francisco, with 173 points. Their key to success? In the words of team leader and architect Edward Pais, “obsessiveness.”

“We check our score every day to make sure we’re still in the lead,” he said. All five members have committed to biking daily to the extent possible during the month of May, including weekends. A Berkeley resident, Pais rides his bike to and from the Berkeley BART stations each work day, while the other four members bike from various neighborhoods in San Francisco. Their motto is “Powered by the Mighty O!” — a reference to a vegan brand of doughnut that a member’s friend brings frequently from Seattle.

In terms of sheer number of registered teams, Santa Clara County is way ahead, with 34 teams registered on the 511.org site. Leading the pack in that county are the “Rainbow Riders” with a current score of 141 as of Monday, May 22. Their somewhat telling motto: “If it ain’t raining, we ain’t training.” Also in the running: “Budget Cycles” from Stanford University, “Ground Squirrel Cavalcade” from the NASA Ames Research Center, “Wannabe Faster” and “Wannabe Fitter,” both from Alexza Pharmaceuticals in Palo Alto, and “Sore Butts” from CSA Engineering in Mountain View.

Next in line in terms of overall participation is Alameda County, with 29 registered teams sporting names like the “Coasters” (who work for the U.S. Coast Guard), “BFBC 1” (Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition), “Waiting for Larry,” “Dumbarton Work Crew” (whose motto is “Ride hard…ride fast…save on bridge and gas!”) and “The Public Workers” (made up of workers from the city of Oakland).

The unofficial “Most Members From a Single Family” award could go to the Yip family of Napa County, who together form the “Yipsters” and whose motto is “Teams that bike together, die together.” Their current score of 118 puts them at the front of Napa County’s five teams.

In each county, teams are competing against each other for enough points to score the grand prize of a commemorative bike rack to be placed in a public space of their choosing plus a range of other prizes. MTC, which is sponsoring Bike to Work Day and Team Bike Challenge in conjunction with local bicycle groups, will announce the winning teams on Thursday, June 1, 2006.

Meanwhile, MTC is continuing to gather data on last week’s official Bike to Work Day, which fell on Thursday, May 18, with early tallies indicating a healthy turnout. Participants have until May 31, 2006, to register on the 511.org Web site to become eligible for a prize drawing.

MTC together with local bike groups also has announced a Bike Commuter of the Year in each county. The winners are listed at: www.bayareabikes.org/btwd/awards.html.

MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, and sponsors the region’s 511 phone- and Web-based traveler information service and associated promotions.

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Note to editors:
The list of teams and standings can be viewed at www.bayareabikes.org/btwd/members/tbc_teams.php

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