This year, Alameda Safe Routes to Schools and the East Bay Bicycle Coalition are working together to bring Team Bike Challenge to schools. Sign up today at www.teambikechallenge.com to get started!
You don’t have to bike alone on Bike to Work Day – gather your friends, classmates, and family and form a team! The Team Bike Challenge is a month-long event that challenges you to ride to school as much as possible! It’s a fun and easy way to keep track of how much you bike, with milestones and achievements!
How does this work for schools?
Right now, the Team Bike Challenge is constructed for companies and individual teams. But schools can still participate! Here’s how:
- You can register your school as a company
- You can register your classroom as a company
- You can create a team for your classroom (maximum five people) within a company/school
So, if you want to organize a competition within a school, encourage different classrooms to create companies so you can compare progress! If you want to compete against other schools, create a company for the entire school and have everyone join as individuals or teams. There is no limit to the number of teams or individuals in a company, but there is a limit of 5 people per team. For a team to be considered part of a company, every team member must be part of both the team and the company. Anyone can participate individually within a company.
Everyone who signs up will earn points everytime they ride their bike, and the team with the most points at the end of May wins great prizes! Prizes this year are a gift certificate from REI for a class or bike tune-up, a Balance Bar prize pack, and a limited edition tee designed by Matthew Fleming. We are also working on getting some additional prizes for Team Bike Challenge winners in the School category! Bike to Work Day is Thursday, May 9, 2013, but the Team Bike Challenge goes on all month long during May and is a great opportunity to take advantage of all the new bike lanes that cities have striped in the East Bay.
How do I sign up my school, my classroom, or myself? 
The first thing you need to do is create an account for yourself. Head over to www.teambikechallenge.com and click Create an account.
Once you are logged in to your account, creating a team or company to compete in is simple! Go to Join Team or Join Company depending on whether you want to compete as a team (maximum five people) or a company. Click on Create a company to the right of the search bar.
When you have created your company, it’s time to invite people to join! The administrator of a company or team can send an email inviting others to join. Share the name of your company or team with your classmates, students, colleagues or friends for them to be able to find you. Everyone needs to create an account in order to log their trips.
Okay, I’ve created a company and a couple of students have joined – what now?
It’s time to start logging trips! Coordinate with teammates to bike to school together, compete with each other to see who can get the most points! Winning teams will be announced at the end of May.
What else can I do for Bike to Work Day?
Is your school part of the Safe Routes to Schools Program? Contact your Alameda County representative here to get involved.
We have Bike to School Day posters and other resources! Contact Cynthia Armour at cynthia@ebbc.org if you have any questions or if you would like to pick some up.