This week is Bike-to-work month/week in our area and today is specially dedicated as Bike-to-work-day. To celebrate and promote greening our transportation, Mr. Green Me and a handful of his co-workers are taking the plunge and converging on their office via two wheels. Personally, I am very proud of Mr. Green Me as he is riding 20 miles on a day with a predicted high of 92 F degrees!

I will also predict that this is one of the more successful Bike-to-work weeks that our area has had to date, as personally I saw 5 other people leave our neighborhood by bike this morning and only one was a regular bike commuter (we have a few). And, although we do live on the corner, I was not camped out by the window, so given that our subdivision has two vehicle entrances and three bike/pedestrian entrances I am sure that a few folks on bikes escaped out without my knowledge! This is exciting because very few people in our town actually commute by bike. In fact I was out for a fun ride on Monday with my son from 8 to 9 am and we did not see even one other person on a bike!

I must say that I am also very proud of several of my husband’s co-workers who are making even longer trips than Mr. Greenme. One co-worker lives a good 30 to 40 miles away and is going first to a park-and-ride and then biking from there — another co-worker who is an experienced cyclist is going to meet him (by bike) so that he has a good experience. Their office is made up of 10 people, so to have 4 of them bike to work is darn good. Just imagine what the roads would be like (and the resources for cyclists that such a demand could support) if 40% of people biked to work everyday!

Many metropolitan areas support a bike-to-work-week program, so if you’d like to give it a try check out the national website and plan your trip for this year (or maybe next). Most areas have breakfast and snack stations set up for bike commuters (or folks who take the bus or carpool) and even offer prizes or conduct silly events to celebrate. If your area does not celebrate a bike to work week you should check out the Boulder County Bike to Work website as it has lots of great resources and ideas. One group in our area has an annual Egg-Less relay in which cyclists balance an egg (plastic) on a spoon (compostable) and do a relay race! Contestants often dress up in costumes and it is ridiculously fun (I helped organize one year, so I know first hand)! They re-use the eggs from year to year, but use compostable spoons for hygenic reasons, since the riders hold the spoon in their mouths! The event is for the most part zero waste and a local business donates lunch to the participants!