IMPORTANT! Before we get into this blog post, if you’re reading this and you’re NOT signed up for the Challenge, take a second before going further

and JOIN NOW! We need all hands on deck, or should I say handlebars, since May 1st starts the challenge. With Pittsburgh’s reputation as a hill-hardened bike city on the line, the Challenge’s stakes are high!

In case this is the first you’ve heard about the Pittsburgh Bike Challenge, you can check this Blog Post for some information on the challenge.

A recent change in the National Challenge’s rules now allow for people of any age to join in!  Now the PGH Bike Challenge can be a great family activity!  Round up the family, take a Sunday ride, and be back in time to log everyone’s miles before dinner!The Challenge is also a fun (and free) opportunity for employers to encourage biking to work.  Employees can see their rankings, and see how the whole business is competing against the rest of the city and the nation. To get your employer involved, email dan@bike-pgh.org for a Pittsburgh Bike Challenge Free Employer Participation Kit that includes everything you need to get the challenge up and running in your business.

Since the opening of the challenge, everyone has been doing a great job with logging their miles and staying involved.  However, a few people have expressed difficulty when interfacing with the challenge site.  Because this is our first year with the PGH Bike Challenge, there are still some aspects of the site that need streamlining, but keep giving us feedback on the Challenge’s Message Board Thread and we’ll keep working to get it done!

For the easiest access to the challenge site, bookmark www.nationalbikechallenge.org on your web browser.  That way, at the click of a button, you can be at the PGH Challenge Page.  From the challenge landing page you can follow the “Log My Miles” to enter miles.  You can also follow the link to the challenge on the left side of the BikePGH homepage.  When you log your miles, the site automatically distributes those miles to your personal stats as well as your team’s, workplace’s and city’s scores at no extra work for you.

If you own a smartphone and you’d like to log miles in the easiest possible way, download Endomondo’s free app to automatically log your miles as you ride.

Ride on Good Pittsburghers

Keep in mind that since the official challenge started, all your pre-season points have been erased and we’re all now at ZERO. Not to fret!  You’ll still be able to access all your ride data on www.endomondo.com.

May 1st starts the challenge season.  Lets ride, ride, ride until August 31st and beyond!

With those 505 words being said, we here at BikePGH would like to cordially invite YOU to take on the PITTSBURGH BIKE CHALLENGE!  Joining is advocacy!  The more riders we register, the more presence we have!

Grab some friends. Grab your bikes. The weathers fine.  Lets go ride.

---

Sign up for the Pittsburgh Bike Challenge! Represent Pittsburgh!  Invite your friends, form your teams, and help pedal PGH to the top of the national leaderboards!  Show people that the hills just make us stronger! To get involved, sign up at: nationalbikechallenge.org