Austin Commuter Challenge Award Ceremony - Saturday

Protip: This post has free food AND free beer.

The following press release just cleared the wire, and since it was stamped with "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" I figured I shouldn't wait to share it with y'all:

Local Bike Shop Celebrates Participants in City Wide Commuter Challenge

Join us in celebration of the 1st Annual Bicycle Sport Shop Austin Commuter Challenge. The ceremony will take place at Bicycle Sport Shop located at 517 South Lamar Blvd at 10 am this Saturday, June 6th. Registration began April 2nd with a Mayoral proclamation stating every April shall be known as the official registration month for Bicycle Sport Shop’s Austin Commuter Challenge. Through support from the City of Austin and many local businesses the Austin Commuter Challenge registered more than 300 participants in its first year. As of May 20th, 33 teams composed of over 300 people logged more than 23,000 miles by bike. The result was 22,362 pounds of reduced carbon emissions, 1.1 million calories burned, and more than $5,000 in gas savings.

The Circle C Ranch Cycling Club claimed victory in the Friends and Family Challenge, followed closely by Team Sky’s the Limit and the Tour de Flex team. The 30-Day challenges are still under way and it looks like the Circle C Cycling Club may sweep the event with a win in both the team and individual challenges. The Challenge was created to promote cycling as a viable form of transportation and to raise awareness of how fun and easy bicycle commuting can be. Participants eagerly left their cars in the driveway and traded hundreds of daily car trips for bike rides.

Wes Robinson, captain of the Circle C Cycling Club team, had this to say “Participating in the Austin Commuter Challenge has raised our awareness of ways that we can replace car trips with bike trips. Two of our members had been considering riding to work for some time and the Challenge was the push they needed to make the leap. Of course, by incorporating our families in our bike rides, we also discovered how much more fun it is to ride together than it is to drive.”

The 1st 100 Challenge participants to arrive at the Frost Insurance Awards Ceremony will receive a special commemorative medal for joining in the inaugural Challenge. At the conclusion of the awards ceremony everyone will be encouraged to ride their bikes over to Zilker Park where we have been invited to join the National Trails Day volunteers for all you can eat BBQ from the Salt Lick, ice cold refreshments from Real Ale Brewing, live music and free all-day admission to Barton Springs Pool.

The National Trails Day Service Project is a conservation effort which provides maintenance to trail projects nationwide. Three hundred volunteers will work together to restore and refurbish existing portions of the Barton Creek Greenbelt trails. This project marks beginning of construction on the first phase of the “Walk-for-a-Day” Trail, a 34-mile trail extension from Lady Bird Lake to Kyle, Texas; a project proudly spearheaded by the Hill Country Conservancy. Event Day Projects include: granite gravel along routes, removal of invasive species, graffiti removal and mural painting, trash removal, and rerouting trails. Volunteers of all ages and experience levels are expected to participate, and leadership will be provided by American Youthworks Environmental Corps. For more information regarding National Trails Day you may contact Andrea Rado, Director of Community Relations at 512-328-2481 or email her at andrea@hillcountryconservancy.org

tl;dr: The BSS Commuter Challenge has concluded, the circle C team won, show up this Saturday at the central BSS location around 10am to pat them on the back. Following the ceremony the crew rides to Zilker where there's free BBQ, Real Ale, live music and all-day admission to Barton Springs. DOPE!