Fall and Winter Commuting

Doug Shidell – Publisher, The Twin Cities Bike Map

October and November offer great bike commuting weather, but they require some adaptations for lower temperatures and shorter days. Here are some quick tips for riding.

• Fall commuting almost guarantees that one of your trips will be in the dark. Lights and reflectors are essential.

• Add reflective strips to anything that faces back or to the side, especially moving parts like pedals and shoes or pant legs.

• As the temperature drops, add layers, but don’t just stuff more socks into your boots or more layers into you mittens. It’s better to give your hands and feet room to move around.

• Getting the right combination of clothing for all of the different temperatures takes time and practice, but it’s easier if you start now and gradually adapt.

Read the full version of the article or check out Doug’s posts on winter commuting at his blog.    

Bike2Benefits
takes a road trip

A group of employees at REI in Bloomington is making Bike2Benefits local through a workplace commuter challenge.

The store’s “fun committee” initiated the idea of compiling the bicycle commutes of employees and virtually traveling from the Twin Cities to REI stores across the country.

The first stage tracked employee progress from Bloomington to San Diego, a distance of 3,500 miles. Right now, the group is (virtually) in Johnson City, Texas, closing in on its Stage 2 destination of Austin, Texas, before heading an additional 831 miles to St. Louis.

Supervisors encouraged employees to join in, and the company is donating money to a local charity with the completion of each stage. Thirty employees – a quarter of the staff – now participate. “Once we put up the map, we recruited people who not have commuted by bicycle before,” said Matt Poppleton, REI’s district outreach and events administrator.

"The ability to calculate emissions and share this with employees was what attractive about Bike2Benefits," Poppleton said. To date, REI employees have saved 228 gallons of fuel and reduced CO2 emissions by 4,425 pounds.

Talk to your co-workers about a challenge at your workplace – Bike2Benefits makes tracking easy!

Reader response:
Suggest prizes.

What would YOU want to win?

In November, we'll be announcing our 2009 Bike2Benefits prizes. Click here to see what we gave away in 2008. Do you have any ideas for prizes we may not have thought of? All suggestions welcome! Please e-mail us at bike2benefits@metc.state.mn.us. Remember, you need to log 8 trips over 8 weeks before the end of the year to be eligible for the prize drawing.