By now many of us have heard the exciting news that our first, statewide online Scott® Get Up & Ride Wisconsin Bike Challenge logged over 1,200,000 bicycle miles. It’s an incredible accomplishment and we can’t thank our 4,500 participants enough for their hard work and dedication to helping us achieve this significant milestone.
The Bike Challenge demonstrates that there is a heck of a lot of bicycling happening in our state. What’s even more significant is that over 20 different, diverse Wisconsin communities were represented in this year’s Challenge. From our large urban areas to our small towns, bicycling is a common thread that brings Wisconsinites from all types of backgrounds together.
Individual Winners
So, how did we get so many people to participate? Our Challenge Survey showed that the biggest reason people took part in the Challenge was to support and foster bicycling in Wisconsin. However, throwing in a lot of awesome prizes sure doesn’t hurt! We’ve given away prizes each month and we also have spectacular Grand Prizes to give away as the grand finale of our event. Congratulations to the following Grand Prize winners! (You will each receive an email with further details.)
| Winner | Prize |
|---|---|
| Deborah Hanford | Trek Allant Bicycle |
| John Montzingo | Day-Get-Away at Trek (Tour of Trek Headquarters, Lunch at Trek, Mountain biking on Trek private trails or road ride from the headquarters, Gift package: Bontrager Circuit Helmet, Bontrager Cold Weather Gloves, Bontrager Wool Sweater, Bontrager Commuter Jacket, Bontrager Iron Headlight, Bontrager Rear Headlight, Bontrager RL Thermal Socks) |
| Paul Jeffries | Recreation Package 1 (Answer Rove Stem 90mm White, Answer Protaper Handlebar 720mm White 1 inch) |
| Lisa Remiker | Recreation Package 2 (Answer Rove Pedal Black, Answer Fall Line Grip Black, Answer Fall Line Glove Orange Large) |
| Blake Jennsen | O2 Rainwear Calhoun Rain Suit |
| Kathryn Ann Waldvogel | Brook's B-17 Select Leather Saddle |
| Diane Putzer | Arkel Metropolitan Bag |
| Scott Owczarek | Light & Motion Urban 180 (front self contained) |
In addition to the Grand Prizes, we also have 12 prizes to give away through our Month of September giveaway. Congratulations to these September Prize winners! (You will receive an email with details.)
| Winner | Prize |
|---|---|
| Jeff Arp | Planet Bike Superflash turbo 1 watt LED tail light |
| Thomas R. Schmit | Planet Bike Superflash turbo 1 watt LED tail light |
| Bill Hughes | Planet Bike Courtesy Bell‐Brass |
| Brad S | Planet Bike Courtesy Bell‐Brass |
| Nichole Fromm | Planet Bike BRT Strap ‐ LED safety Light |
| Greg Mogensen | Planet Bike BRT Strap ‐ LED safety Light |
| Christopher Lee Sodders | Planet Bike Spok Light Set‐ Frnt/rear set |
| Paul Donahue | Planet Bike Spok Light Set‐ Frnt/rear set |
| Ed Skerke | Planet Bike Blaze Super Flash Frnt/rear set |
| Andy Johnson | Bell Commuter Helmet |
| Karl Kissinger | Fizik Rodine Black Saddle |
| Bob Rode | Fizik Rodine Black Saddle |
Business Rankings
Over 450 businesses participated in the Challenge’s inaugural year. Many of these businesses are some of Wisconsin’s largest employers. Congratulations to the following business leaders!
Highest number of transportation miles:
| Business Name | Miles | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimberly Clark Corporation | 65,971 |
| 2 | Epic | 41,325 |
| 3 | UW-Madison | 38,236 |
| 4 | Northwestern Mutual | 33,332 |
| 5 | Trek Bicycle Corporation | 29,493 |
Highest number of transportation miles/employee:
Business Name Miles
1 Mainly Editing 1,010
2 Griessmeyer Law 658
3 Sprocketz Bike Shop 486
4 Bike Wisconsin 434
5 City of Madison - Fleet Services 350
Community Rankings
Congratulations to Oshkosh – Neenah for logging a whopping 1,216 miles per 1000 residents. Other communities also made great progress (way to go La Crosse and Beaver Dam). Madison was the mileage winner with over 246,000 miles logged. Way to go Wisconsin bicyclists!
| Area | Population | Total Miles | Miles / 1000 residents | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oshkosh-Neenah | 163,370 | 198,656 | 1,216 |
| 2 | La Crosse | 113,679 | 58,346 | 513 |
| 3 | Beaver Dam | 87,335 | 41,717 | 478 |
| 4 | Madison | 570,025 | 246,503 | 432 |
| 5 | Appleton | 221,894 | 80,325 | 362 |
| 6 | Marshfield-Wisconsin Rapids | 73,932 | 8,338 | 113 |
| 7 | Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis | 1,559,667 | 149,289 | 96 |
| 8 | Wausau | 131,612 | 12,438 | 95 |
| 9 | Watertown-Fort Atkinson | 80,833 | 5,926 | 73 |
| 10 | Sheboygan | 114,560 | 4,604 | 40 |
| 11 | Stevens Point | 69,176 | 2,735 | 40 |
| 12 | Green Bay | 304,783 | 10,753 | 35 |
| 13 | Eau Claire | 160,018 | 5,074 | 32 |
| 14 | Fond du Lac | 100,070 | 1,871 | 19 |
| 15 | Baraboo | 58,922 | 615 | 10 |
| 16 | Marinette County | 41,968 | 250 | 6 |
| 17 | Racine | 200,601 | 1,176 | 6 |
| 18 | Kenosha County | 165,382 | 545 | 3 |
| 19 | Janesville | 160,155 | 454 | 3 |
| 20 | Superior | 44,274 | 15 | 0 |
Many Thanks
We would not have been able to offer the Challenge without support from some of Wisconsin’s finest companies. A very warm thank you to our Challenge sponsors: Kimberly Clark Corporation, Scott(R) brand, Trek Bicycle Corporation, Planet Bike, Schwinn Bicycle, Brooks, Answer, Fizik, Light & Motion, O2 Rainwear, Arkel, Bell, Powerbar, Continental, and Polar Bottle.
A very special thank you to the 450 businesses and 4,500 individuals who pedaled through 4.5 months to make this Challenge a success. You are helping to make Wisconsin an even better place to bike!
Thanks for doing this. You made biking fun. You challenged us, and we are better for it!
Thank you for participating Marjorie! Wisconsin is a better place because you did.
Why is Madison’s population listed as 570,000 ? Madison and its immediate neighbors only have about 300,000. The population of all of Dane county is just 426,000. With either number, Madison still deserves second place.
And why are Oshkosh and Neenah lumped together? Neenah is adjacent to Appleton, but a good 5-10 miles from Oshkosh!
Something tells me the bookkeeper must be in the Fox Valley… ! No matter. Great biking, everyone!
I’m not sure about that. Amanda White has been managing this challenge from our side, but she has taken a well-deserved vacation. I will make sure she looks into this after she returns to work next week. Thanks for noticing this. It may be something we can correct for this year, but certainly for next year.
Neenah is not adjacent to Appleton. Neenah is adjacent to Menasha, which is in between Neenah and Appleton. From north to south: Appleton, Menasha, Neenah, Oshkosh. Maybe next year we can put in for three separate categories of Appleton, Neenah/Menasha, Oshkosh. Although, I know one rider who biked from Oshkosh to Appleton most days….maybe we should all be lumped into one!
In any case, I think the most important thing is that everyone got out there and biked! I know the challenge was a major motivator for me! Thanks Bike Fed!
I believe the populations and city groupings are based on Metropolitan Statistical Areas from the US Census Bureau. These are defined areas that are commonly used for looking at all sorts of population-based statistics. According to the latest data, the Madison MSA has 568,593 people, which is really close to what is in the table above. This should be true for all of the metro areas in the Challenge.
Thank you for taking the time to work with us on the Challenge. We certainly realize it was not perfect this year, but it was a great success and will only get better. Here’s to 2 million miles in 2012!
Good morning. Why is there no mention of the Sport division? Sport was offered as a part of the Challenge but yet no mention is made of it?
Robert Sollenskog
Robert, sorry but the person who can answer that is out of the office for the week on a well-deserved vacation. I will ask Amanda to respond when she gets back to work.
Could we please limit the whining and keep things positive? I back up Marjorie’s comments and applaud the federation and sponsors for creating this challenge. It has definitely been a motivator to get out and ride whenever possible.
Thanks!
Enjoy life, Jim
Agreed Jim! I would like to also thank the Bike Fed, Kimberly Clark and the other sponsors for putting on this challenge.
While I’ve been commuting to work by bike for years, this event challenged me to look at other opportunities to transport, for example dropping my boys off at daycare which works out great!
Biking my dog to a vet visit = not so great….
The challenge was great and a lot of fun. I’m still biking to work yet, but soon winter will be here.
I can’t wait to participate again next year because I heard it is going to be a national challenge. And the goal will be 2 million miles? I think we can bike a lot more than that, if it goes national. There are a lot of biking enthusiasts out there and more people biking than ever with the high cost of gas.
Gregg,
Thanks for the comments. The Endomondo people are flying in from Denmark to meet with the Bike Fed and Scott Papers to discuss improving the challenge for next year. Our agenda for the meeting is to discuss ways to tie the challenge more closely to bike to work week efforts across Wisconsin, make the website a bit more state specific, make it easier to log your miles from company websites, make it easier to see which teams and individuals are leading, make it easier to see who might win a prize and improve recognition for the generous sponsors who support the challenge. Let me know if you have any suggestions.