2019 Bay Area Bike Challenge Pedals Across Nine Counties
Alameda and Santa Clara counties provided the winners for this year’s month-long Bay Area Bike Challenge, which had people pumping their pedals across the region.
Almost 350 teams from across the Bay Area participated, biking for their health, the environment, their companies and their communities.
Each year, the Challenge brings out bike commuters who make the commitment to pedal to work, school and errands for the entire month of May, using the Love to Ride platform.
Long-distance and short-ride commuters alike participated on teams of 10 or as individuals, earning points in three categories:
- Miles ridden – one point for each mile
- Days ridden – 20 points per day
- Encouraging others to ride (recruitment) – 50 points for encouraging existing riders, 100 points for encouraging new riders
From “Team Tam” in Marin County to “One Pedal at a Time” in Contra Costa County to the “Howdy Doodys” in Napa County, the competition was on.
In the end, these efforts stood out:
“Lam Research Laminators,” riding for Lam Research Corporation in Fremont (Alameda County), took top overall honors in 1st place across the Challenge. In addition, the team came in 1st place in the Alameda County competition as well as in the 2,000-plus staff company challenge.
Two teams from Labcyte Corporation in San Jose (Santa Clara County) rounded out the top three teams. “Flying Droplets” took 2nd place overall, as well as 1st place in both the Santa Clara County competition and the 50-199 staff company challenge. “Pooches Speedily Pedaling” took 3rd place in the overall team competition.
In the individual competition, team “Flying Droplets” added to their bragging rights when team champion Andrea Symons took top rider honors in the overall competition, besting her 3rd place win in 2018. And just as she did in 2018, she earned the top female rider slot this year.
For the second year in a row, Jun Abella from Sunpower’s team “Tires Half Full” (Fremont, Alameda County) took 2nd place overall, repeating her 2nd place win from 2018. Third place went to Ed Santos, which gave his team – “Lam Research Laminators” – even more to celebrate.
Presented by MTC, 511 and Alaska Airlines, Bay Area Bike to Work Day encourages local residents to try commuting on two wheels for the first time and celebrates those who bike to work regularly. In addition to MTC (the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area), 511 (the region’s traveler information system) and Alaska Airlines, Bike to Work Day 2019 received regional support from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Clif Bar, Ride Report and Exodus Travel, as well as from many sponsors at the local level. Bike to Work Day’s media sponsor is NBC Bay Area-KNTV/Telemundo 48. Prizes for the Bike Commuter of the Year winners were donated by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and Mike’s Bikes. The event is made possible through the cooperation of thousands of volunteers, county congestion management agencies, local jurisdictions, local bicycling coalitions and MTC.