HUB Cycling’s popular, bi-annual Bike to Work Week takes on a new name this Spring as Go By Bike Week presented by MEC. The event motivates thousands of people to realize the benefits of bike riding – whether they’re an essential worker commuting to work, someone who works from home, someone who has been laid-off, or a parent juggling work while home-schooling their children – the bicycle has a place in everyone’s life.
With physical distancing measures in place due to COVID-19, the celebrations for Go By Bike Week presented by MEC will take place online from May 25th-May 31st. The free community event will be jam-packed with online yoga and indoor cycling classes, helpful videos on bike maintenance and riding with children, daily webinars on active mobility, and as always, amazing daily prizes! All bike trips count, including outside for daily exercise or as rides on an indoor cycle trainer.
HUB Cycling is also partnering with MEC on Monday May 25th and Wednesday May 27th from 8-12 pm to offer free on-site bike fix services to essential workers by prior appointment at Vancouver Coastal Health and the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Last spring, we saw some truly record-breaking numbers as nearly 12,000 people cycled more than 575,000 KM across Metro Vancouver. HUB Cycling expects to break more records this year as more and more people are turning to cycling to help them cope mentally, physically, and emotionally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many community members are using bikes more than ever to get to their essential jobs, run crucial errands, and for some much-needed exercise. Metro Vancouver bike shops are the busiest they have ever been, and many municipalities are looking at ways to reallocate road space to people cycling and walking so they can safely keep a physical distance from others.
“Cycling is a perfect all-round solution for your health, finances and mental well-being right now. It is also a great means of active transportation as we move into the summer months ahead” says Rowena Farr, HUB Cycling’s Bike to Work Week Manager. “In the City of Vancouver alone, we have seen a 30% increase in recreational cycling since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re also hearing from bike shops that ‘every day is like a Saturday’ and many shops have either remained open as an essential service during the past couple of months or have recently reopened due to high demand. We are seeing a gradual trend of people turning or returning to cycling as one of their top modes of transport, an option which has been validated by British Columbia’s top doctor Bonnie Henry. HUB Cycling is ready to engage as cycling continues to grow.”
Participants can register for Go By Bike Week presented by MEC for free and log their bike trips at btww.ca. By logging trips, participants are entered to win great prizes, including an Atom SL Hoody from Arc’teryx and a Ryder’s Eyewear prize pack worth over $300.
Our Go by Bike Week tool allows anyone to create a team at their organization, with their family or household group to track their results against other teams in a friendly competition to see which team can cycle the most trips. Participants can also register as individual riders if they aren’t on a team. “We want everyone to try getting around by bike this week, no matter where you’re off to,” says Farr. “We want to remind people that all bike trips for transportation count and you’re welcome to partake if you’re working from home, or retired – every kilometer on your bike makes a difference.”
Participants can sign up for Go By Bike Week presented by MEC at www.btww.ca to log trips, enter to win draw prizes, find webinar links and the week’s schedule, calculate calories burned from their rides, and track reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Together HUB Cycling hopes to get more people cycling more often.
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