May Power!

May is National Bike Month!

May is National Bike Month, promoted by bicycle coalitions and celebrated in communities from coast to coast. Established in 1956, National Bike Month is a chance to showcase the many benefits of bicycling — and encourage more folks to giving biking a try.

As an encouragement to bike, please join our May Power Bike Month Challenge program and get a chance to win a prize! Get your friends to participate online as well by tagging them or forwarding this blog post to them. One prize will be awarded each week as well as on May 14 to a random person who posts as directed on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.* A second prize may be awarded to someone you tag in your post (you have to tag someone for them to win too).

• May 1 to 9 is Flower Power week

  • Post a picture of flowers you see while on a bicycle ride and tag some friends, tag SVBC, and use #FlowerPowerSVBC

• May 10 to May 16 is People Power week

  • Post a picture of yourself on your bike and tag some friends, tag SVBC, and use #PeoplePowerSVBC

• May 14 is Bike to Wherever Day!

  • Our Bike to Work Day is postponed from May 14 to September 24 but you can still celebrate biking on May 14 by biking to wherever you can that day! Post a picture of your "Wherever" and tag some friends, tag SVBC, and use #BTWD2020

• May 17 to May 23 is Pedal Power week

  • Post a picture of your shoe and pedal and tag some friends, tag SVBC, and use #PedalPowerSVBC

• May 24 to May 31 is Wheel Power week

  • Post a picture of or through your bicycle wheel and tag some friends, tag SVBC, and use #WheelPowerSVBC

Tag SVBC using @bikesv for Twitter, @bikesiliconvalley on Instagram, and @bikesiliconvalley on Facebook.

Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation there is. We need as many people as possible to bicycle to save our planet from climate change as well as traffic congestion and keep everyone healthier. It is wonderful to see so many people biking everywhere on largely car-free streets all over Silicon Valley. Just riding on the streets in your local neighborhood is an excellent choice. You don’t need to drive - just bike!

For SVBC May is also Membership Month! You can help even more by donating and/or becoming a member of Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. For super achievers who are truly dedicated to saving our planet, turn May into a Bike-a-thon and get people to sponsor you by clicking the green "Become a fundraiser" button!  Add your SVBC Fundraiser link as a comment to your May Power picture posts too!

Extra Credit: If you would like to track your rides and compare your progress with others in our community, please sign up for the Bay Area Bike Challenge on LoveToRide. While the challenge officially runs from Sept 1 to Sept 30, you can sign up early and use LoveToRide year around to track your rides and prepare for when the challenge starts! On the results page you can compare your stats with other riders in our area and join a group (like Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition) or form a new group to compete with your friends. Use Strava to log your rides and push them to LoveToRide or use the free LoveToRide app directly to record your rides.

* SVBC will give out a prize after each period if there are at least 100 posts in total during that period that are visible to SVBC with the appropriate hashtag. Your post must be public for SVBC to see it. Please follow all public health orders when bicycling.