Sign up for the Explore Bike Edmonton challenge by the end of December 31, 2020 and you’ll be eligible for prizes. You have to fully register by completing the following 3 steps by midnight December 31, 2020. Take on challenges that suit you and win prizes! Prizes and free instructional opportunities will be awarded until the end of January.
Prizes include: studded winter tires, portable bicycle pumps, multitools, set of bike lights, the book Frostbike: the Joy, Pain, and Numbness of Winter cycling by Calgary's Tom Babin, or pogies (bar mitts)
3 steps to register
1. Fill in the Explore Bike Edmonton - entry survey
2. Register to log kilometers by making an account at explore.commuterchallenge.ca
Here’s some essential tips for creating an account.
In the "year of birth" field, please enter your year of birth or 4 numbers, eg 1234. Don’t leave this field blank
When they ask "Where do you work?", please select "individual/No affiliation" from the drop down menu. Please don't try to create a new workplace. You don't have to be working or riding to work to participate in our challenge and there's no advantage to selecting your workplace. We're borrowing this website and didn't choose the wording. The Winter Explore Bike Edmonton Challenge is about getting out there to winter ride! No matter where you cycle to, we want you to record all of your winter cycling kilometers!
Once you start adding your kilometers, your account will add up your kilometers over time, it will show you the calories you expended and the CO2 emissions you've avoided!
3. To complete your registration, start tracking your kilometers! You can start by entering the number of kilometers you’ve cycled this winter. If you haven’t ridden yet this winter, enter the kilometers you rode in the summer. Participants will be tracking kilometers for other chances to win until December 31, 2020. Here are a few tips for using the website:
If you don't have a bike computer or an app that tracks your kilometers, no problem! Use Google Maps to estimate your distances
You can win prizes even if you’ve ridden few kilometers.
Do you want to win prizes or just share your love of riding? Choose a challenge!
The following challenges and prizes are designed so that everyone in the program can pick 1 or more challenges, whether you're a seasoned rider or new to winter cycling. No matter what your travel obligations are right now, one of these challenges is bound to appeal.
1. Challenge: take on a challenge and get a free Bike Edmonton membership. If you participate in any of the following challenges and keep entering the kilometers you ride until December 31st, 2020 (for eg, enter kilometers every week), then you'll receive a free 1 year Bike Edmonton membership, value $20! If you've already updated your membership this year, we'll just add another year onto it.
1. Challenge: Choose to bike instead of driving. If you own a car or share a car and are choosing to winter ride instead of getting behind the wheel, you might be eligible to win 1 or 2 studded winter tires! We're starting to contact people tomorrow morning about this prize, so make sure you've logged all your kilometers on explore.commuterchallenge.ca
1.5 New! Give-away of another 10 sets of studded tires. These tires are generously funded by the City of Edmonton WinterCity fund. Stay tuned for details in January. Feel free to email [email protected] to tell us how you will use the tires. Submitted stories will be used by Bike Edmonton to inspire others. We won't use your name with the story without explicit permission.
2. Challenge: New and almost new riders ride. If you're new to winter riding, or have only ridden in the winter this year, you might win a prize for learning about winter cycling! Your challenge is to either
ask us questions by email, we'll answer, then report back to us after you've taken your next ride
book a video meeting to discuss riding strategies, then report back to us after you've taken your next ride
OR join an instructor for a small ride to learn techniques! If you choose to meet an instructor, we'll keep 2 meters apart and wear masks. Meeting up for physical activities is permitted under the health restrictions
you can pick what you want to learn and how you want to learn it. There's no obligation for a lengthy interaction and no obligation to ride a long way. No pressure (except in the tires, of course)!
Challenge: Ride more! We're watching the statistics roll in from the online kilometer tracking site. It's very exciting! On December 31st we'll be picking and announcing a few winners who are increasing their riding in a big way! This doesn't mean you have to ride millions of kilometers. If you didn't ride in the winter before and now you're out there riding in this winter city, you might win a prize! If you have ridden quite a bit in winter before, but are giving it your all, you might win a prize!
4. Challenge: Pictures speak volumes! If you're logging kilometers, even if you don't get out to ride much right now, you can inspire others by submitting pictures of one or more of your adventures. Show us the wonderful things you see while winter riding and make sure your bike or, if you like, you and your bike, are in the photo. By submitting photos, you are allowing us to use the photo to promote winter cycling. We won't mention your name when we use the photo.
5. Challenge: Tell us about your winter ride! Let the world know about your winter cycling experience. Write a few sentences, or a Haiku, draw a picture, or create a graphic novel. We want to hear what you have to say about winter cycling. We'll be using some of the entries to inspire others to winter cycle, so don't hesitate to enter a simple description. Your contribution might convince someone to get on their bike and enjoy the beauty of winter!
Generous sponsors: Alberta Ecotrust. and Wintercity Edmonton
Photo credit: Crystal Ling