The National Bike Challenge is a nationwide event uniting tens of thousands of current bicyclists—and encouraging countless new riders to participate. In its simplest form it is a logging center for people to record bike rides as part of the national community of bike riders. It is a free and easy way to challenge individuals, companies and communities to start riding a bike—or ride more often. Participants compete on a local, state and national level. The Challenge aims to unite at least 75,000 riders to pedal 35 million miles from May 1, 2015 until September 30, 2015.
"The National Bike Challenge is a time-tested program with tremendous potential," said PeopleForBikes President Tim Blumenthal. "We are proud to lead this targeted effort to get more individuals, businesses and communities riding bikes and we will work closely with Kimberly-Clark to keep growing the Challenge."
Launched in 2009 as an internal bike riding campaign for Kimberly-Clark's 50,000+ employees, the Challenge went national in 2012 under the direction of the League of American Bicyclists, with additional support from PeopleForBikes. In 2014, more than 47,000 riders across the U.S. and around the world participated, logging more than 23 million miles.
“We are honored to partner with PeopleForBikes on the 2015 National Bike Challenge,” said Rob Gusky, Kimberly-Clark’s Ambassador of Cycling. “It is exciting to see a grassroots program that started with four employees at Kimberly-Clark’s Neenah, WI location grow into a national program positively affecting thousands of people. We encourage others to join the Challenge in 2015!”
In preparation for this year's Challenge spring kickoff, PeopleForBikes has engaged past participants and introduced the program to its broad group of supporters, which includes more than one million individuals and thousands of bike companies and retailers. The Challenge encourages people to track their bike rides, form teams to compete with their friends and co-workers for both prizes and bragging rights, and simply spend more high-quality time on two wheels.
PeopleForBikes has worked with Kimberly-Clark over the past several months to get more major corporations to participate in this free program, which boosts employee health and wellness and contributes to improving the environment by replacing car travel with clean, healthy bicycle trips. Some of the corporations participating in the Challenge include: 3M, Allstate, Amway, AT&T, Eli Lilly and Company, Google, Hewlett-Packard IBM, Lockheed Martin, Northwest Mutual and Texas Instruments.
In addition to Kimberly-Clark, 2015 National Bike Challenge sponsors include: 3M, Thrivent Financial, Volkswagen and Wells Fargo.
Registration for the 2015 National Bike Challenge is simple and free at nationalbikechallenge.org. After creating a profile, riders can easily begin logging miles using mobile apps such as Strava, MapMyRide, Endomondo and Moves. To learn more, visit nationalbikechallenge.org.
About PeopleForBikes
PeopleForBikes is making riding better for everyone by uniting millions of individuals, thousands of businesses and hundreds of communities. Join us at PeopleForBikes.org.
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the world’s population trust K-C’s brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds No. 1 or No. 2 share positions in more than 80 countries. To keep up with the latest K-C news and to learn more about the Company’s 143-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
About Sustainability at Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark is a global corporate leader in sustainability innovation, recognized among the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" by Corporate Responsibility Magazine, "World's Most Ethical Companies" by Ethisphere Institute, as a component of the "Natural Capital Leaders Index" by GreenBiz Group, as a best-workplace employer of choice in multiple global markets and recipient of other notable citizenship distinctions. Kimberly-Clark publishes an annual comprehensive review of progress against its "Sustainability 2015" framework of People, Planet and Products. You can find Kimberly-Clark's current report online at www.kimberly-clark.com/sustainability.
Media Contact:
Lauren Fallert
Verde Brand Communications
[email protected]
(970) 366-4579
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Apr 15, 2015 1pm EDT / 10am PDT / 6pm BST / 7pm CEST