International Winter Bike To Work Day

Cruise on over to http://winterbiketoworkday.org/  and "Commit to Ride"! Let's get Thurston County on the world map!

Take a photo on your commute this Friday, Feb 12, and email it to us at dgreen"at"intercitytransit.com, and we'll post it on our Facebook page. The best photo (according to us) will win a prize, and we'll post it here, too!

1st Winter Mini-BCC prize Winner

We drew our first Winter Mini-BCC prize winner today. Drawn at random from all the people who have registered so far in the Winter Mini-BCC, Trude L. has won this nice light set from Portland Design Works!
We have another light set and other bike goodies, plus some gift cards for local bike shops and restaurants to award during the rest of February.
The Winter Mini-BCC is open to people who live or work in Thurston County. You can participate if you commute into or out of Thurston County, but if you have a multi-modal commute,  the bicycle portion of your commute must be within Thurston County.
Sign up here: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=eijlmidab&oeidk=a07ec6rh1py38d8c636

International Winter Bike To Work Day is this Friday, Feb. 12! Send us a photo from your commute on Friday, and we'll post it on our Facebook page!

SEATTLE BIKE SWAP

Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016 9 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Seattle Center Exhibition Hall

225 Mercer St, Seattle WA

The Swap:  

The Seattle Bike Swap is a bike bargain hunter’s paradise. This huge bike garage sale will have great deals on new and used bike related goods of all types and sizes. Most sellers are cash only but some may take cards. This sale is one day only so don’t miss it!

Admission (cash only):   

• Adult Entry:  9 a.m. - 1 p.m. - $5 members, $7 non members (sold morning of the Swap)
• Free entry hour: 1 - 2 p.m. 
• Kids 15 and under are free all day!
• Premium Early Entry: 8 a.m. - $20. Advance Premium tickets are available online from Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, 10 a.m. until Thursday, Feb. 11 noon (link to purchase is listed at top of page), tickets will also be available at the door beginning at 8 a.m.

More info at: http://www.cascade.org/connect/seattle-bike-swap

2016 (Winter) Commuter Profile No. 1: Peter

Peter with trusty 1980's Miyata

Our Commuter Profiles are a great way to learn how others approach the challenges and find the rewards in getting around by bicycle in Thurston County. If you are currently using your bicycle for transportation and have participated in the Bicycle Commuter Contest (or plan to this year), you could be featured here! If interested, contact dgreen"at"intercitytransit.com 

• What is your age, roughly speaking? 50
• What is your occupation or area of study? Energy programs and energy policy at WA Dept. of Commerce State Energy Office.
• What is your most frequent destination on your bike? Commute to work.
• How did you hear about the Bicycle Commuter Contest? Email, CTR promotion (Commute Trip Reduction), and  IT coach advertising panels.
• How many times have you participated in the Bicycle Commuter Contest? 3-6 times.
• What got you started riding your bike to get around (practical cycling)? Elementary school commuting and transportation, rekindled for college commuting, which grew to work commuting and triathlon training, recreation and errands, and now predominately work commuting.
• How many years have you been getting around by bike? 12-15 years
• Describe your current average or usual trip (distance, terrain, urban/rural, etc.) 5 mile trip from home to work along the Chehalis-Western trail to the Woodland trail to Eastside St. to Union Ave. to work place. The trail route is flatter since it runs along a former railroad bed, but longer than taking a more direct surface street route. Since I ride a single speed bike it is difficult to tackle going up the hill on the way home on surface streets.
• How have you adapted your habits to make practical cycling work for you? Commuting by bike saves time spent in the gym doing alternate cardio work. Consequently, I save time commuting by bike.

Classic Bike Show Tonight: 7:30pm Capitol Coach House

The February Capital Bicycling Club General Meeting will feature the annual classic bike show. Jeff Groman and Bob Freeman will bring bikes from their amazing collections. Jeff tends towards six day track bikes from the 1920s and 1930s, while Bob’s collection inclines towards racing and sports touring bikes from the sixties and seventies. We also hope to have some bikes from CBC member Troy Warnick’s collection of English touring machines.
This is a rare opportunity to see great bikes from some of the finest classic bicycle collections anywhere. Jeff and Bob are both driving a couple of hours to be here, so let’s make sure to give them a good turnout.

Event Details:

Free and open to the public.                  

Date: February 3, 2016

Starts: 7:30 pm

213 21st Ave SW Olympia.

More info at: http://www.capitalbicycleclub.org/wp/events/20160203/

Winter Mini-BCC this month!

The Thurston County Winter Mini-BCC begins Feb. 1! This casual, fun event will run for the month of February, including celebration of International Winter Bike To Work Day on Friday, Feb. 12. We'll have a few random prize drawings in February among all those who sign up- it's that simple! You can sign up here:  http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=eijlmidab&oeidk=a07ec6rh1py38d8c636 or by simply emailing your full contact info to: dgreen"at"intercitytransit.com Check out our Event Page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/429711750552184/

Intercity Transit testing a 3-bike bus rack

Intercity Transit is testing a three-bike rack on the front of one of our buses this winter, and we have a survey up to find out what you think. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/rack-bike
The rack will be rotating through different routes, so if you have a chance to try it, or even if you want to comment on our current racks, please take our survey!

Walk n Roll Open House

Intercity Transit's Walk n Roll Program invites YOU to visit our new Bike Shop space where we build and repair bikes for our "Earn-A-Bike" classes. We're also seeking volunteers to help out by working on bikes for local students.
Come on down Wednesday Jan 13 or Saturday the 16th to see the new space, have some treats, and find the answers to your questions about Intercity Transit’s Youth Program, Walk N Roll!

Shopping Locally (by bike!)

It seems that a lot of shopping happens this time of year. One of our goals is to support a sustainable local economy, which ties in with many other sustainable choices, like biking to get around. Small, locally owned businesses have a tough time competing with national chains and online stores. Yet they are right here in our towns, owned by our neighbors, providing jobs in our community, and supporting local initiatives like the BCC. This season, why not shop locally- especially at the local businesses that sponsor the BCC? See the "Sponsors" tab above for a graphic image of sponsor logos, or scroll down on the right for a list of links to BCC sponsor websites.

Local Bike Shops are an indispensable asset to a thriving, bike-friendly community. Fall and winter are the lean times for bike shops- they would be especially happy to see you at this time of year! Let's support the Local Bike Shops that do so much for the BCC and for cycling in our community.

Bike Tech
Deschutes River Cyclery
Joy Ride Bikes
Old Town Bicycle
Stevenson Custom Bicycles

Winners in "Survey Sweepstakes"

We have two winners in the "Survey Sweepstakes"! Thanks for responding to our Wrap-up Survey, and congrats to Shane and Jeriann, who both won ultra-hip bags from Alchemy Goods in Seattle!

Special meeting about chehalis western closure

Do you use the Chehalis-Western Trail? If you've been affected by the trail section closure near Rainier Rd., the Capital Bicycling Club would like to hear from you.

The Capital Bicycling Club will hold a special general meeting July 1 at the Coach House to hear feedback from cyclists about the temporary closure of the Chehalis Western Trail and the alternatives they're using. The board will determine a course of action after hearing your feedback.

When: Wednesday, July 1 @ 7:30
Where: the Capital Museum Coach House, 213 21st Ave SW, Olympia
Topic: Temporary closure of the Chehalis Western Trail

This meeting will be open to the public, and representatives from Thurston County will be invited. If you can't make the meeting but would like to share, please send an email to contact@capitalbicycleclub.org before July 7.

Prize Hoopla Report

The 2015 BCC Prize Hoopla was a lot of fun this year! Around 100 BCC participants showed up, and we had some great moments with our bike winners and random prize drawings. Three people went home with new bikes, fifteen with prizes drawn from the hat, and many more with prizes won in the BCC. Awarding the bike to the Youth Category winner was a show-stopper! I believe there were some tears in the audience and there was surely much applause and cheering! More photos on our Flickr page at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129770135@N02/

2015 BCC PRIZE HOOPLA

Saturday, June 27, 9:30am sharp
Olympia Farmers Market Main Stage
The BCC Prize Hoopla is a fast-moving, fun and very unceremonious event! We'll announce the prize winners, and if they're present we'll pretty much toss their prizes to them and carry on with much cheering and hoopla! We'll also have a hat to enter for more prize drawings on the spot, throughout the event. We have exactly an hour on the Main Stage at the Olympia Farmers Market, so there are no speeches or long,drawn-out acknowledgments- just prizes and fun- we hope to see you there!

2015 BCC Overall Results

1736 registrations- a 17% increase over last year ~ ALL TIME RECORD

620 First Time BCC participants

1063 riders returned mileage logs

Total miles ridden: 106,998

Average miles ridden over the month per rider: 100+

Total round-trip commutes 13,661

Average number of days commuting by bike: 13

Over 50 tons CO2 prevented from entering the atmosphere.

110 teams ALL TIME RECORD: 74% of riders were on a team

15 schools and colleges, 35 State & Local Agencies, plus Thurston County and the Cities of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater all fielded teams in the BCC this year.

51 Sponsors and Supporters contributed coupons and free passes, and over 200 prize items.

Thurston County and the cities of Olympia, Lacey Tumwater, Yelm and Tenino all issued proclamations that May is Bike Commute Month in their jurisdictions.

Record participation in the Earth Day Market Ride and National Bike To Work Day- over 200 participants in each event.

About 140 people also participated in a casual "Winter Mini-BCC" running for part of January and February, including "Winter Bike To Work Day" on February 13.

BCC COUPON CORRECTION:

We've become aware of an error on the Joy Ride Bikes coupon on Sheet 2 of the coupons we've been sending out. The correct expiration date is 11-30-2015. So sorry for the error and any confusion this may have caused. Joy Ride Bikes will honor the coupons until November 30, 2015. All the other coupon expiration dates are correct.

OK, no we haven't crawled under a rock- we're just under a mountain of mileage logs! Data entry, data entry, number crunching, spreadsheet merging, coupon mailing, oh my!
There's still time to return your Mileage Log or report online, here: http://conta.cc/1HMLBwm

New Belgium Brewing donates Cruiser to BCC

Many thanks to New Belgium Brewing and Ralph's Thriftway, for again donating an awesome New Belgium Cruiser bike for us to award in a random drawing among BCC participants who return their Mileage Logs! For a chance to win this bike, or many other prizes, return your BCC Mileage Log to the Olympia Transit Center or mail it to:
BCC c/o Intercity Transit
PO Box 659
Olympia, WA 98507-0659

OR, report your total miles and days online here: : http://conta.cc/1HMLBwm

BCC Breaks Registration Record

We're so HAPPY we've broken all previous records for the number of people signed up in the BCC! Will you help us translate that into a record for miles and days ridden, too? There are just a couple more (beautiful sunny) days left in May- you can help by biking to get where you're going this weekend, and by returning your BCC Mileage Log next week!


If you'd rather skip the trip to the Transit Center or the mailbox to return your Mileage Log, you may use our online reporting page to enter your total days and miles ridden in the BCC. Wait until you are sure you won't ride anymore in May, as you won't be able to add to, or edit your miles once you submit. Just navigate to: http://conta.cc/1HMLBwm  and follow the instructions to report your total days and miles.

T-SHIRT UPDATE:

We now have a SMALL NUMBER of all sizes of our extremely popular t-shirts in stock at Olympia Transit Center, EXCEPT Large and Extra Large in the Aqua "Fitted" style. Those two sizes are sold out. Grab 'em while they last, and have a safe weekend.

2015 Commuter Profile Number 6: Benjamin

· What is your age, roughly speaking? I will be 26 this summer.

· What is your occupation or area of study? I worked at Olympia Supply Company for the past three years and now I’m working on the vegetation crew for the city of Olympia for the summer. I am currently trying to get on track to study either horticulture technologies or fisheries biology in the fall.

· What is your most frequent destination on your bike? Well I work five days a week so work is a pretty common one. Aside from that I try to ride to the grocery stores in east or west Olympia to get more riding in since I live fairly close to downtown. I really dig the Woodland Trail so I try and go places that it and the Chehalis-Western trail run close to.

· How did you hear about the Bicycle Commuter Contest? I think it was four years ago. Just from riding public transit on a regular basis. 

· How many times have you participated in the Bicycle Commuter Contest? Pretty sure this is number three for me. There was a year in there when I didn't have a decent working bike to ride. I ”tacoed” the front wheel on my trusty Schwinn road bike and couldn't afford to fix it. I was unaware of the community bike shops and the assistance they offer, back then.