Bike to work next week and win a folding bike

Pasadena isn't the only city celebrating Bike to Work week next week. Events are happening nationwide, Metro's getting in on the bike riding fun with a weeklong schedule of activities (PDF), including lots and lots of giveaways, free bus rides and a guest appearance by -- Shrek.

Shrek will be working the giveaway table at the kick-off event for Metro's Bike to Work Week, happening 9 am on Monday, May 12, at the Universal City Metro Red Line Station. Take your bike on a train ride to see the event, and you'll get freebies ranging from bike water bottles to sunscreen samples to Clif bars. L.A. City Councilmember Tom Labonge, Glendale Mayor John Drayman, and Metro CEO Roger Snoble will all be there.

Can't commit to riding a whole week? Then at least commit to riding Thursday, May 15 -- the official Bike to Work day. Between 7 am and 10 am, bikers can take breaks at "pit stops" all over the city that will be giving out snacks and other freebies.

You don't even have to bike your whole commute. Many transit agencies are offering free bus and rail rides to bikers; all you need is to board with your bike or helmet on Bike to Work Day.

If you do plan to bike it on May 15, make your pledge-to-bike here to be put in a drawing for a folding bike from REI! Other prizes include gift cards for REI and other companies, passes to the Laugh Factory, and bike messenger bags. Oddly, pledges are accepted until May 16, a day AFTER Bike to Work day -- so you could technically "pledge" post-ride.

And to see just how much you'll be saving -- both gas money-wise and carbon-footprint-wise -- check out the new Bike to Work calculator on the Metro website. To the right's the calculations for a person who decides to bike instead of driving a Santa Monica to downtown L.A. commute (I grant you'd have to be a pretty hardcore biker to do this, but anyway....). The boxes aren't labeled very well, but after a call to Metro, I found out that the numbers under "Gasoline savings" mean this: You'd save $15.41 of your money and 3.75 gallons of gas if you switched to biking, assuming that your car gets 20 mpg and gas costs $4.11 a gallon.

Those really, really psyched about the savings can download a Bike to Work day screensaver. Caveat: screensavers don't save energy; put your computer to sleep or shut down instead!

Comments

[m]

Maybe they'll install another bike rack at the Universal City station as part of their celebrations. The single rack that holds about 6 bicycles is usually filled and on days like today, there are bikes chained to nearby trees.

[david p.]

there are bike racks on both sides of the universal station, fyi