Update: Going Local (2 mile limit) with CLIF
CLIF has updated the challenge for 2010 with a non-profit and social media twist:
New this year, CLIF BAR is encouraging riders to find strength and inspiration in numbers by joining one of three 2 Mile Challenge teams. Each team represents a non-profit organization that fights climate change or promotes bicycling advocacy. The three non-profits will each receive a $25,000 grant from CLIF BAR.
As a bonus incentive, the team that acquires the most points by October 31 will earn an additional $25,000 grant from CLIF BAR for its non-profit organization. Points will be awarded for: 1) registering for a team and linking personal Facebook accounts to the 2 Mile Challenge site, 2) issuing bike-riding challenges for yourself and friends, 3) logging trips completed on the 2 Mile Challenge site, and 4) logging trips for consecutive weeks.
This is all well and good. Would I have the patience to log the 2 mile trips? No.
—- original post 7/23/08—-
Yeah, yeah, CLIF BARS, SHOTS, etc., endurance athletes seem to either love or hate them. (I confess liking the Shot Blocks, though I’m now favoring the woman friendly Luna Moons just because they are smaller.) This is the second year of the company’s Two Mile Challenge, which urges people to use a bike for trips of 2 miles or less. These trips make up 40% of all car trips. Further, 90% of two mile trips are made by car! (Yikes, I say after just returning from 25 miles on my bike.)
To support the challenge, Clif offers tools to configure a bike and of course, a Google Maps mashup to find your 2 mile radius, along with key destinations in and out side of it. It’s quite elegant and even includes user suggested POIs.
Per the press release, “since launching the first 2 Mile Challenge in September 2007, nearly 20,000 people have used the mapping service.” This is the first I’d heard of it.
