Pennsylvania and Philly Start Strong in National Bike Challenge

The first month of the I Bike PHL Challenge is in the books. We are not surprised to see our region making a strong showing on the national biking stage.

Here, for you stat geeks, are some factoids about how we biked around in May*:

• We took 13,155 trips by bike in May.
• We rode 93,067 miles.
• 592 riders logged at least one trip (874 signed up for the Challenge).

How we did locally and nationally:

• Frank Martin was our top local rider, riding 1,974 miles in May. This placed him as the 6th rider nationally!
• The Philly Cycling Friends was our top local team, racking up 8,897 points, good for 26th nationally!
• Temple University destroyed the field as top workplace, more than doubling up on 2nd UPenn. Temple was the 17th employer nationally (just ahead of Facebook)!
• Pennsylvania as a whole was the 7th state, but the rankings are based on points per 1,000 population. All 6 states ahead of us are much smaller. Just sayin'.
• New Jersey as a state was 41st.

We are not surprised to see Philadelphia biking this summer like crazy. We were the 72nd community in May, but we pulled it off despite being the 5th largest city in the country. How did we compare to some other notable communities? Glad you asked!

• #35: Pittsburgh, PA
• #60: Denver-Aurora, CO
• #72: Philadelphia
• #112: Washington DC, Minneapolis-St Paul-Bloomington
• #172: Dallas-Plano-Irving
• #177: Seattle-Bellevue-Everett
• #179: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
• #328: Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale
• #373: San Diego-Carlsbag-San Marcos
• #381: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale
• #500: New York-White Plains-Wayne

Way to go Philadelphia! Help us get credit for our pedal-inclined ways by taking the I Bike PHL Challenge this summer, or creating a team with friends! The Challenge, part of the National Bike Challenge, runs May 1st - August 31st.

*"We" in this are riders in 9 counties: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia (PA), and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer (NJ).