October and November Updates!

October and November 2009 were excellent months for BCC!

October results:
October was our highest month ever for total trips and miles, saving 317 car trips and riding 1,763 miles by bicycle. This beat September’s 232 trips and 1,683 miles.

Helping us reach October's totals were nine new members who joined our team:

Greg Pinter, Founder of NetInformer, writes:”I commute from home in Danville to my office in San Ramon. It helps the environment PLUS, I just feel better! I appreciate what you folks are doing - it definitely helps to provide encouragement and see others doing the same.”

Russ Riley writes: “Since I retired two years ago from education, I have constantly used my bike to run errands as well as exercise.”

Paul O'Flynn, Software Development Manager at Oracle, says:”I cycle almost every day to work, a mere 3 miles from Dublin to Pleasanton but a ride nonetheless.” As I relayed to Paul, many of our cyclists have short commutes. Every mile matters!

The Gillette Family of Pleasanton: Audrey Gillette emailed to say: “I already cycle the boys [Colin and Decker] to and from preschool 2 days a week, and I even made it on Tuesday in the downpour!“

The Meyer Family of Livermore: Crystal Meyer homeschools her two girls Shannon and Bridgette. They ride their bicycles constantly on errands, to sports practices, to church and all over town. She read my column about BCC in the newspaper and writes, “Our awareness has been heightened tremendously. In fact, Shannon and Bridgette (ages 8 and 10) are planning to work on a Livermore bicycle transportation safety problem/solution with their Lego team this year. They will be consulting the Be The Change Cyclists website and other resources for their research.”

Bekki Livingston writes: “I ride my bike to work as an elementary school librarian in San Ramon. The students love it! I’d like to join your group.”

Don Johnston, Senior Editor, External Relations & Communications, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory states, “As an avid cyclist and occasional bike commuter I enjoyed your column. Count me in. I hope this distinguished group will not only lead by example, but put its considerable collective civic experience to work improving safety for bike commuters as well as leisure cyclists.”

Mark Szymczak: Pleasanton volunteer, Backyard Farmer, Environmental Activist, and Business Owner. In October Mike commuted and ran errands totaling 317 miles!

Bob Belichak, a stay-at-home dad with three kids who lives in Pleasanton. His daily commute is 3 miles to take the kids to school, and his family does almost all their errands by bicycle.

Our big mileage stars in October were Mark Szymczak with 317 miles, Peter Norquist at 300 miles, Ursula Goldstein at 182 miles, and Steve Sherman at 94 miles.

Our most trip stars were Mark Szymczak at 59 trips, Karen Swift at 27 trips, the Meyer Family at 26 trips, Ursula Goldstein at 22 trips, and Steve Sherman at 20 trips.

Best new member showing award goes to Mark Szymczak who also had the highest trips (59) and miles (317) for the month.

Through October, our grand total saved car trips since April 2009 were 930, with 6,172 in emission free miles.

November results:
With the colder weather our trips and miles were down slightly for November, but we still had a good showing at 275 trips and 1,494 miles ridden.

Our big mileage stars were Peter Norquist at 250 miles, Mark Szymczak with 245 miles, Ursula Goldstein at 181.5 miles, Bob Belichak at 129, Russ Riley at 117, Steve Sherman at 90, and David Beals at 80 miles.

Our most trip stars were Mark Szymczak at 47 trips, Russ Riley at 38, Karen Swift at 22 trips, and Ursula Goldstein and Steve Sherman at 20 trips each.

Go team!