Office for Sustainability Organizing for Annual ‘Bike to Work Week’

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Office for Sustainability is organizing a Razorback Team for faculty and staff who want to take part in the local “Bike to Work Week” competition, which runs, or rather, peddles, from Sunday, May 12, and runs through Saturday, May 18..

“Bike to Work Week” is a national event observed at various times in many communities, but the Northwest Arkansas version is organized as a “Commuter Challenge” by the Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks. The event is intended to get commuters to leave their motor vehicles at home and ride their bicycles to work instead. It’s a community competition for all workplaces in Washington and Benton Counties, and the Coalition is offering incentives – prizes for the teams that log the most participation during the week. More information is available at the Coalition website.

“There are already a number of individual departments and offices at the University of Arkansas that enjoy participating in the challenge,” said Carlos Ochoa, director of the Office for Sustainability.  “But there are many faculty and staff here who don’t have a team to associate with – that’s why we’re creating the Razorback Team to represent the whole U of A. Besides, there are many benefits to riding a bicycle to work: it increases stamina, decreases parking costs, helps reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels and, most importantly, it’s fun!” 

Anyone who wants to join the Razorback Team simply needs to register by filling out an online form before Sunday. Ochoa will follow up with each registrant every day and he’ll report the totals to the Coalition, so team members can be included in the local competition.

“This is our first year to try this, and I hope it will give us an idea of how many people we have on campus who are interested in commuting to campus,” said Ochoa.