Riding into the Sunset

We just wrapped up Bike-to-Work Week here in Ventura with a groovy happy hour and raffle. A quick tally shows that Ventura employees rode 1,979 miles this week and Reno rode a whopping 2,789 miles! (Stay tuned for the Retail store totals.) According to Bike Metro and the EPA, by riding our bikes instead of driving this week Patagonia employees kept the following amounts of pollutants out of the environment:

Total Hydrocarbons = 29.406 Lbs
Total Carbon Monoxide = 219.496 Lbs
Total Carbon Dioxide = 4367.488 Lbs
Total Nitrous Oxide= 14.598 Lbs
Total Gas= 216.7 Gal

Huge thanks to all the Patagonia employees who participated, and to all of the wonderful folks around the country who biked to work. Hopefully all the fun posts this week inspired some of you to participate. We would also like to thank the sponsors that donated prizes for the Ventura raffle. Please support these companies if you're ever in the area: New Belgium Brewing Company, Open Air Bikes, Island Packers, Aveda, Anacapa Brewing Company, Trek, Surfclass.com, Dan Holmes Photo, Resource Revival, Fiore Restaurant, Lulu Bandha's Yoga Studio, Jamba Juice, Patagonia, Ben & Jerry's, Cafe Bariloche, Juice on Chestnut and Jersey Mike's Subs.

Have a great weekend everybody and don't forget to support the Bicycle Commuter Act.

[Glen takes home the Fat Tire Flyer. Photo: Sus Corez. Thank you New Belgium!]

Comments

[Free]

The final numbers, including retail, just came in from Nate:

Company-wide, approximately 9,076 miles were ridden this week!!
The numbers, Harper's index style:
8,298.23: Pounds of Carbon Dioxide kept out of the atmosphere (4.15 Tons!)
411.73: Gallons of gasoline saved
$1,309.30: Savings at the pump (assuming last week's avg: $3.18)
417.05: Pounds of Carbon Monoxide kept out of the atmosphere
55.88: Pounds of Hydrocarbons eliminated
27.74: Pounds of Nitrous Oxide eliminated
363,040: Total calories burned by riding to work this week
956: Letters sent to Senators supporting the Bicycle Commuter Act

This is so cool . . . Wow, I can't believe the numbers added up like this! I knew we had a good turn out, but Nate putting all of this together Harper's Index-style really tells the tale. One company in one week cutting out over 400 gallons of gas usage, simply by upping their alt. transpo. participation by an overall average of 20 - 30%. To think how much more could be done . . . and it's just ONE company. People are so attuned to the cent-level fluctuations of gas prices, I just hope that savings indices like the one Nate put together speak to the same consciousness and stimulate a similar reaction.

[LAB worker]

It was a great effort, now the challenge is to sustain it going forward. It's now the week after and the bike racks are almost empty and the parking lot is once again full of cars, trucks and SUVs.