Ready, set, bike to work!

For many of you, bike commuting is something you do daily, rain or shine. But for a large sector of the population, biking to work is a rare event. Tomorrow -- F5 Bike to Work Day -- is an excellent opportunity day for anyone and everyone to get their bikes out and give biking to work a try.

In years past, we've seen 20,000+ cyclists take to the streets for Bike to Work Day in the Puget Sound area. While we try not to get too fixated on the numbers, it is exciting to think of so many people riding their bikes instead of driving -- and the impact that can have.

We know from the Group Health Commute Challenge that the average bike commute trip participants are making is 14.53 miles. If 20,000 cyclists drove those trips instead of riding their bikes tomorrow, they'd be responsible for emitting more than 290,000 pounds of CO2 emissions! At the rate of 500 calories burned per trip, our collective caloric output tomorrow will be over 10 million! Take that, yo-yo diet plans.

Not sure if you can make it? I am here to tell you that you can, and why not try? Just take it one pedal stroke at a time. Stop by one of the 44 Commute Stations set up around the region to take a break, get a snack, have your bike looked over by a volunteer mechanic and be on your way with a free water bottle.

We've got a bike ride planned with Mayor McGinn departing from Fremont in the morning, a bike rally and group photo at Seattle City Hall and a fun After-Party planned in Ballard in the afternoon. After all this, maybe you'll even be inspired to join the bike movement tomorrow in more ways than one.

No matter what event you attend or Commute Station you visit, I hope you have fun tomorrow. I can't even begin to predict the number of smiles you'll see out there, but it's got to be a record.

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