"That competitive sense has been stirred by joining the National Bike Challenge. I joined to add my mileage to the team (Go Team!), the Gainesville Bicycle Society (Gainesville Cycling Club to use its proper name) to which membership gives me a 15% discount on parts and accessories at my FNBS. Now, I am drawn to the local and national rankings and like seeing that of the 22K plus people registered, I rank in the top 1500 or so. I tend to ignore the hundreds whose names appear but have logged no mileage.

It's a good deal for someone like me since every time I slide onto my Brooks or FrankenBrooks B-17 I garner 20 points plus 1 point per mile ridden. A single trip to Publix totals 20 + 3 and I make that trip three and four times a week. This is about the promotion of bicycles as a way to make the Earth a healthier place or, as the website suggests, "the power of the bicycle to build healthy people, healthy communities, and a healthy planet" (National Bike Challenge), so those of us who live the bicycle lifestyle might represent the "ground roots" of the Challenge."

Congratulations - we have set yet another record! In the past 24 hours a total of 148,705 miles were achieved by NBC participants. Although we are off to a good start, every mile you pedal is important to help us achieve the goal of 20 million miles by September 30!

In the past 24 hours, a record 146,466 miles were pedaled by National Bike Challenge participants. You guys are inspirational!

It took riders in the National Bike Challenge 12 days to achieve the 1st million miles. The momentum picked up and you achieved the 2nd million miles in 8 days. Keep up the good work and ride safe!

In the past 24 hours, a record 145,052 miles were pedaled by National Bike Challenge participants. Congratulations to all of you and keep up the good work! For those of you who were wondering, we need to average 131,580 miles per day to achieve 20 million miles by the end of the Challenge on September 30. So keep your pedals turning and enjoy the ride!

We've had a number of local challenges start between May 1 and today. If you are not a member of a local challenge, see if you can join one! Click your profile picture followed by "Edit Settings," re-type in your zip code and save. Now, if there's a local challenge in your area, you will see under the word "National" in the header.