Sharing cycle commuters’ stories to promote biking to work

Pedals 4 Professionals (P4P) was a contest held in 2014 and 2015 in support of National Bike to Work Week. We wanted to promote biking as a viable alternative to motor transport — by sharing real people’s cycling experiences. Participants were asked to share their bike-to-work stories to encourage others to take up cycling, and one lucky winner got $5,000 towards new bike equipment!

We hope that Pedals 4 Professionals encouraged more commuters to take to their pedals. Cycling offers many benefits to personal health and the environment. Active transportation is an excellent means of regular cardiovascular exercise, and it produces almost zero emissions harmful to the environment.

For individual riders, bicycles are significantly cheaper than motor vehicles to purchase and maintain. For businesses, encouraging cycling among staff is a great way to increase employee satisfaction and productivity while reducing the number of sick days taken.

Our hope is that these videos highlight the many benefits of cycling and encourage more people to give biking a try — and, ultimately, that cycling becomes more common within North American communities year-round.

Pedals 4 Professionals 2015 Winners

YouTube video

Winner: Nathan Scronce (Atlanta, Georgia)

Congratulations to Nathan Scronce for winning our 2015 Pedals 4 Professionals contest. His video profiles the inspirational Paul Ficklin-Alred, who has cycled to his job as a program coordinator in the Department of Pediatrics at the Emory School of Medicine for the last ten years. Paul describes how cycling improves his mental and physical health, and how it has become a huge part of who he is. He feels more in touch with the world around him — and it doesn’t take any longer than driving to work. We hope Paul’s story encourages others to take up cycling in their daily commute.

In an interview with Emory University after winning, Paul said, “Response to the video has been incredible. People have congratulated me about it, talked about how cool it was, and told me how much they wish they lived close enough to bike to work. I think they realize it’s taking one more car off the road and is just better for the environment”.

Runner-up: Jack Gentempo (Norway, Maine)

Jack Gentempo’s creative video takes us on a ride to his job as a “sauna boy” at the Riverside Lodge & Sauna in Norway, Maine. Jack has a great sense of humor as he shows us how he went from unicycle to bicycle, navigating perilous potholes and climbing hills. It’s clear that Jack is a dedicated bike enthusiast, and his video is a pleasure to watch.

Pedals 4 Professionals 2014 Winner

Winner: Kevin Neidorf (Lexington, South Carolina)

Kevin Neidorf’s bike had “three cracks in the rear wheel, mismatched components on their last legs, and a hefty frame from the early ’90s that is essentially glued together”. He speaks all our minds on the ups and downs of cycle commuting, including how difficult it can be to motivate yourself to get on your bike each morning.

Kevin used his prize money to buy himself a new bike—and then he donated the rest to an incentivized bike to work program at his company.