Iowa’s cold, rainy weather may be less than ideal for two-wheeling it this morning, but the National Bike Challenge opens today (Wednesday). Iowa placed in the top ten in the competition last year. Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says it’ll be nice out soon and Iowa’s cycling enthusiasts can start adding up their miles. “We’re going to be working to try to boost Iowa to the top,” Wyatt says. “This is a state-by-state and a bicyclist-by-bicyclist and a community-by-community challenge to see who can ride their bikes more.” There are many different ways Iowans can take part in the countrywide contest and there’s an online leader board.

“You can look at individual riders and see who’s amassing the most points,” Wyatt says. “You can form a team of a group of people that can work together and encourage each other. Your workplace can compete against other workplaces and communities can compete against other communities to see who has the most bicycling in the state.” To take part in the challenge, log on to the website: Iowa Goes By Bicycle-dot-com.

“That will take you to the sign-in page,” Wyatt says. “It will ask you a few simple questions or you can log in with Facebook. There’s even a smartphone app so if you really don’t like typing in your miles, you can just pull out your phone and hit ‘start’ and it will record when you’re riding your bike.” The event kicks off National Bike Month. To learn more, visit: www.iowabicyclecoalition.org.

(Radio Iowa)