Are you a Winter Weather Warrior?

Or, more importantly, am I?

I knew that Capital Bikeshare was planning some sort of contest, but I didn't know what it would be. I was hoping for an "Around the Capitol in 1 day" where you had to hit every Capital Bikeshare station in DC in one day kinda contest.

But, I guess this is just as good ;)

The rules (and sign-up) are here.

In a nutshell, Capital Bikeshare annual & monthly members are eligible to opt into this 2-month long contest. What do you need to do? Well, ride! Specifically, ride Capital Bikeshare. The rider that takes the most trips during January and February gets crowned the Winter Weather Warrior! (and wins some pretty neat prizes, if you like that sort of thing).

There are some other categories to win: Most Saddle Time (rider with the most time spent on bikeshare), and Long Haul Rider (rider with most trips over 3 miles). There will be a winner in each of these categories in January AND February (the slate is wiped clean at the end of January and begins again February).

There are also some minor categories to win, including perfect attendance (riding bikeshare every single day of the contest) as well as some random drawings.

Also, did I mention that "bad weather" days count as double? You'll have to check the website to see what is considered "bad weather". I like that they don't count days where the system is shut down due to bad weather against the perfect attendance score (like yesterday, *ahem* *cough* *premature panic* *cough*), however I see that they also mention that if you DO take a ride on a day where the system had been shut down, but then re-opened it will count for the winter weather warrior/saddle time/long-haul rider categories. Not sure what I think about that...

I want to do this. I doubt I'll win the crown of Winter Weather Warrior, but I can shoot for perfect attendance, right?

My problem is, how? I only currently use bikeshare for emergencies. I use my own bikes for getting around.

I will definitely have to put Betty up for the season (I probably should do that anyway, but I love riding her).

I'll have to start commuting by bikeshare. The drawback to this is that it will actually *increase* my commute time (since I'll have to walk to the closest bikeshare stations rather than simply ride directly from home to work), and those extra minutes walking add up. And I'll have to figure out a way to haul my stuff around. The bikeshare "basket" is nice, but hardly adequate. Hello, messenger bag....

My commute to and from work is 1.5 miles each way. So that won't be enough to qualify me for the long haul rider. I can't use bikeshare at work itself, because I'm required to use my work's bike. So that's out.

I'll have to figure out some errands that I can on the weekends via bikeshare so I can keep up the perfect attendance.

This should be interesting. As alway, I will document my efforts throughout the duration of the contest.


I hope your holidays were well-spent! I'm looking forward to the end of them, myself. I've never been a big New Year's party kind of person. By the time I get through Christmas, I feel worn out.

I do have a bunch of New Year's Resolutions for 2011. As it gets closer, I'll share most of them with you. Do you guys have any resolutions for this year? How did last year's go?