BICYCLING MAGAZINE’S ACCLAIMED “BIKETOWN USA” PROGRAM COMING TO HOUSTON FOR 2006

Can something as simple as the gift of a bicycle change someone’s life?

Very often, the answer is yes, as more than 1,300 people around the country have already found out through Bicycling magazine’s BikeTown USA. And now, as BikeTown enters its fourth year in 2006, hundreds more people in a dozen cities around the country, including Houston, will find out that answer for themselves.

Fifty people in Houston will win bicycles through an essay contest about how a bicycle can make a positive change in their lives.

Read on for more information including how to enter!

The editors of Bicycling have selected 12 participating cities around the country for the 2006 BikeTown USA presented by Lipton program, and will give away 600 bicycles — 50 in each city— to selected participants interested in seeing how incorporating a bicycle into their daily lives can affect change for themselves, their families and/or their communities.

Interested participants simply tell Bicycling, in 50 words or less, how they would incorporate a free bike into their lives. Bicycling’s editors then select what they feel are the 50 best entries in each city and give each of those entrants a new bike that is theirs to keep forever. Bicycling follows the selected participants’ progress for three months for editorial purposes, and results for all BikeTown participants may be featured in the magazine and on Bicycling.com throughout the program period and following its conclusion.

Participant entries are being accepted, beginning today and continuing throughout the summer, at www.bicycling.com/biketown . All selected participants will receive a new bike from leading manufacturers Electra, Fuji or Giant (depending upon the city), and will also receive their own cycling gear and apparel from Bell Sports, Camelbak, Canari Cycling, CatEye, Ryders Sunglasses and Saris Racks.

About BikeTown USA

Many of the more than 1,300 people who’ve participated in BikeTown during its history initially entered the program because they were interested in losing weight. Indeed, in 2004, one-third of the 250 BikeTown participants lost noticeable weight—some more than 30 pounds over a three-month tracking period. One group of participants, five women who dubbed themselves “Biker Babes of Irvine” (led by 51-year-old Diane Shindler), actually lost more than 300 pounds combined by incorporating their bikes into their daily lives. Shindler’s sister Lynda Thomas, a grandmother of 11, participated in BikeTown’s Denver, CO program in 2005 and experienced similar results, losing more than 40 pounds and getting motivated to lift weights, swim and exercise on a daily basis.
BikeTown research has shown that, on average, its participants rode 10 miles per week, mostly for pleasure or exercise. But more than 40% rode for transportation purposes, happily trading their car and the cost of gasoline for a bike, and some even gained the freedom to travel alone for the first time. 

And, according to Bicycling’s findings, the further they rode, the happier BikeTown participants were:  riders who pedaled more than ten miles a week reported greater happiness, confidence, self-esteem, weight loss, and job satisfaction than those who rode less than ten.

To enter the contest 

Visit http://www.bicycling.com/biketown2006/essay.html