Prizes

And the winners are…

The top prize—a Trek T30 bike for each team member—has been randomly picked from the Top Ten teams qualifying for the challenge (and as per the final leaderboard below). The Winning Team is “IOonBike” from Accenture. Well done to team members Carlos, Iwona, Colm, Tim, Miroslav and Wolfgang!

The Best Workplace Prize goes to Roughan O’Donovan, who managed to get 27% of their workforce to take part in the cycle challenge—well done! Special mention is also deserved for University College Cork who managed to get the highest number of participants overall—46 participants on 12 teams…!

The prize for Best Individual goes to Ciaran Stanley from the team “City Architects” in Dublin City Council.

The prize for Best New Cyclist goes to Samane Abdi from ICSS, University College Cork, who managed more trips than a lot of regular cyclists—well done to you!

We also received 10 fantastic and entertaining stories from new cyclist taking part in the challenge and sharing their experience of what it was like getting back on their bike. The winner of the New Cyclist Story is Aine Murphy from AIB.

Well done again to everyone taking part!

The gorgeous T30, with Alpha Aluminum frame

New Cyclist Stories

Love It!

We recently moved house and after many years of been able to walk into work I was now faced with sitting in a car to get to the office. Little did I know what was involved! The first week was a nightmare! I had to drop my little boy into montessori and then head into the IFSC, it was taking me 1 hour and 20 minutes each way and we only live in Booterstown! I couldn’t believe how stressed people are in cars. I found the experience, awful and so one day I was sitting on the Rock Road looking at all the cyclists flying by and I thought right that’s it I am getting the bike out!

So that weekend I picked up helmets, visor, childrens seat etc. I headed off on the bike with my son on the back in the child seat, the experience was totally different!! I dropped him off and was in work within 40 minutes!! The first few days I found daunting as I hadn’t been on a bike in years!! I was careful though and took my time. My son and I are able to have quality time together in the mornings and have little chats on the way into school. He loves it, I love it and it is so motivating on the way home to pass out the cars!! I also have an extra 1 and a half hours per day with my kids, which is brilliant when you work full time as you are always looking for ways to grab time here and there.

The other benefit is that I feel muscles in places I never knew I had! Cycling really does help you tone up. It’s perfect, that’s why I wanted to do this challenge. It’s funny when you have a positive experience like this it rubs off on others as a few people are now cycling into work and enjoying it just as much as I am.

Aine, AIB

When I was a child
I longed for a bike
Not a big fancy one
Santy then had little money
Not even for a little trike

Later on I bought a bike
But never bothered with a lock
Out shopping one fine day
My grand new bike was taken away

Then at 40 I got another
On your nelly my kids would say
I did cycle a little
But the car was quicker

Now over 60 it’s back to the bike
Helmet on top and bicycle clips
Enjoying again being a child
Peddling away up and down hills
Hoping to lose the fat on my hips

Bridie, HSE

The cycle challenge was just the thing I needed to finally make me dust off my bike and cycle to work like I had planned to do for so long. I nearly binned my bicycle last November after I got 6 punctures in my last week in my previous job… I bought a new tyre but hadn’t taken the bike out again as my new job was further from home and driving was easy.

So with the challenge starting, I got my cycling clothes out from the depths of the wardrobe and set off early one morning. I had very heavy legs cycling through Phoenix Park (avoiding going up Knockmaroon Hill) and was glad I gave myself a bit of extra time to puff my way to work.

I was on my way through Castleknock, confident that my run of bad luck with flat tyres was over, when my brand new tyre exploded! I’m sure the boom could have been heard in NTA HQ. Thankfully my usual car-pool companion happened to be just around the corner when I called for help. The lack of tyre put me back a bit, but a week later I had another new tyre and off I went again and finally managed to cycle the whole way to work. Hopefully my run of flat tyres is over for a while!

It’s great to be back on the bike, and I’ll continue to cycle to work as much as I can!

Clare, IBM

Getting back on my bike

I wanted to get a bike last summer and had been putting it off since then. So I was delighted when I got that email from Louise our Cycle Challenge coordinator to see who would be interested in signing up to do the Cycle Challenge. I replied at 11am the day she sent the email and she came with me to the bike shop during lunch and talked me though the different type of bikes and accessories. I filled in the Atkins’ bike to work scheme form during the same week and I had my new bike by the Friday.

I hadn’t been on a bike since college, so a ride on my bike makes me feel young and liberated (again). I wouldn’t complain about the traffic, I am well used to dodging car and cows back in my hometown in India!

Surprising the bike has had a great influence on my husband; he has started to take the bike for a short spin (when I am not looking!!).

I feel fitter already even in the short three weeks, at first there was a few hills I use to hate approaching but now I see them as slight inclines. I am glad I am doing my small bit for the environment too.

Thank god I didn’t get a puncture yet but I know it’s bound to happen at some stage, so a few of us intend to do a bike maintenance course soon to understand how those wheels go around!!!!

Manu, “Atkins Pedal Pushers”, Atkins

I used to cycle to work regularly from Kilbarrack to Blanchardstown and I absolutely loved it. When I got pregnant I had to stop and I missed it so much.

During my maternity leave there just wasn’t the time and I didn’t have anybody to mind the baby for me, so I only got on the bike a few times. I’ve been back in work since January 2011 and I thought it was too much of a logistical challenge to fit a full-time job, my family and cycling for 2 hours every day into my busy schedule.

When I heard about the 10-minute cycle challenge through one of the fellow cyclists from my company, this was the push I needed to give it a go. With a bit of organisation and getting up a little bit earlier every morning I’ve been able to fit it all into my day and I am feeling fantastic as a result. The hour of cycling in the morning is time I have for myself and the hour in the evening clears my head completely from all the stress and headaches I had during my busy work day. By the time I come home to my family I’m in a great mood and feel brilliant about myself.

Thanks for giving me the motivation I needed to get back into it! I will most definitely keep it up!

Julia, Symantec

It’s a funny thing but I began cycling in early January due to a big change in circumstances. The saying that goes ‘one door shuts and another door opens’ is very true. I set myself the goal of losing weight back in September 2010. I walked a lot then and this was the sum total of my daily exercise.

By January I hit a plateau with my weight loss and at the same time I began a new job in Ballsbridge which was a fair distance from my house in Firhouse near Tallaght (approx 14 miles daily roundtrip).

I’ve always been a person who likes to see opportunity in any situation I find myself in so I decided I would begin cycling from Firhouse to Ballsbridge. I figured there would be 3 main benefits to this:

It would help with my weight loss.
It would help financially (I had a very lean year employment-wise last year) and get me back on top of the bills!
It would increase my fitness.
By taking the car off the road until the end of the summer has given me the chance to carry out an experiment—the experience of living without a car for the past months has been a great one. I have kept cycling at weekends also.

So here’s what happened:

I reached my target weight on 28th May (the last 12 pounds slipped off with the added exercise of cycling).
I now have caught up on the bills.
I am fitter than I have ever been and wearing clothes that I choose and not that choose me.
And one of the nicest things is I notice the little detail in everyday life that surrounds us such as wildlife, community life. This morning for example a baby robin crossed my path. In a car one only sees the road ahead.

Karen, Eirgrid

As a keen cyclist, I used to use bike to the school, shop, and work. But I didn’t take part in the 10 Minute Cycle Challenge for the last a few years because the work place is very close to where I live. This year after moving to a new work place, I am able to spend some time with my old pal. My cycle route is from city centre to Dun Laoghaire, it is about 12km.

The first two days were extremely challenging, due to my weak muscles and poor maintenance of my bike. I nearly gave it up. But after a few days hard peddling, my muscles are capable of making this trip again especially after utilising a brand new city bike with sleek tyres. It is just so easy to pedal. A suitable bike can save half of your energy to make the same trip with much shorter time. Now I’m even faster than the Dart. (There is a 15 walk involved to the dart station if I use the Dart).

I feel so energetic and refreshed after cycling to work (Thanks for providing shower facilities at work place), and I manage to lose a bit of weight and gain a bit of tan. I would definitely keep cycling and recommend it to everyone who is thinking about it and hasn’t started. I know not everyone is as lucky as me can use the bike to go to work, but I’m sure you will be addicted to it once you start it whenever you get a chance.

Lei, “Two Loose Wheels”, Dublin City Council

My experience has been refreshing! Every morning I cycle down to the Dart station from Delgany to Greystones and back up the hill in the evenings. I have also found that cycle lanes are not sufficient and you have to be very careful as drivers seem not to notice cyclists well which makes it dangerous. It is a revelation to see how much fuel can be saved, even on a relatively short distance and I love the morning cycle as it really wakes me up. My condition has also improved, however cycling uphill will never be my strongest point.

Marga, Citi

I learned cycling only last year. Yes! I am quite NEW in cycling—as such I did not have confidence to do long or regular cycling trips especially in new routes. My relatively intensive practice period (intensive for a new cyclist though!) was last summer and then for different reasons (windy/rainy days, not ideal cycling paths and so on) I stopped cycling for a while.

BUT joining a team made things different! Entering Cycle Challenge event with a team of cyclists was quite a challenge, I had to cycle and accumulate points to boost my team’s average and this was not easy. The first days I just cycled in easy paths and tried to avoid routes that are a bit hilly or have lots of traffic. Then I started to look for new experiences, these were simply going up and down rather steep hills, trying to cross a road or turn safely and properly and even cycling in the rain or wind! Little by little I realized that for me cycling is becoming not only a fun but an enjoyable healthy activity.

Thank you Cycle Challenge!

Nooshin, “ICCS”, University College Cork

I bought a new bike from the governments bike to work scheme after always admiring my picturesque drive of 11 miles into work and thinking what a great way to kill two birds with one stone by saving money on petrol (don’t get me started) and ensuring that I can reach my daily exercise goals by cycling into work!

The first few days I finally realised that cycling saddles were not the most comfortable design in the world and that the small hills I thought I would fly up were actually difficult as I experiment the dreaded thigh burn! However, with views of the ocean I can thoroughly say that the cycle challenge has helped me to experience the joys of cycling and memories of my childhood on old Raleigh grafters!