Mesa County residents and businesses biked to work and breakfast yesterday. Many participated in the Colorado Bike Month Business and Commuter Challenges through Mesa County Health Department. 

Overall, 15 businesses/agencies participated in the competition and eight completed the challenge, including Mesa County, City of Grand Junction, Bureau of Land Management, Bonsai Designs, Eide Bailly LLC, Marmot Library Network, St. Mary’s Hospital, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, Ariel Clinical Services and Fruita Community Center. 

Mesa County employees won the large employer category (31+ employees) with 14.49 percent of staff members biking to work or breakfast. 

City of Grand Junction was hot on our heals with 13.44 percent of staff participation, and 12 percent of Rocky Mountain Health Plans employees took on the challenge, scooping up the third place spot. 

Eide Bailly, LLP won the small employer category (1-30 employees) with 100 percent of employees biking on Wednesday. Bonsai Design placed second with 55 percent of staff participation and Marmot Library Network took third with 13.55 percent.

Percentages were calculated based on the number of riders and total number of employees.

First place winners took home the travelling trophies to keep, until Bike to Work Day 2016. This is the second consecutive year that both Mesa County and Eide Bailly, LLP have won the Business Challenge in their perspective categories.

This year, 64 people participated in the Commuter Challenge and they collectively rode 3,763.14 miles – the equivalent of driving from San Diego, Calif. to Portland Maine!

Winners fell into two categories: miles ridden and days ridden.

  • Miles ridden winners:
    • 1st place: Kayla Dodson – 737 miles
    • 2nd place: Joe Nichols – 521.4 miles
    • 3rd place: Kris Ashbeck – 182 miles 
  • Days ridden winners:
    • 1st place: Robert Traylor – 18 days
    • 2nd place: Robert Segua Broughton – 15 days
    • 3rd place: Kathy Portner – 14 days 
Commuter Challenge winners were awarded gift cards to local businesses.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Bike to Work Day! We hope to see you again, next year!