The Ride Smart Challenge (formerly known as the Clean Commute Challenge) wrapped up at the end of May and recorded a big impact in alternative transportation! Below is a summary of what was accomplished across the program in 2017:
- Through the Ride Smart Challenge 4,369 trips were logged taking a total of 73,283 miles off the road!
- By reducing the number of cars on the road, 58,626 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions were avoided .
- The Bike Shorts Film Festival received some great submissions this year, in addition to films from Sweden, Netherlands, and Philadelphia, half of the films we screened this year came from our own backyard in central and southwest Virginia.
Below are a few of the awards recognized this month:
- Bike Hero Award: Paula Daul of Lynchburg
- Extraordinary Bike Professional Award: Mackenzie Jarvis of Blacksburg
- Ride Smart Challenge Team Winner: The Sweaty Pedalers of Roanoke
- Ride Smart Challenger of the Year: Kali Casper of Blacksburg
- Bike Shorts Film Festival, Juried Prize Winner: Cycologic by Emilia Stålhammar, Veronica Pålsson, Elsa Löwdin of Malmö, Sweden
- Bike Shorts Film Festival, Audience Choice (Blacksburg): Build it, Ride it by Sarah Mezzy of Blacksburg, VA
This year the 2017 Extraordinary Bike Professional was another New River Valley transportation and planning professional! Mackenzie Jarvis, who worked in Alternative Transportation at Virginia Tech was recognized for her efforts in raising the visibility of cycling and creating a safer, more sustainable campus.
Since Mackenzie's undergraduate days at Virginia Tech, she has been contributing to the cycling community in Blacksburg. In those early times, she served as an intern in the Alternative Transportation group and three years later became the Alternative Transportation Manager.
First as an intern and then as the Bicycling Coordinator at Virginia Tech, Mackenzie was responsible for promoting cycling, but it was her enthusiasm for two wheels and transportation that set her apart as bike professional working to build a place people feel comfortable cycling. She dedicated her time to building visibility of safe cycling on campus with events like Bike to Campus days, crowdsourcing the name of VT Alternative Transportation’s cargo bike (Bikey McBike-Face), and most notably launched the “Heads Up Hokies” campaign in February 2016 to improve campus safety for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
Congratulations to Mackenzie for her 2017 Extraordinary Bike Professional Award!
For more information, contact Christy Straight (cstraight@nrvrc.org), 540-639-9313, Ext. 209.