Frequently Asked Questions about The National Bike Challenge 2018


  • Team Questions
    • How do I start a team?
    • Who can start a team?
    • I joined the wrong team - how can I change my team?
    • My bicycling club has 100 (or more) people, how can we take part together?
    • Why 8 riders?
    • Can I take part as an individual?
    • How can my company take part?


  • Leaderboards and Pools
    • What will the leaderboards show?
    • How do I assign my team to a Pool?
    • What leaderboards will there be?
    • What are the individual leaderboards?
    • How can I see who is competing in my local area or region?
    • How can I get a local Love to Ride site for the Challenge?


  • Riding and Logging Rides
    • How do I log my rides?
    • What apps can I use?
    • Can I ride a stationary bike?
    • I’ve taken part previously, can I import my historical NBC rides?


    • Website Frequently Asked Questions:


    Format


    What is the aim of the NBC?

    We want to get more people riding bikes, more often.

    We want people and organizations to use the National Bike Challenge as a tool to get more people riding bikes, more often, in their community.

    We want to get more people on bikes for all the reasons: healthier, happier people; more livable communities; improved air quality; drivers are more used to seeing people on bikes; more people riding and more of a political voice for cycling and improving bicycling infrastructure, etc, etc, etc.


    When is it?

    May through September - There are lots of leaderboards for top riders, states, communities, which you can sort by month, year and the May-September period. You can use the website to record your rides and compete on monthly individual leaderboards (e.g. Top Rider, Top Commuter, etc). The League of American Bicyclists will be giving away some Top Rider awards for the summer riding season (May - September).

    There are two special focussed challenge periods:

    • May 2018 – month-long 'team bike challenge. The National Bike Challenge - join a team (of up to 8 riders) and have some fun 
riding and encouraging others to ride too. There are points, leaderboards, and prizes! 

    • September 2018 – month-long workplace challenge.  Cycle September – your organization compete against others of similar size. Rally your colleagues to ride, anytime, anywhere in September. Earn points to climb the leaderboard. 



    What happens between May and September?

    Year round, you will be able to keep track of your rides and how you compare to others on the individual leaderboards. You can filter your profile stats and the individual leaderboards to show stats by month, year, and their May-September riding.

    There will be monthly prize giveaways too!


    How do I take part


    How do encourager points work?

    For a full details: See here!


    Team questions

    How do I start a team?

    When you register, you’ll be prompted to join or register a new team. You can also join or register a new team at any time right here.


    Who can start a team?

    Anyone! You can! Right here.


    I joined the wrong team - how can I change my team!?

    You can easily remove yourself from a social team by clicking the little red ‘x’ next to your name on your team’s profile.

    If you’re unable to see this ‘x’ you may need to upgrade your web browser.


    My bicycling club has 100 (or more) people, how can we take part together?

    Divide and conquer! Whilst we appreciate clubs like to take part together, the NBC this year poses the perfect opportunity to drum up internal competition. We’d recommend splitting into smaller teams and naming your social team after your club and the team’s champion e.g.

    Nebraska Saddle Sisters - Team Jones!

    Nebraska Saddle Sisters - Team Burton

    That way you’ll be able to easily navigate to your Bicycle club’s teams and see how the competition looks!


    Why 8 riders?

    A few reasons – check out this video.


    Can I take part as an individual?

    Yes – everyone who takes part will show up on the individual leaderboards.


    How can my business take part?

    You can get a business page or site that will be the online cycling community and encouragement platform for your organization. 

    For May, you will compete in smaller, social teams of 8 members. For September workplaces are invited to compete against one another to see which can earn the most points by riding and encouraging other people to ride. 

    Year round, you can get internal company leaderboards for top riders, top commuters, etc, by month and for the year along with a host of other features. 

    If you’re interested in getting a profile for your business, please set-up your business profile page here.


    Leaderboards and Pools


    How do I assign my team to a Pool

    The website will take care of this for you. Teams are assigned to a Pool automatically by the system. 

    Where you have a local site, you'll go into a local Pool, and each team is joined to a Pool chronologically, so that teams who register once the Challenge has started will compete against other teams who've also join later thus levelling the playing field (we've thought this through :-) 

    Note that: before the Challenge starts on May 1, some teams might be moved to a new Pool (this might be because a local site is created and we're moving all the local teams to the local site so they can compete against other local teams). 


    What leaderboards will there be?

    State vs State leaderboards - Which states can earn the most points by riding and encouraging others to ride?

    Community vs Community Leaderboard - Which communities/cities/counties can earn the most points by riding and encouraging others to ride?

    Teams - May - Who are the top teams in each Pool of 10 teams who have earned the most points by riding and encouraging others to ride too.

    Workplaces - September - Who are the top workplaces in each of the 7 staff size categories who have earned the most points by riding and by encouraging others to ride too.

    Individual Leaderboards - (See below)



    What are the individual leaderboards?

    Leaderboards for who are the… 

    • Top Riders – Trips
    • Top Commuters – Trips
    • Top Riders – Miles
    • Top New Riders - Miles

Website Frequently Asked Questions:

How do I change my password?

If you know your password, but would like to change it to something different

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Type your new password into both the ‘Password’ and ‘Password confirm’ boxes.
  3. Scroll down and click ‘Update profile’.

How do I reset my password?

If you need to reset a forgotten password

  1. When attempting to log in click ‘Forgotten Password?’
  2. Enter your email address in the box provided and click ‘Send reset instructions’.
  3. An email will be sent to your registered email address, open it and click the password change link.
  4. Type your new password into both the ‘New Password’ and ‘Confirm Password’ boxes.
  5. Click ‘Reset password’ and sign in using your email and new password.

**Note: if you're trying to reset your password and not receiving the reset email, it may be due to an error in your email address. Contact us and we can help you fix this!

How do I create a new Challenge organization/workplace/employer?

If you wish to create a new Challenge organization

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Under the company category at the top of the page click ‘join or register a company’
  3. Click ‘Register a new company’ below the drop down menu.
  4. Type the name of your company in the box provided and click ‘create’.
  5. Follow the steps to register your organization.
  6. You will automatically be appointed as Challenge Champion.

How do I create a new Challenge department?

If you wish to create a new Challenge department

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Under the organization category at the top of the page click ‘change department?’
  3. Click ‘Register a new department’ below the drop down menu.
  4. Type the name of your department as well as the number of staff in your department in the boxes provided.
  5. Click ‘create’.

How do I move to a different Challenge organization/workplace/employer?

If you wish to transfer to a new Challenge organization

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Under the company category at the top of the page click ‘join or register a company’
  3. Select your new organization from the drop down menu.
  4. Scroll down and click ‘update profile’.

How do I move to a different Challenge department?

If you wish to transfer to a new Challenge department

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Under the department category at the top of the page click ‘change department?’
  3. Select your new department from the drop down menu.
  4. Scroll down and click ‘update profile’.

How do I assign myself to an organization/workplace/employer?

If you are not currently assigned to your organization

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Under the company category at the top of the page click ‘join or register a company’
  3. Select your desired organization from the drop down menu.
  4. Scroll down and click ‘update profile’.

How do I leave an organization/workplace/employer I no longer work at?

If you no longer work at the organization you previously registered with

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Under the company category at the top of the page click ‘join or register a company’
  3. Scroll to the top of the list and select ‘no company’
  4. Scroll down and click ‘update profile’

Who can change our Challenge Champion?

If you’d like to change your current Challenge Champion

  1. Contact either your current Champion or your area’s Challenge Manager.
  2. If you are the current Challenge Champion click the 'change?' option underneath your organization's profile photo on your organization's profile page.

I want to delete my profile

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Scroll to the bottom and select the 'delete profile' option

I want to delete my profile but I’m the challenge champion of my organization/workplace/employer

  1. Please find a new Challenge Champion for your organization
  2. Contact Love to Ride: Name the new Champion and ask us to delete your profile

How do I add a picture to my profile?

If you want to add a picture to your profile

  1. Visit your profile ‘settings’.
  2. Scroll down to ‘Profile image’ and click ‘choose file’.
  3. Select your desired image and click ‘open’.
  4. Scroll down and click ‘update profile’.

How do I add a logo to my organization profile? Organization and Department Champions only

If you want to add a logo to your organization profile:

  1. Visit your organization profile.
  2. Click on the ‘settings’ option, located directly under the organization’s basic statistics such as number of staff and departments.
  3. Scroll down to ‘Logo’ and click ‘browse’.
  4. Select your desired image and click ‘open’.
  5. Scroll down and click ‘update organization’.

Why do I need to confirm my organization/workplace/employer staff numbers?

We encourage everyone to check and confirm their staff numbers by ticking the box on your organization's profile page. It's important to have accurate staff numbers to ensure that the competition is as fair as possible. Once this has been done, it can't be reversed, so make sure you have double checked before doing this. If there will be changes in numbers due to staff joining or leaving then remember to make allowances for this.

How do I encourage another user? How do I get credit for encouraging a new or existing rider?

When a user logs their first ride (and first ride in a challenge), they're asked if someone encouraged them to ride. If they type in your name, you get credit for encouraging them! So you can encourage a user any way you like (by sending them high fives, messages, or being there in person to guide and support them) - just make sure they credit you when they sign up and log that ride.

Who is a new rider? Who is not?

When someone joins the site they fill out a baseline survey - everyone is then designated a new rider or existing rider based on the information they provide during that survey. New riders are folks who've rarely ridden in the last 12 months.

How do I sync with an app?

To sync with Ride Report:

  1. Download the app
  2. Visit the menu bar in the app and select 'Connected Apps',
  3. Then choose Love to Ride.

You can sync with other apps (like Strava, Moves, and Map My Ride) by visiting your profile page settings, and following the appropriate link and instructions there.

Why aren't my app rides showing up yet? Why are some of them missing?

Our system pulls data in batches and relies on the other app to push those batches, so it may take time for your rides to show up in Love to Ride. Rest assured, your info will be pulled over - it just may take a couple of hours. If it's not there the next day, send us an email and we'll take a look.

Can I see more stats?

Yes! At the top of your profile page you can specify the year, Challenge, or get all-time stats on how far you've ridden, how many trips you've logged, and more.

How do I find my friends?

You can find folks by looking at the team list and finding their workplace, then scrolling down to them on the roster. We're working to make this easier in the future though!

Ridding and Logging Rides


How do I log my rides?

You can log rides manually from your profile page or use an app to do it automatically for you. We recommend Ride Report because it can identify when you're cycling automatically based on your acceleration and speed patterns. 

What apps can I use?

You can use Ride Report, Strava, Endomondo and MapMyRIde. Please go to your profile settings and follow the instructions to connect with your preferred app.

Can I ride a stationary bike?

Our aim of the game is to get more people riding outdoors! With the hope that through encouragement we can motivate individuals to cycle for transport and experience the freedom cycling gives. Indoor/static bikes do therefore not count in the Challenge. Why not give cycling outdoors a go? Even a 10 minutes ride counts in the Challenge :)

I’ve taken part previously, can I import my historical NBC rides?

The Challenge has moved to a new platform this year, so you will have to create a new account. The good news is that you can log in with the Strava account that was required last year, which should make it easy! 


Cycle September

September 1st - 30th

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