Cyclists in the UK led the way as Strava’s Global Bike To Work saw 278,818 commutes logged on the activity tracking app, a massive increase on the 80,000 recorded in 2016.
The UK more than pulled its weight in adding to the global tally, boasting more participants in the event than any other country. Rounding out the rest of the top five were the USA, Germany, Brazil and Australia. Maybe, just maybe, we really are the greatest country in the world after all.
Britain also claimed top spot in the city rankings, with London logging more rides on Global Bike To Work Day than any other urban area. The capital took first place after a 64% increase on the amount of rides logged compared with 2016. Amsterdam was second (16% up on 2016), the Bay Area duo of San Jose (up 87%) and San Francisco (up 66%) were third and fourth respectively, and Melbourne (up 42%) was fifth.
Overall 180,539 cyclists in 170 countries tagged their activities as commutes as part of the event, which took place on Thursday 11th May. The total distance logged was a massive 5.3 million km (3.3 million miles), which Strava calculates to be 1,580 tons of carbon emissions avoided.
The event provoked a huge 94% rise in the number of cyclists who logged commutes through the Strava app vs the average weekday in April and May 2017. The most Strava-savvy ones out there will not have gone unrewarded for their efforts either – you could sign up to earn a special digital badge by completing the Global Bike to Work Day Challenge on the app. The longest ride logged as part of that challenge was an impressive 342km by Bryan Foster in Madison, Wisconsin, which seems like a pretty tough commute. Foster hasn’t appeared on @StravaWankers yet, so we assume it’s genuine.
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Strava used the event to highlight its Strava Metro initiative, where it partners with major cities and shares anonymised details of the routes commuters are taking to help with urban planning. In the UK, London and Glasgow are both Strava Metro partner cities. In theory this should mean that tagging your rides as commutes in the app could one day mean those routes are better designed for cycling. We repeat, one day – don’t expect a sparkling new segregated cycling lane next week.
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