During Environment Week, June 5 to 11, and Clean Air Day, June 8, try a new and sustainable way to get to work. If you are already doing that, get others on board.
When you walk, cycle, carpool, take transit or telework, you take steps towards meeting the government of Canada’s One-Tonne Challenge. Using sustainable transportation, even once a week, will make a significant positive impact on our air quality. And it’s an easy way to meet the federal government’s personal climate change challenge of reducing our average individual emissions from 5 tonnes per year to 4 tonnes. Why? Because by leaving our single occupancy vehicles at home once a week we can all reduce our personal contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by almost 1 tonne per year!
For more information, contact Go for Green 1-888-822-2848.

Walk, bike, ride or telework for the National Commuter Challenge
Established by BEST (Better Environmentally Sound Transportation) in 1996, the Commuter Challenge is a nation-wide event that promotes friendly competition among organizations and cities to see who can get the highest percentage of citizens and employees out of single occupancy vehicles (SOVs) and into healthier and cleaner, sustainable modes of commuting such as walking, cycling, transit, carpooling, vanpooling and teleworking.
Increasing our use of sustainable transportation makes our region more livable by reducing traffic congestion, harmful vehicle emissions and improving employee and public health.
The tenth annual GVRD Commuter Challenge encompasses a number of events that are targeted to the Vancouver business community.
This year also marks the second annual multi-modal relay race. Teams of five race from Burnaby Lake to Science World by kayak, bike, in-line skate, Skytrain and foot 604-689-4467.
The BC Commuter Challenge on June 8, will have more than 100 businesses with more than 15,000 employees taking part.
Communities taking part in BC include Nanaimo, Greater Victoria, Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna, Whistler, Nelson and the Greater Vancouver Regional District.
The BEST pancake breakfast awards ceremony June 29 will conclude the Commuter Challenge. The event begins at 7 am at the CBC Plaza in conjunction with Greater Vancouver Bike Month’s pancake breakfast event. 604-669-2860.

You are the pedal power

This year, Greater Vancouver Bike Month includes a wide range of exciting and educational events organized by groups across the Lower Mainland. (BEST). 604-669-2860 www.best.bc.ca
Bike Month 2005 highlights include:
May 31 – June 3
World Mountain Bike Conference on Sustainability www.nsmbfc.com/conference.asp
May 30 – June 5
North Shore Bike to Work Week. All day North Vancouver. www.biketoworkbc.ca
June 1 – 30
Fleetwood Bike Fitness Challenge. M – F, 7 am – 10 am. Weekends, 9 am – 5 pm Fleetwood Community Recreation Centre, 15996 – 84th Avenue. Bike your way around Surrey using cardio equipment. 604-501-5054.
June 2 – 27
Ceramicycle 2005. 6 – 8 pm Gallery of BC Ceramics, 1359 Cartwright St., Granville Island. A presentation of ceramic sculptures promoting and celebrating the bicycle. www.bcpotters.com www.muddycatstudios.ca
Saturday, June 4
Bike to Pitt Meadows Day. 11:30 am – 4:30 pm The day ends with a salmon barbecue 5 – 7 pm. 604-465-2452.
Saturday, June 4
Bicycle and Tricycle Riding Is Family Fun. Noon – 4 pm UBC Bookstore, 6200 University Blvd. 604-822-2665.
Saturday, June 4
Lantern Ride. 9 pm sharp David Lam Park, Davie and Pacific. Ride along the seawall and through the forest of Stanley Park. As the night darkens the bushes will glow with colourful lanterns and along the way, we will stop and hear pedal power minstrels.
Meet at David Lam Park at 7:30 to make lamps and decorations. Bring a flashlight or bike light and a plastic jug. No flames please. Art bikes and costumes welcome. www.pedalpower.org 604-255-2102.
Wednesday, June 8
Commuter Challenge. A friendly competition between cities and workplaces across Canada to see who can get the highest percentage of employees into cleaner, sustainable modes of transportation such as transit, carpooling, cycling, or walking. 604-689-4467.
Wednesday, June 8
Clear Air Day/Commuter Challenge Breakfast. 7:30 am – 9 am, Century House, 8th Street at 7th Avenue on the Crosstown Greenway, New West. Breakfast 8 am at the official unveiling of the New Westminster pedestrian/bicycle guide map and the initial bikeway/greenway network. 604-527-4592.
Thursday, June 9
Bike to School Day. A day to focus on bike safety at school. www.waytogo.icbc.bc.ca 604-732-1511.
Friday, June 10
Margaret Charles Chopper Collective (MC3) Ride. 6:30 pm, Science World gazebo, 1455 Quebec St. Freaky art bike collective invites you to take a ride with a post apocalyptic gang of velomutation riders.
Saturday, June 11
From 10 am – 4 pm at Science World, 1455 Quebec St., the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association is holding a ride an electric vehicle extravaganza featuring electric bikes. 604-878-9500 www.veva.bc.ca
Saturday, June 11
Stanley Park Bike Festival. 8 am – 2 pm Brockton Point in Stanley Park. www.stanleyparkbikefest.ca
Saturday, June 11
World Naked Bike Ride, 3 pm, Sunset Beach, east of English Bay on Beach Ave. On June 11, 54 cities across the world will be participating in a naked bike ride to protest car culture. www.worldnakedbikeride.org
Saturday, June 11
Cloverdale Family Bike and Safety Fair. 11 am – 3 pm Cloverdale Rec Centre, 6220 – 184th St. A great family event with prizes. 604-502-6420.
Saturday, June 11
Safe Riders Bike Event. 9:30 – 11:30 am Fleetwood Community Recreation Centre, 15996-84th Ave., Surrey 604-501-5030.
Sunday, June 12
Island City by Bike. 10:30 am Britannia Heritage Shipyard, 5180 Westwater Drive, Richmond. Long ride (24 km) will depart at and travel out to the Shell Road Trail via Westminster Highway and return along Williams Road, the West Dyke Trail and Imperial Landing.
11:30 am – short ride (8.5 km), loop around the West Dyke Trail and Railway Avenue. Refreshments and a raffle prize draw. 604-276-4035.
Sunday, June 12
Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion. Locations around the Lower Mainland. Canadians of all ages and abilities are invited to wheel, bike, skate, run or walk to help improve the quality of life of people with spinal cord injury. www.rickhansen.com 1-866.60WHEEL.
June 11 – 12
Fraser Valley Two-Day Wine Tour. 10 am Tradex, 1190 Cornell Street, Abbotsford. Tour through Fraser Valley wine country with stops at some of the top vineyards in the province. www.mssociety.ca/bc/bike_fv_2day.htm
Wednesday, June 15
A Cyclist’s Legal Brief. Rights, rules, roadway and collisions, 7 pm Britannia Community Centre, 661 Napier Street. Free. 604-689-4467 lisa@best.bc.ca
Saturday, June 18
Sapperton Bike Festival. Cap’s Bicycle Shop, 434 East Columbia, New Westminster. 604-524-3611.
Saturday, June 18
Newton Bike Day. 10 am – noon Newton Arena/Community Hall, 7120 – 136B Street, Surrey. Festivities will include bike parade with prizes. All participants who bring their bikes and take part in the activities will receive free admission to the public swim at the Newton wave pool on the day of the event. The swim starts at 12:30 pm. Free bike storage 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm. 604-501-5040.
Saturday, June 18
Preschool Bike Safety. Noon – 5 pm North Surrey Recreation Centre, 10275 – 135th St. 604-502-6344
Sunday, June 19
Learn to Ride Your Bike With Pedalheads. 2 pm – 4 pm, Jericho Hill Centre, 4196 West 4th Ave., Vancouver. From training wheels to trails, pedalheads is a 10-level instructional bike safety and skills program for kids aged 4 – 14. www.atlantisprograms.com 604-874-6464.
Tuesday, June 21
Bike Shorts: A Night of International Cycling Cinema. Doors at 7 pm, Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St. Films include: Extinction Stinks: the director’s cut (Canada); Foes, Woes and Heroes (Cuba); Voice of the Village (Finland); In the Cycling Park (Japan); A Straight Long Road (Italy); The Bike Ride (USA); On Time (USA); and many more. 604-730-1090.
Friday, June 24
Blessing of the Bicycles. 5 – 5:30 pm Christ Church Cathedral, Burrard and Georgia. The Anglican Environmental Task Force invites you to celebrate Greater Vancouver Bike Month by joining in a public blessing of the bicycles. In front of Christ Church Cathedral 5 pm, just before the Critical Mass ride. 604-708-0777.
Friday, June 24
Critical Mass Ride. 5:30 pm, Vancouver Art Gallery (by the fountain). This is a grassroots reclamation of public space, a bike ride and skate, held the last Friday of every month. Decorated people and bikes, signs, lights, bells, whistles, horns and other noisemakers are all encouraged. Rain or shine. www.velolove.bc.ca
Saturday, June 25
5th Annual Community Bike Drop. 10 am – 3:30 pm MEC roof-top parking lot, 130 West Broadway. Bring unwanted bicycles and parts to donate to local non-profits: UBC’s AMS Bike Co-op, Our Community Bikes, Covenant House, Bikeworks at United We Can and PEDAL. If you have no bike to donate, drop by and join the festivities. www.mec.ca or 604-872-7858 ext.317.
Saturday, June 25
South Surrey Bike Festival and Sports Swap. 11 am – 3 pm South Surrey Bike Park, 24th Ave. and 148th St. Surrey Off-Road Cycling Enthusiasts Society presents its fourth annual Surrey Bike Fest. This huge festival is part of Surrey’s Peninsula Days. www.sorcebikeclub.org 604-538-5716.
Sunday, June 26
Learn to Ride Your Bike With Pedalheads. 2 – 4 pm, St. Clement’s Anglican Church 3400 Institute Road, North Vancouver. www.atlantisprograms.com 604-874-6464.
Saturday, June 26
Vancouver Fourth Annual Vintage Bicycle Swap Meet and Show. 9:30 am – 3:30 pm, Cambrian Hall, 215 East 17th Ave. at Main). Bicycles from turn-of-the-century to 1950s balloon tire classics to vintage 1980s BMX race bikes for sale, trade or display. $2, 604-873-3422.
Wednesday, June 29
BEST Pancake Breakfast. 7:30 – 9 am CBC Plaza, 700 Hamilton. Wrap up Greater Vancouver Bike Month and the Commuter Challenge with free pancakes, fair-trade coffee, juice and organic oranges. Music, speakers, entertainment and some familiar faces flipping your flapjacks. 604-669-2860.
Friday, July 1
Bike to Granville Island on Canada Day. 9 am – 6 pm, enjoy the famous Canada day celebrations. Free bike storage. 604-682-1993.
Yaletown Grand Prix. This fast pace downtown criterium will amaze you. International, national and regional champions will hit speeds in excess of 60 km/h in a tight technical course. Family activities all day. www.trekvwracing.com 604-328-7370.