A fun event was held on Friday morning for the commute to work. A mini challenge was put up to see whether a cyclist, a transit rider or a person driving a car would get downtown faster. The three challengers met at 16th Avenue and 19th street N.W. and they would meet at Eau Claire Market. The event was organized by Lonny Balbi in an effort to raise awareness that cycling is an excellent alternative to driving.

“Today’s event is a fun event to show Calgarians that cycling is a viable way to get to work,” said event organizer Lonny Balbi.

Of course, knowing that the result of the challenge is not surprising. The cyclist of course obeyed all traffic rules but even if he didn’t I doubt he would’ve received any tickets since he was Rick Hanson, the Calgary Police Chief. He arrived at Eau Claire in 21 minutes. The car took 26 minutes and the poor transit rider took over 40 minutes.

While the race was obviously geared towards the cyclists to encourage everyone to bike to work, I was surprised that it took the transit rider 40 minutes to reach Eau Claire unless they couldn’t get on a morning train because it was so packed either that or they stopped off at Tim Horton’s while walking from the train station on 7th avenue.

This upcoming Friday, May 1st is Bike to Work Day. Let’s just hope the weather cooperates for those that will be hitting the pathways to get to work.