To celebrate Canadian Environment Week (June 1-7, 2014) and demonstrate our commitment to active and sustainable transportation, Elbow Lake staff has registered for the Commuter Challenge. This friendly competition between Canadian cities and workplaces encourages employees to leave their cars at home in favour of walking, cycling, carpooling, public transit and telecommuting.

While most of us walk, cycle and/or carpool to our work sites on campus or at Elbow Lake, this week the seven of us decided to try something a little more challenging and a lot more fun: We commuted by bicycle 30 km north from Queen’s campus to the Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre! Two of us rode the full 60 km round-trip, a couple more rode 30 km one-way trips, and three people carpooled through Kingston traffic to ride a more rural 40 km out-and-back. Our bikes ranged from “Canadian Tire Specials” to more higher-end models, and our experienced ranged from “I own a bike…” to avid cyclist. But we all did it, and we did it as a team!

Congratulations, everyone, for an amazing effort in the 2014 Commuter Challenge!