I just started something today that I am really excited about. I signed up for the National Bike Challenge, which seeks to get 50,000 people to ride 10 million miles by the end of August. The more you ride, the more points you get and the more points you get the more prizes you’re eligible for such as some pretty nice bikes or at least a water bottle. You can compete with people at your work or university.

Anyway, I’m pretty stoked about it and today on top of my usual commute to work (3.31 miles counting coming home for lunch), I went to the grocery store and to a church meeting on my bike as well (5.90 miles). That’s a total of 9.21 miles today not driving the car. According to the IRS, cars cost on average $0.51/mile to drive with gas, maintenance, and depreciation. That means I saved $4.70 today alone by not driving. This week so far I have biked 31.64 miles or $16.14. That really adds up!

So I exhort you to go sign up and get on your bike. If you’re looking for even more good reasons to replace some of your driving with biking, here they are:

• It’s more fun than driving
• Better health
• Biking will make you rich ($93,432 richer in 10 years, apparently.)
• Maybe prizes if you sign up for the bike challenge and log some miles.
• Did I mention that it’s fun?