Get ready for the annual Walk & Ride Challenge. The event will run from this October 14 through November 1.

WHO: All downtown Bethesda-based companies and employees — both in-office and teleworking (remote) — are invited to participate.

HOW: It’s free! Just form a team of three to five people and enter. Registration opens soon. (Sorry, no pedometers or t-shirts again this year.)

WHY: You’ll enjoy this multi-week contest to incorporate walking into your daily routine. Walking to your workplace, to your bus stop or nearest Metrorail station, or simply around downtown Bethesda during your lunch break is an ideal way to add healthy activity to your day.

WOW: Did we mention prizes? Each week, participants who walk more than 10,000 steps will be entered into a random drawing to win gift cards. There will be other opportunities to win throughout the Challenge.

WHAT’S NEXT: Register in September, log your weekday steps in October, and get some fun competition going with your coworkers. At the conclusion of the three-week Challenge, prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place:

QUESTIONS: Contact Kristen Blackmon at BTS (301-656-0868 x119 or KBlackmon@bethesda.org).

Bethesda’s daytime temperature exceeded 100 degrees for four consecutive days last month. It was only the third time in the past century that the D.C. area sizzled so high for so long. Having broken those records puts this summer on track to potentially steal first place from 2023 as the hottest ever.

Luckily, registration opens this month for Car Free Day 2024, which will be on Monday, September 23. Car Free Day provides all of us with an opportunity to put a cork in the greenhouse gasses spewing into our atmosphere — at least for a day.

The worldwide event encourages greener methods of travel. In the D.C. region, Commuter Connections hosts Car Free Day to emphasize the benefits of options such as transit, bicycling, walking — and simply teleworking from home.

Carpooling and vanpooling count as greener choices, too, since they take some vehicles off the road. And…e-scooters? Yes, they’re also an option for people who know how to ride them safely.

Electric-vehicle owners might be saying, “Hey, we don’t pollute!” True, but each EV is still one more car on the road adding to congestion. So, consider parking that plug-in for Car Free Day.

This isn’t entirely about altruism, though. All who take the Car Free Day pledge will be entered into a free raffle for a chance to win one of the following prizes, with many more great prizes to be added to the list below:

By keeping our cars and trucks sidelined on September 23, we’ll be reducing traffic and dialing down temperature-boosting exhaust. Please take the Car Free Day pledge.

Each issue of our newsletter for the last few months highlighted various Bike to Work Day pit stop table sponsors who were at the event. This month, we feature Montgomery County Ride On and Potomac Pedalers.

MCDOT Ride On

Thank you to MCDOT Ride On for exhibiting at the downtown Bethesda Bike to Work Day pit stop this year. MCDOT’s public transportation options include Ride On, Ride On extRa, Flex, and Flash. Traditional Ride On service offers 80 bus routes connecting communities throughout the county. (Be sure to download the Ride On Trip Planner App to see the exact time the next bus will arrive.)

Ride On extRa offers faster service and fewer stops, and its buses have USB charging ports and WiFi. Flex offers on-demand transit service in defined Rockville and Glenmont/Wheaton zones. Flash is the County’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network, offering amenities such as level boarding for wheelchairs, strollers and bikes, easy-to-use bike racks, and free Wi-Fi and USB charging.

Ride On is also a great way to connect with Metrorail, Metrobus, the Bethesda Circulator, and other transit options serving the region.

Potomac Pedalers

Potomac Pedalers’ weekend rides number more than 1,000 each year, comprehensively covering the variable terrain of the National Capital metropolitan area and the surrounding countryside. Distances typically range from 10 miles to 75 miles, and average speeds range from 8 to more than 20 miles per hour. Visit the website for the calendar of August rides.

“Potomac Pedalers members travel roads and trails across the D.C. region, often to and from work, so it was a privilege for our organization to again participate in the downtown Bethesda Bike to Work Day pit stop, to represent thousands of riders, and to celebrate progress in safe and fun bicycling.” — Stephen Mink