UBS Bike to Work Scheme - "The Saddle Sores"

Each year UBS takes part in a scheme called Bike To Work, where they encourage their employees to get off their bottoms and cycle to work.  Here are some interesting statistics from 2011 (Source: www.ubs.com)

"During the month of June, 2011, over 1,000 UBS employees rode 150,000 km participating in the “Bike to work” campaign - despite the rather damp weather conditions. Of the 20 possible bike days in June, staff on average cycled all or part of their journey to work on 12 days, saving 24 tons of CO2 emissions compared to the emissions of commuting by car. Many participants took this opportunity to ride to work for the first time and most committed to continue as they saw the benefits to their health and the environment.

Over 50,000 people from 1,300 companies took part in this Swiss initiative. UBS recorded the second highest number of participants."


Well June is almost here again and UBS has posters up everywhere asking employees to sign up.  A few of us in IT Cash Equities decided to sign up as a team, and our team name was chosen as "The Saddle Sores".  Most of "The Saddle Sores" team members already bike to work, except for me.  The rules do allow however for one member of the team to make their way to work by another self powered means such as walking or running or skating.  This is where I come in.  On the days that count as cycling days I will be running to work instead.  It is not too far at all - somewhere around 7 kilometres, so the perfect running distance to wake me up and allow me to start the day full of energy.

As well as being a bit of fun, there are some cool prizes to be won, including a wellness week for 2 in Flims Laax Falera worth 1,800CHF and bikes worth 1,700CHF amongst others.  For me the best part is not the chance to win prizes though, but the fact that it encourages me to run to work rain or shine.  I am good at running to work when the weather is nice, but I need a little encouragement to do it when it is raining or cold.  Now I can just think to myself "Don't let the team down Paul - get out there and run".

Does your employer run, or take part in, a similar scheme?  If so, I would be interested to hear about it.