Bike to Work Challenge 2020: a success despite corona times

The aim of the Pro Velo Switzerland bike to work campaign is to encourage more people to commute by bicycle. The idea is to ride to work on at least 50% of the working days for one or two months.

Here at Roche, the event was organised once again by the Roche Employees’ Association (AVR): “We want to do our bit as always to improve the health of our employees and protect the environment,” explains AVR President and bike to work coordinator Adnan Tanglay.

This year, 323 employees from Roche alone took part in the campaign despite the coronavirus situation. In September and October, the Roche employees cycled around 86,052 kilometres in total and on average used the bike on 94% of working days, cutting CO2 emissions by around 12.4 tonnes.

This time round, the BioassayGoesCycling team pedalled the furthest, proudly clocking up 3,820.6 kilometres. The Turboschnecken (“Turbosnails”) came second, living up to their name with 3,312 kilometres, and third place went to EMSRRRRAAAAAAAAAAA34ANDMORE with 3,153 kilometres.

Jerome Fuchs (2,304 km) claimed the top spot in the individual category, with second and third places in this group going to Luigi Capizzi and Patrik Meier (1,478 and 1,456 km respectively).

And when it came to the team names, the participants really showed off their creative sides once again: Feel The Wheel, Conti Power, Kettenriss (“broken chain”), Die Coronas, Begnadigte Körper (“pardoned bodies”) and pRAD all took up the challenge.

Due to the coronavirus situation, the Site Mobility Team and executive management were unfortunately unable to organise the traditional barbecue. The teams selected will be invited to a pizza party at a later date.

written by Nicole Drexler, AVR Assistant