It’s that time of year again… The Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s Bike Commute Challenge 2009 kicks off next week and you don’t want to miss out.

The goal of the BCC is to introduce first-time bike commuters to the fun, health, safety, and environmental benefits of commuting by bike. But even committed commuters can take part. In fact in 2008 nearly 10,700 individual participants from more than 1,000 businesses logged over one million miles of bike commutes. That’s a lot of riding!

If you want to take part, check the BCC website to see if your company is already on board. If not, sign up to be a team captain and get your coworkers involved. The workplaces with the highest percentage of commutes by bicycle during the month win. Not only that, but at the end of each week of the Challenge there will also be regional prize drawings for anyone who has logged at least one trip during that week. (Read: you can win some sweet sweet swag). What are you waiting for? Free gear and a healthier lifestyle is only a few clicks of a mouse away!

P.S. The good people at Wend are most certainly taking part!

[Photo: kworth30, Flickr]