New York is a very bike-able city! As the number of riders and bike lanes in the city rises, there is a chance to take advantage of the city scape and passion of avid riders to get more people riding bikes for transportation.
The King of Two Wheels bike challenge featured four contestants, each armed with a spool of yarn. They were challenged to have the least amount of thread on their spools at the end of one week. Contestants rid of yarn by manually tracking their bike rides on a physical map, and by completing challenges that required them to explore New York City and recruit friends to bike. This game-like competition was hosted within the studio workspace. Riders were motivated by tracking their routes on a communal map, being honored on the King of Two Wheels Wall of Fame, and being encouraged by their fellow colleagues.
By the end of the challenge, contestants were riding their bikes more, the studio community was talking about biking and a bike culture began to flourish within the studio.
The King of Two Wheels is an initial prototype for a thesis project aiming to motivate people to ride bicycles for transportation. The project is authored by Carrie Stiens and Kristin Breivik. More project goodness can be found at leatherducking.com.
