Stadtradeln (City Cycling)

Today, I am writing about a cycling event called ' Stadtradeln' ( City Cycling), which takes place every year all across Germany for 21 continuous days anytime between May and September. The exact dates are decided by the municipality.

After attending the launch event today (4th May 2022) at Georg Buchner Strasse, Darmstadt, I thought of taking my readers through this exciting event. In Darmstadt, this year, the dates are from 4th May to 24th May 2022.

So, what is Stadtradeln?

'Stadt' translates to City, and 'radeln' translates to cycling. It is a cycling competition where all the participants cycle and collect as many kilometers as possible. The duration is three weeks, and within this time,  the individual or team that manages the maximum kilometers stands to win prices. The idea is to encourage people to use the cycle instead of the car and help protect the environment. Through this event, improvements to the local cycling infrastructure, if needed, are also brought to the notice of the local governing authorities.

Who can participate?

If your municipality ( Kommune in German) is participating, you can participate. You can find out if your municipality is participating using this link:

https://www.city-cycling.org/municipalities

How to participate?

Check the website https://www.stadtradeln.de/home. It is available in multiple languages. 

To participate, one has to create an account. It can be created using this link:

https://www.city-cycling.org/sign-up

You can either participate as an individual OR create a team and collect kilometers as a team OR join an existing team.

Once you are registered, all you have to do is, start cycling and collecting kilometers. Kilometers cycled can be recorded using the stadtradeln app (available for Android and IOS) OR entered manually. What you manually enter is trust-based.

My aim :

I plan to cycle every day. I will use this opportunity to go around the city and capture some beautiful shots. In that process, I collect kilometers for my team. I don't have a specific kilometer target in mind. The idea is to have fun and contribute to the team.

My experience:

3rd May 2022(Tuesday): I registered and joined a team that my children's school had already created. 

4th May 2022(Wednesday): Today was my first day. After attending the launch event, I availed the free cycle-check by Gleis 66. Apart from low air pressure in my cycle tire and some issue with my cycle stand, there was no real problem. Since I was riding after almost a year, I decided to start with a short ride today and pace it up in the coming days. I rode around Herrngarten and Prince Georg Garten and completed 7.4 kilometers today. 

5th May( Thursday): Today I wanted to do a little more than yesterday but ended up doing almost the same number of kilometers that I did yesterday. I started from home and rode to the Botanical Garden of TU Darmstadt. After seeing the Botanical garden on foot, I rode back, stopping once on the way to buy some stuff, and was back home. Today I covered 8.3 kilometers.

6th May (Friday): Today, I rode once again to Herrngarten, followed by a ride to Prince Emil Garten. After doing a few rounds, I headed to Albert Schweitzer Anlage. Then headed home. today, I completed 11 kilometers.

7th May( Saturday): It's a weekend, so there was no particular plan for today. Just went around, did some shopping, etc. Today, I covered 9.9 kms.

9th May ( Monday): Today I rode towards Jugendstilbad and Woog and returned. Explored the area on my bike and covered 10 kilometers.

11th May: Today I cycled to Woog again and then headed to park Rosenhöhe and returned. I covered 8.7 kilometers today.

12th May : Today I cycled towards Bioversum and Jagdschloss Kranishstein and completed 18 kilometers

13th May: Today it was just a short trip to Prinz Georg Garten to buy some fresh produce and plants for my balcony from the sale at the garden. the kilometers covered were only 3.3.

18th May: Today, again I cycled to Park Rosenhöhe and covered 8.7 kilometers.

23rd May: My cycle broke down which lead me to the repair shop. But I managed to take it on the bus instead of using the car. I cycled back to add a few kilometers to my kitty. Today I covered 5.7 kilometers.

So, out of the 21 days available, I cycled for 11 days and in total covered 90.5 kilometers and avoided 13.9 kgs of Co2.

Along with the joy of doing my bit for the environment, I enjoyed the experience of exploring the city of Darmstadt, understanding it from a historical and cultural point of view, and of course, coming home, researching more, and writing my blog.

The competition gets over on 24th May ( which is today). As I sit and update my experiences in this article, I feel happy and motivated to explore more on my bike and share my experiences with my readers about this beautiful city.