What are you doing on Monday, June 19? Hopefully, you’re strapping your briefcase down to your motorcycle, so to speak, and… riding to work!
Ride To Work Day once again runs on the third Monday of June—but it’s the last time that will happen. Not because the event is closing down, but because June 19 is a federal holiday in the US, where Ride To Work Day started. There isn’t much point in a work-focused event, if your jobsite isn’t open! For that reason, the event will change to the second Tuesday of June, starting in 2024. This is the last year for the traditional third-Monday date.
How do you take part in this time-honoured event? Just the same as the organizers have planned for the past 30-plus years: You get on your motorcycle and ride to work, instead of taking the bus, the train, your SUV, whatever.
Sounds like a pretty basic idea, and we know many CMGers already use their motorcycles or scooters regularly for commuting to work. They don’t need a reminder!
But for other riders, commuting by motorcycle can be a hassle. You’ve got to store your gear when you get to the office, you might have helmet hair, and so on. Maybe parking isn’t safe, or maybe your co-workers associate motorcyclists with outlaw gangs.
The whole point of Ride To Work Day is to solve these issues. When Andy Goldfine founded the event, he wanted to show the world just how many people of all backgrounds are riding motorcycles. He also hoped to demonstrate the practicality of motorcycles as commuter vehicles, and to hopefully show how cities’ gridlock could go away if more riders commuted on bikes or scooters instead of in cars (in a perfect world, maybe we would also see lanesplitting legalized… ).
Of course, Andy Goldfine is also the founder of Aerostich, and no doubt he hoped to sell a few of his uber-practical riding suits to commuting motorcyclists. But so what? Aerostich is exactly what commuters need, and it’s good to see someone out there filling that role in the market.
For more details on next week’s event, you can visit the RideToWork.org website, but honestly? All you really need to do to take part is get on your bike, and head to the office. Maybe you’ll find it’s a far better way to start your workday, or maybe you’ll inspire your co-workers to start their own moto career!
