Bike Commute Challenge Website Update
Posted by: StephanieSep 05 2008, 2:39 pm
We’ve been getting lot’s of great feedback from bike commuters out there that our new Bike Commute Challenge website looks great, but people keep telling us they would like it to function too. We couldn’t agree more, so we've taken it off line for a few days to move it to a bigger server and fix some bugs.
Here are the details. We know there’s a lot to love about bike commuting, so we anticipated a high volume of users on the site and that there would probably be a lot of morning traffic as people filtered in to work. What surprised us was how focused that traffic turned out to be — so many users logging in all at once. Our new website, like many a driver out there, was just getting slowed way down by rush hour. So some smart people are working really hard to make some changes that will keep it functioning under this record demand.
Here’s what you need to know. In order to keep the site moving along like a happy cyclist, we removed the function that instantly computes your new biking percentage every time you log a new trip, so don't worry if you don't see a change in that number right away. Do not be dismayed; these numbers will be updated several times daily so you can track how you’re doing and size up the competition.
Once again, we apologize for any bumps in the road you may have experienced with the site, and we thank everyone for your patience. Happy Riding.
still does not work for me
Sep 05 2008 at 10:24 pmGood deal, and thanks for the updates! Do whatever you have to do
A bit of feedback re; the functionality: I don't see a "Top Riders" button anywhere. I even challenged some other riders to see if that would give me one, but still no.
And now that some riders have accepted my challenge (thanks guys ;-), my percentage looks right in the riders challenge list, but my miles (in that box) only reflect one trip (miles *are* correct in the My Team and my personal stats boxes).
I know a popular sentiment may be that it's all good (?) - just ride bike and don't sweat technical difficulties on the internet; but really we *do* just ride bike and would anyway (and it does make us happy
Still, at least from one perspective, the 2008 Bike Commute Challenge *is* the web site functionality.
Sep 06 2008 at 12:00 pmI would love to see a top riders and top teams as well! Maybe a top 25 in each category. Would love it.
Probably top miles for individual, then top miles and percentages for teams.
Thanks for the hard work!
Sep 07 2008 at 12:42 pmI don't care a whit about the look of the site. I just want enter the stats quickly.
At some point, could you restore the ability to enter stats for previous months? We had been using the site to document our company's bike commutes throughout the year. I'd like to go back and update August, for example.
Thanks for speeding it up.
Sep 08 2008 at 12:02 pmThe site certainly looks nice, but it looks like there are some calculation issues in the individual rider stats. For example, I've ridden 3 of 5 days (60%) but the calculated stat shows 42.9%. Do we need to actively indicate that we didn't commute for weekends?.
The challenge stats also aren't showing up (e.g., miles ridden by other riders) or aren't being updated (e.g., my challenge % showed up but not my miles).
Sep 08 2008 at 12:23 pmBut my commute rate went down from 75% to 57.1% after I entered my trips for today. The only to get 57.1% is with 7 days of possible commute days. What days should the software count as total possible commute days?
Sep 08 2008 at 12:28 pmI had to actually mark Saturday and Sunday as non-commute days in order to achieve the correct % stats. I would have assumed it considered that when I originally put in my work week as M-F.
Sep 08 2008 at 12:32 pmThanks to everyone for your comments and helpful feedback. While folks can currently log trips and have their stats updated once an hour, we are still working on improving the other functions of the site. Thanks for bearing with us. We'll send an update email to all Challenge participants in the next day or so.
Sep 08 2008 at 3:14 pmHere's a new twist. The team summary sorts team members alphabetically by commute rate. So, all of the folks who rode 100% of their possible commute days are way down on team list.
Sep 08 2008 at 7:50 pmLooks like the BCC site is offline again… just when we thought it was safe to log.
Sep 09 2008 at 9:38 amNo function.. ERrror 010101011101001011100010010101
Sep 09 2008 at 9:41 am"See what sendin' out them negative waves did, Moriarity?"
Sep 09 2008 at 10:51 amMakes me happy I do software test - somewhere out there, there will always be work for me!
Sep 09 2008 at 11:20 amMan!!! I just want to log in and look at something; I'm the team captain, you wouldn't think it would be that hard…. but now the site is telling me that either I don't know my password or I don't know my user name. And it wants me to create a new account.
Uh… nope.
C'mon, BTA! Let's get this thing sorted, already!
Sep 09 2008 at 12:12 pmWhen I go to the BCC Home page, it indicates in the upper right corner that I am already logged in, but I don't see a way to get to "my home page" to log trips, as is indicated in the FAQ.
Sep 09 2008 at 12:37 pmI'm starting to lose riders - they're running out of patience. Maybe this isn't the year for it, huh? Plus, it looks to me like the riding stats are including weekends when calculating the % of days I rode even tho I said I only work on M-F. Please, can we just go back to last years web site for this year and you can get this one working better for next year?
Sep 09 2008 at 2:04 pmMelissa, up at the top, you'll see a link to "challenge central"; that will take you to the page where you log your trips.
It's not intuitive that this is what you are supposed to click…
And, as of 1 minute ago, when I tried it I got the old "we're still tweaking the site" message. Um, hello? Is this thing on?
Sep 09 2008 at 2:06 pmClick on the "Challenge Central" link to get to your home page. However, the site appears to be down again. I've been getting a message that some "tweeks" are being made. Could "Challenge Central" be a double entendre this year?
Sep 09 2008 at 2:10 pmstill not working - and we are now up to day 9 of the month! I am going to forget which days I rode and how far by the time this thi ng starts to function properly….
Sep 09 2008 at 3:25 pmIt's not that difficult to physically write down the days you rode. You're not going to get a hand cramp. They're trying to fix up the site. Stuff happens.
Sep 09 2008 at 5:14 pmI've gone well past caring about these glitches and am firmly in the "it's all good" camp by now. I mean, like, how about that weather we're having? Some goooood bikin', eh?
(Excellent info on the placeholder page, BTW
Sep 09 2008 at 9:04 pmPercentage Problems? You need (for some reason) to assign every single day including weekends, holidays etc. a category, e.g., rode to work, worked, but didn't ride or didn't work. Keep riding.
Sep 09 2008 at 9:27 pmIt isn't working for me, and I have lot's of mileage to enter.
Sep 10 2008 at 9:21 amHow do I enter my miles on my calendar??
Sep 10 2008 at 10:25 amWorst website ever!
Sep 10 2008 at 1:50 pmWhen the new and improved website is back in action, will my riders that are being told that their "account[s] [are] inactive" be "active" again, or is that a different problem in the program?
Sep 10 2008 at 8:57 pmPercentage Problems? v.2: Double-click on the day on the calender to bring up the category selections. Click on the round button. Single clicking on the day has been less successful for me.
I am as new to this as anyone, but from what I recall from last week we don't have to enter our mileage for each day because we set it up-front in the process and it automatically does it. See you on the road.
Sep 10 2008 at 9:33 pmby the time you get the site back up…………..it'll all be over!
Sep 10 2008 at 11:03 pmAny word on when the server move will be completed. It's been at least 24 hours since I first saw the notice.
Sep 11 2008 at 10:01 amSERVER UPDATE!
Sep 11 2008 at 10:44 amThe BCC site has been moved to the new server system. Our tech folks are currently running it through tests. We hope folks will have trip-logging capability by this evening.
Believe me, we are more anxious than anyone to have this site working!
Thanks for the update, Stephanie. I was just looking around to see if there was an update. Perhaps your announcement warrants a new Blog post?
Sep 11 2008 at 12:29 pmFor everyone wondering how to keep track of which days you've ridden while the site is down, here's a simple solution: ride every day.
Sep 11 2008 at 3:39 pmHi Andy, I'm not worried about keeping track of my trips. I even managed to run a couple errands after work this week by taking my bike on MAX. It was great not having to find parking on NW 21st. But, I want to find out how my coworkers are doing.
Sep 12 2008 at 12:04 amme too.
Sep 12 2008 at 1:31 pmYeah! It's back. I just updated my trips for the week.
Sep 12 2008 at 1:51 pmFinally back up! YAY!!!!
Sep 12 2008 at 2:36 pmMiles still don't look right in the "Challenges" box, and without knowing how many trips other people make, the percentage is not necessarily so meaningful, either.
The comparison of "My Stats" with "All Participants" is interesting, but would be more meaningful with a count of All Participants.
Still hoping for a "Top Riders" list.
I appreciate that you've stopped dinging my percentage in the middle of the day, before I have a chance to ride home and have an actual completed round trip to log.
(Next year maybe we can log ET [just kidding ;-)... and flats [I'm at 2 so far], and…
Sep 18 2008 at 10:10 am