With very little fortitude to wait for…anything, I often lose my patience with anyone who doesn’t match my lightning speed. Just ask my coworkers…or my fiancé…or, well, you get it. And being 32 means that I don’t have enough life experience behind me to personally relate to the wisdom and challenges that come with achieving 60 or 70 or 80 years of life.
With that combination of characteristics, you can see why I wasn’t as excited about working at the National Senior Games on behalf of Freewheelin as I was to go to the Democratic and Republican national conventions. I assumed that my time there would lack that frenzied pace that juices me up. I was right. And wrong to think that would make this experience less meaningful.
Our presence at the Senior Games was multi-faceted. In addition to our large tent geared toward Humana’s programs for seniors and caregivers, we brought Freewheelin in the form of two bike stations and 120 bikes available for free rides. Between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., anyone over the age of 18 could check out a bike for free. Helmets and locks were provided.
Most of the users of our Freewheelin program fell into our 61+ category, which is the bottom of our age drop-down list. That really doesn’t tell the story, though, as our users could have been divided into 61-70, 71-80, 81-90 and 90+. Really. We had 90-year-olds cruising around on our bikes as if they were teenagers. Amazingly, wheels often give older people a way to escape what slows them down on two feet. Just listen to Nancy talk about her rheumatoid arthritis.
Most of the stories I heard were those of athletes … competitive, healthy, energetic, fun athletes. I had the pleasure of meeting Robbie and Barbara (photo above) from Cincinnati. Robbie is on the left and that’s me in the middle. She’s 65, but she and Barbara play in the 55-year age category of women’s doubles tennis (because she kicks booty, to put it a little more delicately than she does). They won the silver. We had the pleasure of lending them bikes and cheering them on every day they were in Palo Alto. Robbie hadn’t been on a bike in 20 years.
We met a lady from Boston in her 80s, who came with her son to re-learn how to ride. No one at home would rent her a bike, and she was so glad to have our service so that she could practice riding. Her driving privileges had just been revoked and she wanted a way to get to the health club. It took her son giving her a push and a little bit of time for her to steady herself, but the experience offered her confidence and the freedom that she was searching for.
And, we met the lady from Kentucky who is in the Softball Hall of Fame. Think a real-life “League of their Own” player. She’s 84 and she competed in the Games, which included sliding into third base. To put this into perspective, this lady was a teenager during World War II and she was eating dirt to keep the rally alive. She enjoyed her ride.
These nuggets of inspiration and real life are what I would’ve missed had I rushed through the process. Life consistently teaches me lessons that I’m often too stubborn to see, but this one was thankfully evident.
And because I had the pleasure of knowing these spectacular people, their husbands and daughters and grandchildren, I’m juiced about bringing Freewheelin this fall to the senior communities at three of Humana’s Guidance Centers. To continue the momentum from Freewheelin at the Senior Games in Palo Alto, we’re dropping 25 bikes at Guidance Centers in Mesa, Arizona; Henderson, Nevada and Tamarac, Florida.
Anyone in the area over the age of 18 can use the bikes, but I really hope that while I’m there, I get to help orient someone with a few wrinkles and a great story.
DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
So far, we’ve kicked off two installations of Freewheelin-donated B-cycle systems. Earlier in the month, we presented a system to the National Parks Service in Washington, DC – and just last week we did the same with the city of Denver. Both visits were marked by very appreciative comments and praise for Humana’s generosity and leadership in the environmental health space.
I was impressed not only with the short speeches from officials and Humana leadership, but also with the turnout at these press events. In both cases, the body of system users really came to find out what the donation meant to them. NPS employees, wearing the traditional "Smoky Bear" hats, were eager to get started using the bikes, despite the less-than-friendly January weather. Denver lucked out with fantastic sunshine, and not only drew city employees to the kickoff, but also dozens of interested local residents, who came to hear what the mayor had to say.
And he said some pretty amazing stuff. After accepting a check for one million dollars from the DNC, he announced the expansion of the pilot system with those donated funds. This will do great things for the city of Denver, and positions it as the first ever US city equipped with a functional city-wide bike sharing program.
Great news for the city, certainly. Great news for B-cycle, too. Next, look for the kickoff of the replacement system for our corporate hometown, in Louisville.
DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
If you’re one of the thousands of people who met and fell in love with freewheelin at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this past summer, there’s good news for you. Bikesharing may be coming to your town – soon.
For those of you who don’t know, Humana and Bikes Belong introduced the largest bikesharing program in America’s history . . . but just during the 8 days of the conventions (and the four days of Louisville’s idea festival ). The program was such a success (we were awarded a WeMedia Game Changers award!) that we decided to create bcycle.
Freewheelin’s magic was in capturing the fun and ease of getting around on a bike. And that spirit lives on in bcycle. But where freewheelin was a human-intensive production, bcycle is based on swiss-efficient, custom-designed bikes and storage units so that the bikes are available 24×7x365. And best of all, it’s backed by its own social network to make it easier to find routes, riding partners and available bikes.
Bcycle’s plan is to revolutionize bikesharing – and it’s off to a blazing start in 2009, selling systems into both Miami Beach and Denver. We’re looking forward to great things as this program evolves, and we in the innovation center are proud to be a part of something that so good for both health and the environment.
To learn more, check out www.bcycle.com – there’s a “must watch” video there to introduce you to bcycle.
DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
I’m excited to announce the results of our first CrumpleItUp.com contest! Waaaaay back on December 24th (remember back to last year?)we announced the contest that coincided with the launch of our first casual game, the Freewheelin Cycle Challenge. Our goal was to discover which of our enterprising readers could find the cleverest and most effective ways to reach out to parents, in the hopes that we could get their kids playing the game over the holidays.
And we had some pretty clever ideas. Here are some of the highlights:
Spread the word on Facebook to some 1,700 people
Spread the word on Twitter to some 1,300 people
Spread the word on LinkedIn to some 700 people
Posted on 6 blogs/other sites
Announced on a major Yahoo Groups parenting site
Remember the rules of the contest, as originally published: “The legal rules of the competition are: There are none. At my sole discretion, I will determine how many winners there will be, what the winning criteria are, and the value of the gift certificates. I reserve the right to be arbitrary and capricious. But I will DEFINITELY give public props to the people who impress me. How to play? Simple.
Create a strategy for getting your message out.
Do it.
Tell me what you did (and if possible, how it worked) by commenting on this blog post.”
The result was that we had over 3,000 game-plays in the first two weeks of the game’s existence . . . which isn’t bad at all! Thanks so much to all of you who participated. EVERYONE is a winner! Here’s our honor roll . . . each of these fine individuals will be contacted individually by me in order to distribute their prizes.
Chris’ efforts included reaching out through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. These strategies may not be revolutionary, but because of Chris, over 700 people heard about the game.
Martin did something completely unique in the competition; he did a screen capture of the game play, and posted it on YouTube. I hear that a few people use that site. Nice creativity and use of technology!
Prize: 1 iTunes Gift Certificate
NAIMUL Naimul was a horse. He tweeted the game from 2 accounts, posted to his massive facebook audience, blogged about it, had it posted on another casual game site (which accounted for about 10% of the total gameplay), and used AOL Instant Messenger and gChat to tell all his friends about it. Whew!
Prize: 2 iTunes Gift Certificates
Scott Scott doesn’t put much much stock all this social media nonsense. But he knows the value of a network . . . and there’s no better network than the one that’s sitting around the holiday table with you. Scott (who is rumored to be the president of a secret Luddite organization) got all the kids in his extended family playing by using the oldest trick in the book: Playing the game himself, and letting everyone see how much fun it was. It generated hours of entertainment for his family. Because we realize that the heart of social media is in the social: Prize: 2 iTunes Gift Certificates
And our GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Alistair Alistair is clearly a take-no-prisoners type of fellow . . . and he did yeoman’s work to get the word out. Here’s a sample: Told his friends on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Posted the game on Delicious. Shared it with the “Families Eating Healthy” yahoo group. Shared it with parenting sites Peachhead, Urban Baby, Kids Health, Bike Snob NYC and iVillage. And wrote some great comments on the site. Fantastic! And as the Grand Prize Winner, Alistar will recieve: Prize: 3 iTunes GIFT CERTIFICATES!
Thanks to everyone who played – and won – in our inaugural contest. Look for more ways to take my money in the coming months. And in the meantime, go keep telling everyone about – and go play – the Freewheelin Cycle Challenge. The contest is over, but the game lives on . . .
DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
Freewheelin riders have included Members of Congress, mayors, movie stars, TV personalities, journalists, cartoonists, and an all-american football player (OK, so he works for us, but still). But we were especially excited that a freewheeler has been appointed to the Obama administration. The former mayor of Dallas, Ron Kirk, was nominated late last week to the post of US Trade Representative, a cabinet-level position responsible for developing and recommending US trade policy to the President.
Mr. Kirk experienced the magic of bikesharing in a ride with a group of Texan delegates to the democratic convention in Denver. The 54-year-old spent a few minutes talking with me after his ride, and seemed to really enjoy the experience.
In announcing Mr. Kirk’s new post, President-elect Obama said that, “Ron will help make sure that any agreements I sign as President protect the rights of all workers, promote the interests of all Americans, and preserve the planet we all share.” Sounds like a great job for a Freewheeler!
See below for the exclusive “Ron Kirk Freewheelin Interview;” hard-hitting journalism at its best . . .
DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.
.jpg)
With very little fortitude to wait for…anything, I often lose my patience with anyone who doesn’t match my lightning speed. Just ask my coworkers…or my fiancé…or, well, you get it. And being 32 means that I don’t have enough life experience behind me to personally relate to the wisdom and challenges that come with achieving 60 or 70 or 80 years of life. 
I was impressed not only with the short speeches from officials and Humana leadership, but also with the turnout at these press events. In both cases, the body of system users really came to find out what the donation meant to them. NPS employees, wearing the traditional "Smoky Bear" hats, were eager to get started using the bikes, despite the less-than-friendly January weather. Denver lucked out with fantastic sunshine, and not only drew city employees to the kickoff, but also dozens of interested local residents, who came to hear what the mayor had to say.
And he said some pretty amazing stuff. After accepting a check for one million dollars from the DNC, he announced the expansion of the pilot system with those donated funds. This will do great things for the city of Denver, and positions it as the first ever US city equipped with a functional city-wide bike sharing program. 
If you’re one of the thousands of people who met and fell in love with 
I’m excited to announce the results of our first CrumpleItUp.com contest! Waaaaay back on December 24th (remember back to last year?)we announced the 
Freewheelin riders have included 