September 8, 2010 (Kitchener, ON) – Ziggy’s Cycle is proud to announce the finale of the 2010 Waterloo Region Freewheels Project! The store will commemorate the event with a group ride with the winners along the Grand River Trail from Kitchener to Cambridge on Saturday September 11th, 2010 at 12PM. Each of the 25 project winners originally wrote a 300-word essay based on the question “How would a new bicycle change your life?” The winners received their free, fully accessorized $800 Cannondale bike at an event on June 5th and rode their new bikes throughout the summer. The newly outfitted riders documented their experiences by blogging about cycling in the Region of Waterloo every week during the following months.

The results of the project declare it a resounding success. In almost all cases, Ziggy’s Cycle deliberately chose citizens who were not already regular cyclists and by September 11, these exceptional individuals will have travelled 9,000km! Driving a standard mid-sized vehicle this would equate to about 1,780 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions.

One of the best stories to come out of the project was a retired Canadian forces officer who cycled 2,200km and lost 15 pounds in the process. Another remarkable narrative was an adventurous 55-year old woman, who went from having zero experience with bicycles to riding every day, for a total of 310km by the summer’s end!

Common themes in the winners’ blog posts were a sense of freedom and having surprising encounters with wildlife and other people that would have been impossible in a vehicle. Ziggy’s Cycle is proud to have worked with such outstanding and determined people this summer, and to have engendered positive change in the process.

www.ziggyscycle.ca