We Cycled to the Moon and Back!

The University of Pécs launched the cycling challenge MoonBike 2020 on 26 July. The idea was to have participants from all around the world ride a total of 384,400 kilometres (the average Earth-Moon distance) on bikes together in 80 days with the underlying purposes of promoting an active, healthy lifestyle and building an online community.

MoonBike 2020 riders reached the Moon in exactly 2 months, way ahead of schedule. Remarkably, the group of 600 members did not stop there and continued the challenge until the last day. The total distance on day 80 (13 September) was an astounding 937,531.72 kilometres. To put this extraordinary number in perspective: the MoonBike community went to the Moon and back, and then cycled around the globe four times just for fun.

^{Dóra Király originator and main organizer of the MoonBike 2020 project, with Dr. Bence Cselik (on the right), connections manager. (Photo: Szabolcs Csortos, UnivPécs)}

The project had another important aspect, as we are a Green University. We wanted to encourage participants to use their bikes instead of their cars and public transportation because that is more environment-friendly and also provides a safer alternative in the pandemic.

A medium-sized (1700-2000 cm³) car running on petrol would have emitted 233.7 tons of CO² on the Earth-Moon distance. Therefore, by using their bikes, MoonBike 2020 participants eventually saved more than 233.7 tons of CO² emission. This amount of greenhouse gas is equal to that of sequestered by 3,400 pieces of 50-year-old trees in a full growing season.

The campaign showed that despite all the recent challenges, we can stay connected to our students, partners, alumni, and the Hungarian diaspora, who all contributed to spreading the news of the challenge from the United States to India to Australia.

Among others, David Lappartient, the president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) endorsed the initiative. Partner universities from Denver, Orléans, Wien, Novi Sad, Zagreb, Pula, Subcarpathia, Vukovar, and Brno joined the challenge. We had groups of friends joining from North America, the Netherlands, South Tirol, and Transylvania. The organizers of the biggest Hungarian bicycle races also offered their support.

^{Many participants joined the project right away on the first day! (Photo: Szabolcs Csortos, UnivPécs)}

We are proud to say that MoonBike 2020 reached a great number of people and institutions both in Hungary and abroad thus considerably enhancing the international visibility of the University of Pécs and the values we represent.

We will draw valuable gifts among the participants.

We do not want our followers to get bored during the cold seasons, so we will launch indoor challenges, and when spring comes, we will be ready to start our next bike project! Stay tuned and join our group of enthusiastic cyclists: MoonBike 2020 »

Read the article about the Launch of the MoonBike 2020 Project!