Photo credit: Flickr user tlml78

Bike to Work Week returns to Vancouver May 28 – June 1. With more than 400,000 lane-kilometres (248,000 miles) of bike routes in Vancouver, it’s no surprise that cycling is the city’s fastest growing form of transportation.

The biannual Bike to Work Week by HUB, formerly the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, which refreshed its image in 2012, uses workshops, commuter logs and bike “celebration stations” scattered throughout the city to motivate new riders to give biking to work a spin.

In 2011, Bike to Work Week participants saved more than 72 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by cycling. This year, HUB hopes to beat that number by 15%.

Find out how to participate in Bike to Work Week after the jump.

Cycling to work in Vancouver’s wet fall and winter poses a major motivational challenge. But cultivating a cycling habit in spring and summer is the easiest and most enjoyable way to launch a long term commitment. Plus there are prizes; Bike to Work Week is all carrot, no stick.

Bike to Work Week is designed to break down the barriers to cycling. All you have to do to get involved is register on Biketoworkmetrovan.ca.

Participation means access to HUB’s handy bike commuter log where cyclists can track their kilometres. Participants also gain access to over 50 commuter stations set up morning and evening along Vancouver’s busiest bike routes. Cyclists can stop to refuel with snacks and coffee. The stations also boast a free tune ups, maps and daily giveaways.  For the spring 2012 Bike to Work Week, HUB will give away $10,000 in prizes, including bikes and a chariot trailer.

Why else do it? It’s social. Cyclists of all sorts – from spandex racers to all-weather mountain bikers and frocked city bikers – can share tips and road lore with fellow cyclists.

HUB hopes to make cycling the preferred transportation option in Metro Van by 2030. And of let’s not forget that the City of Vancouver aims to be the greenest city in the world by 2020.

Bike to Work Week events and workshops run May 28 – June 1.