Yeah, competition is good and can be fun. I guess part of the problem for me is the nature of this competition. It is against people I can't see, involving an activity that I cannot personally increase (I can't bike to work 8 days a week), for a prize that would be shared among a team of people who probably have little interest in owning the prize, a trophy, anyway. Many competitions have prizes that themselves may not be valuable but are worth something because of the status of winning a contest for which one must train, achieve a certain level of athletic prowess, etc. In my mind, the Austin Commuter Challenge Trophy just indicates that a group of people with similar degrees of willingness to bike commute got together. I would guess that the people most likely to win this contest are not a bunch of cagers but rather a crew of people who already bike commute. Maybe they will recruit a cager or two.
I get that in theory some people will bother to participate in this contest. But it just annoys me because it seems so lame to me, despite the fact that I support the cause.
Rant over for now.