- Annegret Schwarz (from left), Steffi Friedebold, Patrick Puhlmann, Rüdiger Kloth as well as Michael Müller and Kristina Hansel (both from the district administration) started the city cycling in the district of Stendal on Wednesday afternoon in Hohenwulsch. Photo: Stefan Rühling
The starting signal has been given: On Wednesday afternoon, representatives from various municipalities in the district of Stendal joined District Administrator Patrick Puhlmann to kick off this year's city cycling event. They went on a tour to Bismark. This continues the weeks of cycling that began in early May with the Elbe Cycling Day. The district administration is coordinating the city cycling for the first time. This offers a unique opportunity: with all the kilometers collected by June 23, the district of Stendal can become a "newcomer municipality".
The Altmark Regional Marketing and Tourism Association (ART) had invited guests to Bismark for its association meeting. Puhlmann and Co. took this as the perfect opportunity to arrive by bike. Annegret Schwarz, mayor of the unified municipality of Bismark, picked up the representatives of the other municipalities from the district of Stendal and the district administrator at the train station in Hohenwulsch. They then cycled to Bismark together.
A challenge was also born on the way: Puhlmann, Schwarz, Steffi Friedebold (Mayor of the municipality of Elbe-Havel-Land) and Rüdiger Kloth (Mayor of the municipality of Seehausen) recorded short videos for social media in which they specifically nominate three people to take part in city cycling. These nominees now have 24 hours to prove their ride, otherwise they will be asked to hand out an ice cream.
Anyone can participate. All you need to do is register on the website www.stadtradeln.de. If you already have a City Cycling account, you can reactivate it. After registering, you’ll select the participating municipality. At this point, cyclists have the option to join a team in one of the participating municipalities within the district or to join a team directly under the Stendal district. If there isn’t a suitable team yet, both options allow for the creation of new teams. This requires a minimum of two cyclists.
There are no costs for cyclists. The "City Cycling 2026" campaign is supported by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Digital Affairs and the Saxony-Anhalt Bicycle-Friendly Municipalities Working Group.
Background
With its international City Cycling competition, Climate Alliance Services invites all citizens and members of local parliaments to pedal and set an example for increased cycling promotion. In teams, they are to collect as many bicycle kilometers as possible for their municipality on 21 consecutive days. The campaign aims to sensitize citizens to cycling in everyday life and raise awareness of the issues of bicycle use and bicycle traffic planning in local parliaments. With the "RADar!" reporting platform and the "BIKE MONITOR" portal, which provides the participating municipalities with scientifically prepared cycling data, the campaign also includes two elements that can be used to improve the cycling infrastructure in a very concrete way and with the involvement of citizens.
For more than 30 years, member municipalities of the Climate Alliance have been working in partnership with indigenous peoples of the rainforests to protect the world's climate. With around 2,000 members from more than 25 countries, the Climate Alliance is the largest network of cities in Europe committed to comprehensive and fair climate protection. As our lifestyle has a direct impact on particularly threatened peoples and places on this earth, the Climate Alliance combines local action with global responsibility. Climate Alliance Services complements the organizational structure of Climate Alliance and bundles advisory services, campaigns and data collection services for the implementation of local climate protection measures, such as the City Cycling Campaign, the Climate Protection Planner or the ESG Cockpit.