Today is Earth Day 2010 – the 40^th Anniversary of the celebration. This week also marks the one-year Anniversary of the Bell True Fit blog! A year ago we started this blog in an effort to raise awareness about Bell’s advances in the bicycling, snow sports and fitness industries, while paying homage to Mother Earth. In doing so, we unveiled our True Fit technology: a perfect combination of science and human experience that resulted in the best fitting helmets ever. We kicked off this blog with a Bell True Fit helmet giveaway and some Earth Day awareness.

Since last April we’ve held numerous giveaways, offered invaluable helmet and biking tips, and covered off on some of the most relevant helmet and biking-related news with our Week In Review series.

Unlike a newspaper, radio or traditional TV sitcom, a blog is not a static thing … it requires human participation and interaction for it to be successful.

You’ve participated in our surveys and contests, you’ve shared your favorite biking trails and locations, and you’ve offered unparalleled insight into the minds of the bicycle community. So, on this anniversary we’d like to thank our community. Meaning, we thank YOU for all the different levels of collaboration offered to us over the past year.

We thank The Full Mommy for her review and giveaway of a Bell True Fit helmet last spring. TG Daily Dads and Grads Product Giveaway was a hit with the guys last summer.  Last fall we conducted a survey asking if you allow your children to ride their bicycle to school. During the winter we asked what your favorite holiday traditions are. Both times we gave a helmet to one lucky commenter. And of course who could forget our twitter contests where we gave away three sets of Tony Hawk RIDE video games and Bell True Fit helmets! We hope the winners @MomMostTraveled, @davesniadak, and @MissingLynxx are getting good use out of the video games and helmets.

While your participation here has helped our blog become a Web destination for the bicycle community, your engagement with our Facebook and Twitter pages has also made Bell True Fit one of the highest followed in the social web.  ‘Thank You’ to all of you who commented on our blog posts, wrote on our Facebook wall, or “ReTweeted” our Twitter updates. Without you this blog would not be possible. Your engagement helps us decide what kind of content you’re most interested in for yourself and others in your own social networks.

We hope you’ll continue to visit our site and provide the invaluable feedback that you do.

Be on the lookout for more contests, and once again THANK YOU for being a part of the Bell True Fit family!

Happy Earth Day 2010!

We hosted our first of several giveaways for one lucky reader to receive a free Bell True Fit helmet so that they could give the new design a test run of their own.

The lucky winner is Aqua Baron, who participated in the giveaway by commenting as American Mom in Paris. This world-traveling mom to two toddlers will return home to Ladera Ranch in Orange County, California to find a new helmet waiting for her!

Congratulations Aqua, and we look forward to hearing back on your own experience with the helmet. Happy belated Earth Day! 

In honor of Planet Earth and our respect for everything it provides us each day, people across the globe turn to recognize one day a year known as Earth Day. There are many ways people can get involved and give back this April 22. We wanted to tell you about a few we have recently heard of – chime in on the comments and let us know what you are up to for Earth Day this year for a chance to win yourself a new Bell True Fit helmet!

GE “Project Plant a Bulb” is a resourceful website that contains coupons, tips and videos about how you can make a difference this Earth Day. GE is planting a flower bulb for each unique visitor to this page during April, up to 100,000 bulbs. Simply click and they’ll plant a flowering bulb!

You can also make a difference online. GenGreen Life has a Facebook application that members can download to help offset carbon emissions on Earth Day. Their goal is to get 20,000 Facebook users to install this application in order to offset 100,000 pounds of carbon emissions on Earth Day.

And of course, riding your bike on errands, to work, or local events – instead of driving – also makes the planet a better place. And now, to make it even easier for you to bike to these events many of them are offering valet bike service. What’s valet bike service? It’s like coat check for bikes where event attendees can check their bikes in and leave them in an attended area while they enjoy the event. When riders are ready to leave, they show their claim ticket and a bike valet returns their bike.

We heard about a few such programs specifically for Earth Day festivities, and here’s a quick rundown of a few events this Saturday, April 25 that offer bike valet service – maybe there’s one near you!

• TheWashCycle is promoting the Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s free bike valet service at the Alexandria Earth Day Festival from 10am-2pm.
• Miami Going Green offers bike valet for its Earth Day event from 10am-7 pm at Bayfront Park.
• In Durham, there will be a free bike valet service for those attending the 2009 Durham Earth Day Festival from Noon-5 pm.
• Closer to our own Santa Cruz backyard, this year’s Berkeley Earth Day event from Noon–5 pm at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park will also offer bike valet service.

And, as a reminder, comment here and let us know your plans to help out the environment this year for a chance to nab a new True Fit helmet! We’ll be selecting one lucky “commenter” at random once the giveaway timeframe closes at 5 pm PT on Friday, April 24, 2009. Good luck!

And whatever you do this Earth Day, the Bell True Fit team hopes you get outdoors and enjoy it!