Press release
June 18, 2026, No. 100
County Sets New Record in City Cycling
The largest team is from Benediktbeuern
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen District. For the ninth time, the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen District participated this year in “STADTRADELN – Cycling for a Healthy Climate,” the largest nationwide campaign to promote cycling. Once again, residents pedaled hard and set a new record. After surpassing the 2,000-participant mark for the first time last year, that figure was significantly exceeded in 2026. From May 2 to 22, a total of approximately 2,828 cyclists participated in the campaign and set a new district record by covering a total of 386,216 kilometers.
The 2,828 cyclists were organized into 144 teams, including clubs, government agencies, schools, companies, and families. This year, the largest team was from Benediktbeuern Elementary School. There, 300 students and teachers took part in the event, surpassing Geretsried High School for the first time, which had 285 cyclists participating.
The entire county logged 386,216 kilometers during this year’s City Cycling campaign. “That’s enough to circle the Earth 9.5 times!” says Felix Schreiber, climate protection and cycling coordinator. As a result, a significant amount of CO2 was saved. “If those kilometers had been traveled by car, approximately 63 metric tons of CO2 would have been emitted,” explains Schreiber, highlighting the role bicycles can play in the mobility transition. Short trips are particularly important in this regard. After all, these account for 58% of all trips taken, 43% of which are made by car (MiD, 2017). “Since driving short distances by car results in a disproportionately high amount ofCO2 emissions, the potential for savings is particularly great here.”
The winning teams were announced on June 10 during the closing ceremony at the Tölz District Office. In addition to the winning teams, everyone who participated in STADTRADELN was cordially invited to the celebration. In addition to the district-wide awards ceremony, the city of Geretsried also honored its most dedicated participants.
At the county-wide awards ceremony, WSV Bad Tölz won the “Team with the Most Kilometers” category by a landslide with 11,110 km. ADFC Bad Tölz–Wolfratshausen took second place. The 26 participants logged 7,366 km. Third place in this category also went to Bad Tölz. Employees of the Municipal Association logged approximately 6,334 km during the campaign period.
This year’s School Cycling Challenge featured two categories for the first time. In the “School with the Most Kilometers” category, Geretsried High School, led by team captain Jule Steinhaus, once again took first place by a wide margin with 25,904 km. Second place went to the Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium in Bad Tölz. For the first time, the Lenggries Elementary School also made it onto the podium in the School Cycling Challenge, replacing the Bad Tölz Secondary School with 11,146 km.
For the first time this year, a special category was also introduced: the school with the most active cyclists. Benediktbeuern Elementary School won this special award with 300 participants.
The district plans to participate in the “Stadtradeln” campaign again next year.
Before the awards ceremony, Felix Schreiber spoke about some current issues related to cycling. Our mobility habits have changed drastically. Many people have to travel considerable distances to reach their destinations and choose to do so by car. Especially on the way to work, you quickly find yourself stuck in traffic, and when you look to the right or left, you often see only one person in the vehicle. City Cycling is designed to encourage people to become more aware of their own mobility and to think about which everyday trips they might actually be able to make by bike. This would not onlyreduce CO2 emissions and lead to fewer traffic jams, but would also benefit their health and their wallets.
The lack of bike paths is often cited as the reason why people don’t ride their bikes more often. Felix Schreiber briefly commented on this. He said it was particularly important to him, in this context, that the public knows what’s happening behind the scenes. Last year, with the help of the organizations Nagel und Faden e.V., Isarwinkler Radsportfreunde e.V., and ADFC Bad Tölz–Wolfratshausen, a comprehensive inspection of all bicycle traffic signage in the district was carried out. When it comes to building new bike paths in our region, the State Building Authority in Weilheim is primarily responsible. The biggest challenges in bike path construction are nature conservation and land acquisition. The bike path can only be built if all property owners agree to the project and are willing to sell a portion of their land for that purpose. Time and again, projects are successful; for example, the construction of the new bike path along the B13 from Bad Tölz to Lenggries was a success.
[Always at the end]
Marlis Peischer
Press Officer / Head of the Press Office
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen District Office