In May, our SustainableCZ team joined the national challenge Do práce na kole — Bike to Work 🔗. We were not the biggest team in the competition. In fact, there were only two of us: David and Honza. But sometimes a small team can still tell a good story. 

Over the month, we cycled, walked, and kept moving despite the usual complications of academic life: illness, conferences, travel, full calendars, and days when getting on the bike was not the easiest option. Still, we managed to stay active regularly and completed the May challenge with 402 kilometres and 66% regularity.

Our team also received a diploma for participating in the May Challenge 2026 under the name SustainableCZ, representing the the Prague section of Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, CzechGlobe.

For us, the challenge was not about kilometres, neither about the socks we received 😊. It was also a small reminder that sustainability is not just something we study, write about, or discuss in scientific papers and project meetings. It is also something we can try to live in everyday routines — in how we commute, how we move through the city, and how we make ordinary choices. 

Of course, cycling to work will not solve climate change by itself. But it changes perspective. You notice the landscape differently. You feel the distance between home and work. You become more aware of weather, infrastructure, traffic, and your own body. And sometimes, after a long day of research on sustainability, biodiversity, or global change, the most honest thing you can do is simply get on a bike and ride home. 

Our SustainableCZ team may have been small this year, but the idea behind it is larger: sustainability should not remain only an academic concept. It can also be a practice, a habit, and occasionally even a slightly sweaty way of getting to work. 

Thank you to everyone who took part in Do práce na kole 2026.  And who knows — maybe next time the team SustainableCZ will grow from two riders into a small peloton.

Photo: David Stella on his way to the World Biodiversity Forum 2026 in Davos