It seems some members of Congress have come up with an alternative to high gas prices. No, not offshore drilling -- bike riding.

Yesterday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who demonstrates true patriotism by often sporting a bicycle lapel pin where most Congressmen put their American flag pins, joined forces with Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Republican Reps. Thomas Petri (WI) and Zach Wamp (TN). Together they issued Democratic and Republican convention-goers a challenge to ride 25,000 miles in St. Paul and Denver later this summer.

The "bike-partisan" challenge (for the record, that pun was on the press release we got) for the convention strikes us as possibly being inspired by the for and not-for-profit companies sponsoring the bike-sharing program. While we don't doubt Blumenauer's commitment, can someone let us know if Humana donated any money to the other three Representatives this year?

The mayors of each city have already signed up for the first rides, but with only 1,000 bikes to go around over 4 days, that's a lot of miles they're going to have to log.

We suggest if these guys are serious about increasing cycling awareness, they should bring a bike-sharing program to Capitol Hill. It'll be a breeze to get from their offices to the Capitol, and think of all the energy and expense they will be saving the tax payers from no longer having to use the underground subway.