By Cam Chambers, for PikesPeakSports.us

When I ride my bike I feel immediately more connected to the city, the people I encounter, and the open spaces that connect me to my destination.

I am not sure if it's my Kansas farm-country upbringing or that I just feel extra friendly on my bike, but I instinctively say some form of “Howdy” to everyone I meet. Listening to the reactions I receive has become quite entertaining, so much so that I've made a game of tallying the responses and keeping score each day of my points total – points being someone responding congenially.

Now I am putting down the “rules” to the game so more people can play along. I figure the more folks who are out their connecting and collecting “Howdys,” the better off this city and hopefully others will be. So I am going to get this up and posted so that I can hopefully have some input on how it's working and the best we can keep in contact on our running points totals. Of course, I do not know what it will be yet, but a prize or prizes will be awarded!

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Imagine how cool it would be if people all over the world were riding, running, walking, roller skating (extra cool on roller skates) and bringing out their most genuine cheerfulness to collect the maximum Howdys! They'll think it’s a movement, and that’s what it is.

Object: Score Points through people responding congenially back to you.

Points Awarded: There are varying responses that can earn you higher (or lower) scores. Please note that if “Howdy” is not your style then by all means use whatever greeting you find best. Points may also be lost for you acting like a buffoon. This is of course an “on your honor” system. I do worry people may not realize they are acting silly. Oh well. The best part of this game is the more you get out there and go, the higher the scores you can pull down.

2 points are awarded for friendly verbal response back to you.

1 point is awarded for non verbal yet friendly responses. ie smiles, head nods, waving, etc.

3 points are awarded if you get the response of “Howdy” or “Howdy Partner.”

Note: There are no points awarded if there is a verbal or nonverbal response that you see no warmth in. Often this will take the form of grunts, looking quickly down at the ground, looks of worry. Anytime you deem the response “Yes I see you and I would rather not be seeing you” there are no points awarded. With time we will have very few of these.

-2 point is deducted if you scare or startle someone.

-5 points is deducted if you run into another pedestrian.

Record Point totals: This might take a bit of work. I am up for any tech savy solutions folks might have. I hope to soon have something in place, followed by an official launch of the Howdy Project. But for now, tally your daily scores and post them on Facebook or Twitter. I do not know anything about hashtags but I somehow want to incorporate #HowdyP into this. Because that seems like it would be fun.

Awards: I hope to call out any impressive performances as the year goes on but as far as cool (and TBD) prizes go, that will go to the highest points score at the end of 2014. Yup, one full year of Howdy Project! Hopefully we can get some heated battles going to spur everyone on. Since this is inherently one of those "everyone wins" type of games, we should have some total "Howdy goal" that we can all aim for. I don’t really know what this should be yet so I am open for suggestions. I think it would be pretty cool to say We solicited I bizzilion Howdys! But maybe we should shoot for milestones or something. I am open for any ideas here. The Sky is the limit!