Posts Tagged ‘events’

Come join WABA & New Belgium for an evening of beers, bikes, and pre-Tour de Fat next Thursday, May 24th (5/24) at The Pug on H St. NE!

Enjoy tasty New Belgium brews (Fat Tire Amber Ale, Shift Pale Lager, & Tart Lychee Ale) and enter for the chance to win a 2012 New Belgium Custom Cruiser bike! Raffle tickets will be $5 with all proceeds going to WABA! Bring your friends, co-workers, family, or significant other. One of you will be rolling home with a sweet new ride! Plus, High fives and treats for all who ride!

Happy Hour Event Details:

The Pug
1234 H St. NE
Washington, DC 20002
7-9pm (with bike raffle at 9pm sharp!)

Register here or just show up!

“What is Tour de Fat?” you ask.

Simply the coolest bike event of the year! Tour de Fat brings together passionate bike lovers for a day of two-wheeled reverly while raising money for local non-profits. Tour de Fat is a thrilling rite of passage that includes an unparalleled costumed bicycle parade, New Belgium beer, dazzling entertainment, local food, unusual bike contests and much more. Coming to 15 cities across the country, New Belgium has added Washington, DC and Atlanta to this year’s line-up!

Learn more about Tour de Fat on Facebook or our WABA’s event page!

I had a great ride today, and was thrilled to see so many of my fellow Washington area cyclists out for an easy spin on a beautiful Mother’s Day Sunday. There was definitely a hitch or two, but I’m confident in reporting that thousands of us finished the ride with giant smiles on our faces. So I thought I’d share my experience of the day.  Hit the jump for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

We can’t stress this enough; thanks to generous donors throughout the region; we have…

An incredible raffle and silent auction lineup at BikeFest, INCLUDING 8 BIKES!

So we encourage you to take a moment and browse through our list of the silent auction packages, and raffle items before the big show.

And THIS JUST IN. BicycleSPACE donated 2 custom Tweed Cruisers to the Silent Auction. No words can describe these bikes, so you’ll just have to check them out in person.

If you haven’t purchased tickets yet- get to it! The odds are in your favor- you’re going to have a great time and possibly walk away with some cool prizes!

If you’ve seen information about BikeFest on the web or on the streets, then you probably have the basics down. For instance, the event details, a sneak peek of the jazz acts, suggestions on the laid back, incentivized and dapper dress code, a glimpse of the BikeBuild bikes and the bikes we’re auctioning off, and perhaps you’ve checked out our most romantic silent auction package.

That’s lovely, and all that jazz… but we’re going to take our promotion a step further. We encourage you to purchase tickets soon and attend BikeFest for the following reasons:

This event is your ticket to a roaring good time. For you will enjoy an evening of:
-Free catered appetizers all evening long by Occasions Catering
-2 free alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages
-1 free raffle ticket
-A vote in the BikeBuild Contest
-Some of the best live jazz in the region
-Local bike art
-An extensive Silent Auction and Raffle line-up
-Some surprise on-stage and off-stage performances
-Mingling with 400 other bike-loving, WABA supporters. The people you share the lanes with everyday .

This event is your ticket to growing bike advocacy because:
-100% of the proceeds from registration, and 100% of the contributions made throughout the evening,  directly fund WABA’s mission of transforming the greater Washington area into a more bicycle-friendly community. In other words, it’s going to be a fun night and lots of cool people will be there. But more importantly, you will be supporting an incredible local non-profit that has…dare I say…changed your life in the region.

For those of you on the edge of your seats to purchase tickets now, WABA members receive a $10 discount on tickets with the discount code “Speakeasy”.

To some, bikes are a hobby, a pastime, a toy. To most of our members, bikes are simply their preferred mode of transportation. And then there’s local blogger, GirlonaBikeDC. For Kate, a passion for  bicycles led her, quite literally, down the path to the most romantic bike love story of her lifetime.  At last year’s BikeFest, Kate was the top bidder for our C&O Canal of Romance package, a plush bike trip including 2 nights in a historic lockhouse along the C&O Canal, plus some other special amenities.

Read GirlonaBikeDC’s bicycle engagement story below. And keep an eye out at this year’s BikeFest for the same package with some new additions, for all the bicycle lovers out there.

 

At last year’s BikeFest, one of the silent auction packages caught my eye. No, not the unicycle lesson, or the 50 States Preview Ride. It was the “Weekend Along the C&O Canal” package. My (then) boyfriend Jimmy was just starting to get into riding bikes with me. We often rode to & from work together, and would take short trips to the Mall & memorials. We were often on the look-out for any cheap weekend trip options; short nearby trips that would make us feel like we were on vacation but wouldn’t break the bank or use up our leave time. This “Weekend” package looked perfect: a 2 night stay at a “cozy” lock house that was within biking distance. I had no idea what a lock house was or what was considered “cozy”, but I didn’t care. I was going to win that auction.

Win I did, however we didn’t have an opportunity to go until September. The package also included a bottle of wine, chocolates & a front rack for a bicycle. How romantic (and useful)!  I researched Lock House 6 and from the limited photos & description, it seemed interesting but I still had no clear idea of what we were getting into.  It had been restored to the 1950′s era (each lock house that is renovated for rental is restored to a different time period in the canal’s history) and had full amenities including running water, heat/air conditioning, electricity & furnishings. We just had to supply the towels/linens & food. When it came time to leave, Jimmy was extremely skeptical about the whole affair. We’d have to pack & bring everything we needed with us…on our bicycles?!  Jimmy thought this was impossible. But he tried it anyway. We packed what we thought we would need (we overpacked, actually) and set off.

 

The weather was perfect for the trip. An early fall day with clear skies & mild temperatures. Riding along the canal towpath felt like an adventure. Wildlife peeked out from everywhere, whether it was a heron at the canal’s edge or a fox watching us ride by. When we reached lock house 6 less than an hour later, it felt like we were in a fairy tale and had found a little cottage in the woods. We had a great time exploring the surrounding trails during the day & relaxing in the rocking chairs on the porch at night. It was a wonderful weekend we would never forget.

We’ve been back three times since, and can’t wait for our next trip. The C&O Canal and the lock houses are magical. Even though it was only a few minutes outside of DC, it felt like we were hundreds of miles away. It has become a very special place for us. In fact, lock house 10 is where Jimmy decided he wanted to ask me to marry him (I said yes, by the way). I can’t think of a better place for us to promise to share our lives with each other. And we have WABA to thank for providing the inspiration for what has become our own romantic ritual. “

The Silent Auction at this year’s BikeFest is going to raise some brows, and raise some bucks because we are featuring three very distinct, crowd-pleasing, brow-raising bicycles that will appeal to bicyclists of all persuasions.

For your viewing pleasure, we are giving you the slightest sneak peak at what you could be riding home from this year’s BikeFest! Go on, indulge.

Revolution Cycles  Silver Cycles Bikenetic & Kona

Tickets are selling like hot cakes, get ‘em before they’re gone!

Hop on your bikes and head down to the National Mall to join WABA and thousands of local residents in celebrating Earth Day 2012.  As always, we’ll be treated to top-notch musical performances, prominent speakers and celebrity appearances, interactive exhibits, and demonstrations.

Not only is the event free, but so is the bike valet! WABA is proud to provide  ample, safe, and accessible bike valet services throughout the event.

Find us from 11am-7pm at  the SW corner of the mall panel between 12th & 13th. We’ll have bike maps, stickers, safety information, and smiles – AND we’ll keep a watchful eye on your bike while you’re enjoying the festivities.

Find out more about the 2012 Earth Day Rally on the National Mall 

With all due respect to Alfred Hitchcock and his contributions to cinéma scary-té, if he’d ever been handed a script about the BikeBuild contest taking place at the 2012 BikeFest, he’d have been out of a job. This is a story so suspenseful, so spellbinding, it needs no dramatic lighting, no voyeuristic point of view or urgent violin score to tart it up. It is the real thing, and it has begun.

Our builders, Threepenny Bikes, Silver Cyles, and Papillon Cycles are going head to head to build the most unique, and most popular bike out of used parts and a limited budget. Who will build be crowned this year’s BikeBuild Champion? You be the judge.

David Wendt of Threepenny Bikes is creating what can only be called a work of art. Culled from hand-selected and painstakingly seasoned bamboo wedded to steel, David’s mixte frame bike exemplifies the ideal synthesis of nature, engineering and artistic vision. But who is to say this rarified creation will be the fan favorite?