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There’s a silent auction on tap for this Friday’s BikeFest! You’ll have the opportunity to bid on a number of great experience packages. Read about them below:

The Mountainbiker: Get a private 3-hour mountain bike tour of Patapsco Sate Park by Family Bike Shop owner and local cyclocross racer Jonathan Seibold. Patapsco boasts everything from rocky, muddy hills and steep climbs to smooth single track. Estimated value: $300

Lobster dinner for six: Get a five-course lobster dinner for yourself and five friends from the River Falls Market in Potomac, Md that includes fresh lobster tails and sides like tomato, basil, and mozzarella skewers—plus two bottles of white wine. Estimated value: $300

Bike-themed art by Brody Rose: Take home an original art piece by local artist Brody Rose, entitled “MAGnificient.” The work is painted on BMX MAG Wheel—definitely a conversation piece for the experienced cyclist or eye candy for those who love bikes.

Bicycle Times package: Get a full kit from Bicycle Times magazine (in a men’s size medium), a pair of fancy socks, and a lifetime subscription to the magazine.

Vegetarian Indian meal and dessert for four: Enjoy a delicious dinner complete with homemade Indian sweets, using recipes from West Bengal in Northeastern India. (Est. Value: $200)

NPR tour and downtown pedicab ride for six: Get a behind-the-scenes tour of NPR’s brand-new headquarters (including its fancy-schmancy bike room) and a one-hour sightseeing tour by pedicab along the National Mall. Estimated value: $185

Cruise the Chesapeake Bay: Enjoy a day aboard the sailboat Sweet Caroline, during which you and three guests can swim, fish, and even learn to sail. The cruise include either a lunch at anchor on the bay or at sunset in the boat slip in Annapolis. Estimated value: $350

Throughout the evening we will hold a silent auction for guests to bid on these items, plus other experience packages and art pieces. There will also be a collection of vintage bicycle posters for auction. It’s not too late to get a BikeFest ticket. Buy one now! Ticket sales will end at midnight on Thursday.

Come learn about the much-anticipated cycletrack on M Street NW at our “Walk the Tracks” event next Mon., May 6 at 6:30 p.m. WABA staff, members, and supporters will walk the length of project, starting at Thomas Circle, and discuss the proposed bike lane. Staff from DDOT and the Golden Triangle and Downtown BIDs will be present. This event is a chance to have your questions answered about the project, its design, and the timeline for its construction.

The proposed one-way westbound cycletrack will extend from Thomas Circle at 14th Street NW to 28th Street NW in Georgetown. The cycletrack will be 1.3 miles in length. Last fall, DDOT constructed a one-way eastbound cycletrack on L Street NW. When complete, the L Street and M Street cycletracks will be parallel routes that establish a major east-west crosstown corridor for bikes—and add to the growing network of physically separated Green Lane Projects in our city.

The event will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Capital Bikeshare station on the west side of Thomas Circle. We will walk 1.3 miles west along M Street NW, ending in Georgetown. After the walk, those interested in enjoying a cold drink can do so at a local Georgetown business. If you are planning on attending our “Walk the Tracks” event, please RSVP here.

Last week, we learned from a Montgomery County Department of Transportation presentation to the county’s Transportation & Environment Committee that progress on the Metropolitan Branch Trail in the county had stalled due to the unwillingness of the nonprofit owner of the historic Silver Spring train station to agree to submit the trail plans for historical review with the Maryland Historic Trust.

We received word today that the landowner, Montgomery Preservation Inc., has changed its mind and will allow the plans to be reviewed by the Trust. While this is certainly not the last hurdle to overcome, it is a significant one. We appreciate the efforts of all those involved in getting this far.

Thanks to MCDOT, the T&E Committee, and Councilmember Ervin for pushing forward on the Met Branch Trail.

Of course, now it is even more important to ensure that funding for the trail is not delayed.

On April 9, DDOT’s Transportation Plan Advisory Committee held its second meeting on the District’s Multimodal Long Range Transportation Plan, called Move DC, following the first round of workshops held earlier this spring. The April 9 meeting built on opinions gathered from those workshops and thanks to WABA members’ particpation, bikes and pedestrians were well represented. “Bikes and Peds Everywhere” was at the top of the list as the most in-demand form of transportation, followed by Metrorail, more local transit, car capacity, and fast transit.

In this meeting, TPAC introduced a building block exercise as a tool to encourage dialogue about planning for the city’s transportation future. It works like a sliding tile puzzle of four blocks, where one block is given for day to day management and commitments, and you fill in the three remaining squares as a “choose your own transportation planning adventure.” Options included different modes of transportation as well as allocation of funds for things like “smarter systems” or “low-cost transit.”

Members of the public and TPAC split into groups to collaboratively build a vision of D.C.’s transportation future. What emerged is informative about attitudes towards transportation in the city and where bikes will fit in. There was restrained but passionate debate of cars versus bikes, agreement on the importance of low-cost public transit, and a general consensus for more local transit. No one wanted to take bikes off the chart, and the most widely supported initiative connected to cars was parking management (how to manage parking management is its own issue). Metro had few defenders; attendees were indifferent to taking it off the board when forced to make fast changes.

For both the TPAC group and the public, the top three agreed-upon priorities were “bikes and pedestrians everywhere,” “more local transit,” and “parking management and expansion.”

What wasn’t chosen is also illustrative—”accelerated good repair,” “sustainability and beauty,” and “fast transit.” Either most people feel these could be incorporated into other systems, or have given up on expecting them all together. More abstract concepts like “smarter systems” and connecting the grid didn’t win fans, either.

The final Move DC plan must address regional transit issues, like the 420,454 vehicle commuters coming into the District each day and the 100,000 people expected to move to the area in the next five years. Necessarily, the plan has to focus on how to get commuters out of their cars and onto other forms of transportation.

DDOT is still soliciting feedback during this initial phase, including the building block exercise. I encourage you to give your feedback and support bicycling if you have not already done so. The public input will help shape the alternatives that are developed going forward. DDOT will continue to accept input on this phase until Mon., April 22nd.

The next round of public Move DC workshops will be in early June. Sign up on the official moveDC list to stay in the loop. Please also sign up for the WABA Advocacy Hub email list for notifications on upcoming Move DC actions and other advocacy alerts.

This guest post is written by Christine Driscoll, an associate at Green Strategies and resident of Adams Morgan. She rides a blue Schwinn traveler and the T Street bike lane is her favorite.

New Belgium Brewing, a friend of WABA and sponsor of the yearly Tour de Fat bicycle parade and celebration, is hosting its first-ever bike summit. WABA’s advocacy coordinator, Greg Billing, and outreach coordinator, Nelle Pierson, will present at the summit, which begins today and runs through the weekend in Fort Collins, Colo. Nelle will focus on the inception of WABA’s Women & Bicycles program, which is now fully underway.

Read a press release from New Belgium on the summit below the jump.

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In January, we reported that construction had stalled on the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail bridge over the CSX tracks on the east side of the river. It appears construction activity has restarted at the bridge site with DDOT posting photos on their Facebook page of a large crane posting the bridge’s main span.

We took a field trip to the site and snapped the photo above to see the progress ourselves. The bridge’s main span is now in place. Final work will include the bridge decking and finishing the approach ramps. Take a minute and read the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative’s update on their project website explaining the progress, which says that a spring opening of the bridge is expected.

We want to thank DDOT for making the completion of this bridge a priority.

Are you a D.C. resident? Do you have thoughts on how you’d like to get around the city over the next twenty years? It’s critical that you get involved with MoveDC, the District Department of Transportation’s long-range planning process for transportation in D.C. MoveDC kicked off with an “Idea Exchange” in early February. Attendees were asked to identify their priorities for transportation, map their routes, and share their desires for D.C.’s transportation future.

The MoveDC process will continue with a series of public meetings in wards 3, 6, 7, and 8. We encourage you to attend the meetings, especially those closest to your home, to voice your interest in dedicated facilities for bicyclists. These meetings, called “Ideas That Build” workshops, begin next Wednesday.

More information can be found on our website and on MoveDC’s website. See a PDF of our suggested talking points here. The dates of the workshops are listed below the jump; if you can attend, please RSVP with us here.

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The 2013 Vasa Ride is tomorrow!

We’ll see you at House of Sweden (2900 K St. NW) at 7:30 a.m. for check-in. The rides begin at the following times:

8 a.m.: 59-mile Vasa ride begins
8:30 a.m.: 31-mile Halv Vasa ride begins
9 a.m.: 15-mile Kort Vasa ride begins
11 a.m.-1 p.m. Blueberry soup served at the House of Sweden

You must arrive 25 to 30 minutes prior to the start of your ride to sign in and collect your cue sheet. Registration will be open until 9 a.m. Helmets are required, so don’t forget yours!

More information about the ride can be found here.

Vasa is sold out, so if you’re really jonesing for blueberry soup, we hope you’ll be able to join us next year.

Here are a few other things to remember:

• You must sign yourself and only yourself in. If you registered a friend as a guest, they are listed under their own name and must sign themselves in.
• There is no designated pit stop; you may stop wherever you want, whenever you want. Please prepare accordingly.
• Don’t forget to hydrate before, during, and after the ride. Bring the water you’ll need.
• We’ll have masking tape and markers for you to identify your lock, which you can lock at the start and retrieve at the end.
• Seriously, you need to wear a helmet.

On Mon., March 25, the D.C. Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment will hold a public hearing on pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and safety. The committee will also hear public testimony on the proposed Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013 (read the full text of B20-0140). The proposed legislation would amend and update sections of the D.C. municipal regulations as they relate to bicycling in the District of Columbia.

If passed, the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013 would make the following updated or amendments:

• Bicyclists’ use of leading pedestrian intervals: Bicyclists could get the same head start as pedestrians at signalized intersections where pedestrians are given few extra seconds to start crossing a street. Allowing pedestrians and bicyclists the opportunity to get into the intersection before cars make them more visible to drivers.
• Bicycle and pedestrian detours: The mayor would be allowed to require permits obtained from the District Department of Transportation for projects that block sidewalks, bike lanes, or other pedestrian or bicycle paths to provide safe accommodatiosn for pedestrians and bicyclists.
• Aligns bicyclists crash infractions with similar pedestrian one: The bill adds penalties “failure to yield” and “colliding with a bicyclist” infractions, similar to current pedestrian infractions. The penalty for “failing to yield” to the bicyclist would be three points points and a fine of $250. “Colliding with a person riding a bicycle” would be six points and a fine of $500.
• Ability to make an audible noise: The bill modifies the law that requires all bicycles to be equipped with a bell, instead requiring all bicycle riders to “be capable of making a warning noise either with a bell or mechanical device, or with his or her voice, audible for a distance of at least one hundred feet.” It also removes a section prohibiting bicyclists from a making a noise within the established quiet zones (Title 18 Section 1204.7)

Please sign up to testify in support of the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013. The outlined changes represent a series of minor but important changes to make bicycling safer and easier in the District of Columbia. As this bill moves forward, you can track the status of it through the DC Council’s online legislation tool. Thanks to Councilmembers Mary Cheh and Tommy Wells for their leadership in making DC a world class bicycle city.

Hearing Information:
Date: Mon., March 25, 2013
Time: 11 a.m.
Room 500, John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004
Hearing announcement and details

Testifying 101:

• Sign up to testify.
• Show up at least 20 minutes before the hearing starts.
• You will be required to pass through security. Bring a state-issued ID.
• Bring at least 8 copies of your written testimony to submit for the record.
• You will be given three (and only three) minutes to testify. You don’t have to use all of the time! Make your point and be brief.
• Your written testimony and supporting documents can be longer than your testimony, so feel free to get into details in writing.
• The committee chair will bring up a panel of 3-4 people to testify in a row. You will all give your testimony and then stay at the table for questions.
• Be sure to thank the committee chair and any present councilmembers.

Photo by Flickr user thisisbossi

Following a successful match-grant fundraiser and a generous grant from the League of American Bicyclists, WABA’s Women & Bicycles program officially launched on Sun., March 3 at Busboys & Poets. The party followed a group ride hosted by Black Women Bike and preceded the League’s Women’s Cycling Forum, a kickoff to its yearly National Bike Summit.

Over 150 people filled Busboys’ Langston Room: Women who ride bikes in the D.C. area had the chance to hang out with attendees of the National Bike Summit and talk about what other communities are doing to get more ladies on bikes.

WABA’s Women & Bicycles program has been in the making for several years. A December 2011 Women’s Forum hosted by WABA clarified a number of issues that have kept some area women from cycling as much as they might like to; from there, Women & Bicycles began to take shape.

The program will run from April to October and is based on the involvement of 10 “Roll Models.” Those role models, who we’ll introduce here soon, have been asked to pull from their personal networks women who are hesitant to bike in D.C. and its suburbs. Through a series of private small-group events and public rides and workshops, the Roll Models and Women & Bicycles coordinator Nelle Pierson will teach the basic skills needed for cycling from point A to point B.

At Sunday’s kickoff, Portland, Ore.-based author and activist Elly Blue spoke of the importance of community and why it matters. Blue noted that when she first attended the National Bike Summit, its attendees were largely male; the increasing inclusion and presence of women at local and national levels indicates that their interests as cyclists are being taken seriously. Veronica Davis, of Black Women Bike, reiterated the necessity of inclusivity in bike advocacy.

We can’t wait to share with you the progression of Women & Bicycles. Its first event is on March 30. For more information, visit the Women & Bicycles page on our website and watch our blog for updates on how you can get involved. If you’d like to interact with other D.C.-area women who bike for fun and transportation, check out the Women & Bicycles Facebook page.

See photos of the ride and the party below the jump (there’s more on Flickr!). Did you take any photos of either event? Add them to our Flickr pool!

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