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Posts Tagged ‘Virginia’

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. “

Get to know your Climate Riders and fellow WABAns while enjoying a happy hour beer (or two).  Bring your co-workers, friends, significant others, or entire family.  As you mingle and munch with a roomful of stellar folks, you’ll also be helping raise money toward the Team WABA fundraising goal and thereby, supporting WABA with every sip.  We’ll be raffling off fun prizes and getting pumped for the upcoming ride!  With May 19th fast approaching, there is little more than a month to go before the Climate Riders hit the road for 5 days and 300 miles!

When?
Tuesday, April 24th, 6 pm-8 pm

Where?
Continental Pool Lounge
1911 North Fort Myer Drive, Arlington, VA
703-465-7675

How? (Are we raising funds for Team WABA)
We will be holding a raffle for some sweet biking stuff including the limited edition 2012 Team WABA Climate Ride jersey.  We also strongly suggest a donation of $5 or more to support Team WABA.

Register here and bring a friend.  Or just show up!

National Bike Summit Event Roundup

When this year’s National Bike Summit participants roll into town, DC is going to be a hub for bike-related socializing. WABA encourages you to attend some of the fun (FREE) events surrounding the Summit.

If you haven’t signed up for the Summit yet, don’t worry! There’s still plenty of time. Online registration is closed but you can register on-site at the Grand Hyatt on Tuesday, the 20th at 1:30pm. Click here for more information.

Tuesday

1:00pm Tim Johnson’s Ride on Washington
Join Cyclocross superstar Tim Johnson for the last leg of his bike advocacy fundraising tour. Tim and his group started in Boston, but you can join him in DC.

2:00pm First-Ever National Women’s Cycling Forum
Women across the US bike at much lower rates than men. Come explore the issues and discuss ways to encourage  the ladies in your life to get on bikes (Co-hosted by the Alliance for Biking and Walking and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals).

Wednesday

6:00pm Women’s Cycling Social
Come mingle with the women who are making waves in the active transportation world at BusBoys and Poets (Co-hosted by the Alliance for Biking and Walking and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals).

6:00pm For your Disapproval Ride
Join local shop, BicycleSPACE, for a group ride to the BikeSnobNYC book-signing of his latest, ever-so-cynical gem: The Enlightened Cyclist (Check out the trailer).

Friday

9:30am-11:00am Congressional Bike Ride
Take the morning off,  jump on your bike, and meet up with hundreds of bike advocates throughout the country for the Summit’s final hoorah hosted by WABA. We’ll tour new bike infrastructure and you’ll make some new friends.

Know of anything else going on, organizing a ride or a happy hour? Share your NBS events in the comment feed.  And don’t forget to share your experiences on Twitter using the Summit’s hashtag: #NBS12

BikeFest 2012

Once again we’re hosting the biggest bike-themed party in the DC-metro region – and all the proceeds make their way back to you in the form of stronger advocacy and, ultimately, better bicycling.  We’re planning now to make this year’s BikeFest our most lively and successful fundraiser to date.

In order to celebrate a year as great for biking as 2011 and keep the advocacy strong through 2012 and beyond, we need your support.

Supporting BikeFest 2012

Will you help WABA by connecting us to individuals or groups who may be able and willing to participate in this year’s BikeFest? We are in need of potential venues, sponsors, and in-kind donors.

All it takes is a connection. Here’s how you can help:  if you think your neighborhood baker, sports club, or  favorite bike mechanic is  able to help out, or maybe your company is interested in sponsorship opportunities, let us know.

It only takes a minute. Just send me a quick email at nelle@waba.org or give me a call at 202-518-0524 x202.  And be sure to use the buttons at the bottom of this page to share this with your networks on Facebook or Twitter.

We’re on the lookout for:

A venue: An approximately 5,000 square feet space to accommodate the event.

Sponsors: Title sponsor and lead sponsors for financial support.

Silent Auction Items: Components of experiential bike-related silent auction packages.

Raffle Items: Desirable items for our raffle contests.

BikeBuild Participants: Four local bike shops to build and auction-off handcrafted bicycles.

Food and Drink: Local restaurants/caterers and liquor distributors to keep us happily satiated.

How and why your support matters

BikeFest is an opportunity to the region’s bicycling community to come together to celebrate the progress we’ve made in making the area more bike-friendly.  It is also an opportunity for WABA to raise funds to be used in areas in which funding is hard to come by.  Those parts of our region with the greatest need for better bicycling facilities and programming also tend to be the areas in which we have the fewest members and the least financial support.  Thus, we need to raise funds at events like BikeFest to fund our overall mission and continue to work in undeserved communities to get our message to those outside our core audience.

We’re already looking forward to BikeFest 2012, and we have some big ideas in mind.  But we need you to help us fill in the details with the types of people and things you want to see.  Love that bike shop?  Ask them to enter the bike build contest.  Favorite restaurant? We’d love to feature their food.  We just need your help to bring the right partners together.

Join staff from WABA and Rails-to-Trail Conservancy for Meet & Greet on February 1st, 2012 at 6:00 pm at the Rails-to-Trails Offices. This event is open to all interested in participating in the Climate Ride NYC-DC, May 19-23, 2012. Past Climate Riders, members of the 2012 Team WABA and Climate Ride staff will provide an introduction to the Climate Ride including tips on fundraiser and advice on training. This is an opportunity to have all of your questions answered. Light food (pizza) and drinks (beer) will be provided!

Event Time: February 1st, 2012 at 6:00 pm

Event Location:
Rails-to-Trail Conservancy
The Duke Ellington Building
2121 Ward Ct., NW, 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20037
See on Google Maps

Please RSVP for the meeting (not mandatory, we just don’t want to run out of pizza)!

Learn more about the 2012 Climate Ride and Team WABA

On Monday, WABA advocates spent the morning touring (read: cold-weather bicycle ride) the many bicycle connections between Virginia and DC through National Park Service lands. The goal of the outing was to continue, and hopefully energize, the conversation about  improving access for bicyclists through the various parks. With the National Mall bringing Capital Bikeshare to the park in 2012, there is a greater need for the long-awaited upgrades to the connections between DC and Virginia.

The ride included representatives from the National Park Service’s George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP), National Mall, and the National Capital Regional Offices.

While there are a multitude of details to be addressed, we are focusing attention on improving major safety and connectivity  issues that cyclists in the Washington region face daily.

WABA would like to express our thanks to Representative Connolly’s (D-VA) office for its leadership in organizing this meeting with NPS. We would also like to thank the staff of Representatives Moran (D-VA) and Blumenauer (D-OR) for joining us early on a cold Monday bike ride.

The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) regional network is ending the year with several major successes in Fairfax County. After convening a special SRTS working group within Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Transportation and Safety division in June, FCPS has agreed to several initiatives that will highlight SRTS activities and increase the numbers of students walking or biking to school everyday.

FCPS will add SRTS specific language to their “Golden Wellness Award” scorecard, which is used to determine how closely the individual schools are implementing the FCPS Health and Wellness Policy. This sought after award will now include specific recommended activities, like Walking Wednesdays, Bike Trains, Walking School Buses, participation in International Walk to School Day (IWTSD) as well as Bike to School Day. In addition, delivery of bicycle and pedestrian safety education at the individual school will be a required element in order to win the award. The schools system’s 95210 A Day (9 hours of sleep, 5 fruits and vegetables, less than 2 hours of screen time, at least 1 hour of exercise and 0 sugary drinks) will be updated to include walking or bicycling to school as a suggested activity to get to the 1 hour daily activity goal.

FCPS has also agreed to create and host a SRTS focused webpage with resources for school administrators, parents, community champions and children who would like to see more SRTS activities at their school. This site will include policy, curriculum standards and sample lesson plans, state and local contacts, grant application resources, sample newsletter articles and resources for planning walking and bicycling events. FCPS will also prepare scripts and create videos specifically geared to youth bicycling and safe pedestrian practices for the Fairfax County public access television channels as well as the internal FCPS channels.

An annual survey of schools will be continued (modeled after the first one in May 2011) in order to adequately account for how every student is transported to and from school. Counts will be made of bus riders, walkers, kiss and ride users as well as data collected comparing those numbers to the assigned mode. The survey in May proved invaluable, allowing us to create a list of the top ten schools where with a little encouragement, FCPS could see an increase in the numbers of students walking or bicycling to school, thereby alleviating the extreme traffic jams due to the kiss and ride queues. Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) is contemplating creating a “Green Transit” award for the top schools in Fairfax Co who increase their assigned mode numbers, whether it is by bus transportation or walking or bicycling. A survey of the 27 schools who participated in IWTSD will also be completed to determine their strategies, success and participation rate.

FCPS officials also committed to working in tandem with Fairfax County transportation planners to submit an application for a SRTS non-infrastructure grant in the spring and also agreed to begin the process of determining which school locations would most benefit from an infrastructure grant, when the application is revised and those grant opportunities announced.

The FCPS SRTS Working Group will continue to meet quarterly throughout 2012 to update partners on progress, monitor initiatives and strategize for system wide events, including Bike to School Day (in conjunction with Bike to Work Day) in May and International Walk to School Day in October.

Author’s Note:  This article inadvertently left out those on our Fairfax County SRTS Task Force who have worked tremendously hard to achieve this progress in the County.  Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB), Trails for Youth as well as Wolf Trap Elementary parent, Jeff Anderson and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ Transportation Advisory Committee member Jenifer Joy Madden were central to this effort.

For decades, cyclists have cherished their beautiful morning commutes and family bike rides through Rock Creek Park. Both the road and trail through the park provide two options for different types of cyclists.  Children and adults, less experienced riders, and those looking for a gentle and slow ride, all enjoy the multi-use path (which is in need of much improvement: read more here).  The roadway provides a space for bicyclists to travel faster (above 15 mph) to achieve a solid workout or arrive at their destination more quickly.  If the Senate passes the current draft transportation authorization bill in its current form, all bicyclists will be REQUIRED to use the Rock Creek Trail and all other sidepaths (within 100 yards) on Federal land roads with speed limits over 30 mph.

This is bad policy! Sign the petition, make your voice heard.

From the League of American Bicyclists:

“The draft of the Senate’s transportation authorization bill, S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, includes language that would introduce a mandatory sidepath law on roads in our National Parks and other Federal lands. It requires cyclists on Federal lands to use a path or trail, instead of roads, if the speed limit is over 30 MPH and a trail exists within 100 yards, regardless of its condition or utility of the path. The provision sets a terrible precedent. Passing it would send the wrong message to transportation agencies that these policies are acceptable. Laws like this have been taken off the books in states over the past 30 years. This takes us in the wrong direction.”

Take a minute and sign the petition now to tell the Senate to remove the provision requiring bikes to use sidepaths!

District of Columbia Residents: Please note this petition is targeted at the entire Senate and not Senator specific.  Please sign!

Last week, at its regional summit on bicycling advocacy, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) previewed its Regional Call to Action for better bicycling in the area. The Call to Action focuses on making bicycling a viable form of transportation for a much broader segment of the population.

Currently, approximately 3% of DC residents bike to work according to the most recent American Community Survey. WABA’s goal is to continue to improve cycling conditions for those who already bike, but to make improvements in a way that will induce the 60% of people who say that they are interested in biking, but concerned about some element, to give cycling a try.

“We need to think bigger and think broader about making bicycling appealing to the average person who simply wants to get where he or she is going in a convenient, economical way,” says WABA Executive Director Shane Farthing. “For bicycling to become and remain a viable transportation option for the average person, it needs to be usable, connected, safe, and protected. While biking is great fun and great sport, it is also–in many parts of our region–the fastest and easiest and cheapest way to simply run an errand or make a short trip. In those parts of our region that lag behind, where conditions are not what they need to be for the average person to bike comfortably, we must accept the challenge and bring about improvements.”

WABA’s last Call to Action, in 2000, was directed to the District of Columbia government, and focused energy on the improvement of District bicycling facilities. In that 11 year period, the number of miles of bike lanes has jumped from less than three to more than fifty, the District Department of Transportation has built a reputable bike program, and bicycle mode share in DC has tripled.

This 2011 Regional Call to Action is directed to the bicycling community, encouraging every cyclist to get involved in the growth of cycling.

The full Regional Call to Action document is available for download at: http://www.waba.org/advocacy/documents/2011_call_to_action.pdf

WABA’s upcoming Regional Call to Action Summit on November 3rd is going to be an exciting day for bicycle advocacy in the Washington region.  Over the last two months, WABA has held five of the six local stakeholder meetings in Maryland, Virginia and DC (the sixth and final meeting is next Monday, 10/17 in Fairfax Co.) to listen to members, supporters, advocates, bike shop owners and other community members about what is needed to improve bicycling in the region.  With this feedback in mind, WABA staff and board are creating a Regional Call to Action document to help prioritize the next five years of bicycle advocacy.   The November 3rd Regional Call to Action Summit will present this document along with others speakers and panels related to the report.  Below is the schedule for the speakers and panel.  Learn more about the Summit at waba.org/events/summit.php.  Please join us on November 3rd and please RSVP.

8:30 am – Gathering & Coffee

9:30 am – Welcome

9:45 am – Tools for Planning Healthy Communities - Gina Arlotto (WABA’s Safe Routes to School Network Coordinator)

10:15 am – Crashed! Your Legal Rights In A Bicycle Accident – Bruce Deming, Lawyer

11:00 am – Panel: Regional Bikesharing – Speakers TBA

12:00 pm – Lunch Break (1 1/2 hour)

1:30pm – Panel: Planning Bicycle & Pedestrian Access to Metro – Nat Bottigheimer (WMATA Assistant General Manager), Patrick Schmitt (WMATA Parking Manager), Kristin Haldeman (WMATA Manager of Access Planning & Policy Analysis), Justin Antos (WMATA Transportation Analyst)

2:30 – Panel: The Role of Bicycle Businesses in Advocacy – Jakob Wolf-Barnett (Chief Operating Officer, Revolutions Cycles), Erik Kugler (Owner, BicycleSPACE), Stephen Marks (Managing Partner, Bike the Sites), Debora Hardng (CEO, City Bikes), Anne Mader (Owner, The Bike Lane)

3:30 pm - WABA’s Presentation of Regional Call to Action

4:30 pm – Summit End