Bike To Work Day 5.21.2010

Today was Bike To Work Day and what a beautiful day it was. I decided not to join the Vienna commuter convoy. I figured that I probably could make it in faster by myself, and I was a little late to the W&OD to backtrack up to the Vienna Community Center to join them.

Dan and Mike at work had promised to ride in as well and I made arrangements to meet up with Dan at the Rosslyn pit stop at 0730.

The trail was pretty crowded but not overcrowded. I felt stronger on the hills and made it into Rosslyn a little past 7am. I figure if I didn't stop I could have made it in in just about 2 hours. I gathered as many freebies as I could -- t-shirt, bike bells, water bottle, maps -- and had some coffee and a banana. Dan showed up and we took another tour of the give away tables, then set off down the MVT. Just before the Memorial Bridge, Dan's former neighbor came up behind us and surprised him. Work on the Humpback bridge continues and the sidewalk was very narrow, and because of the day busy. I led Dan down through the city to M street and we made it into the garage to find no available spots on the rack. I never thought I would see this problem.

The afternoon return was uneventful. I made good time up to Vienna and pulled into the Fairfax BTWD afternoon "party" in a little over 2 hours and 15 minutes. I think that I was one of maybe 15 people who had visited the rally. They were offering free pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, and tortilla chips to riders. I grabbed a bag of chips, and refilled my water before heading back out on the road. For the first time I completed my return ride and met up with the Kids and Keow at home for dinner.

Running Errands in the Spring

Spring has hit Northern Virginia. Keow and I have used the beautiful and warm weather to get out by bike more. On the first day of spring, we racked up 6 miles riding to and from church. On the 7th of May, we converted two trips to bike trips and racked up 12 miles. I got up a little earlier and rode over to church to water the children's garden. Then in the afternoon, Keow hitched up the chariot and topeak seat and rode with all three kids down to her hair salon. I got home from work and rode down to meet her. We then both rode to church for the First Friday potluck, and then home in the dark along the trail. Our head lamps worked great and we tried out the new chariot cargo rack by toting a pan of lasagna back with us.

The best ride so far for our family was Saturday's ride out to REI, Costco, and Home Depot. I pulled the Ben and Jack, while Keow biked with Dougie in the bike seat. We both agreed that the new path along VA 123 at George Mason University was very nice. We cut through Fairfax city and found our way over to Route 29 then down Wapples Mill to Random Hills to get to REI. We celebrated our trip by loading up on bike gear! I picked up a TOPEAK rack (allowing us to swap the seat if necessary) and a rack top/ double pannier bag while Keow got a quick release basket for the front of her bike. We both also got adjustable water bottle cages that will fit our stainless steel water bottles. Yea!

After installing all of the gear we loaded up the kids and rode over to Costco. We picked up a few items and then moved down to Home Depot to pick up some items for the garden. Finally we headed back out down the Fairfax Countay Parkway path to Braddock Road and up the long long hill to home. In all, counting back tracking and wrong turns we put in 14.5 miles. This would be 14.5 miles toting 5 people in the Minivan. Almost a full gallon of Gas was saved and we all had a blast.

This Friday is Bike to Work Day in DC. I will be doing my normal route and picking up my t-shirt at Rosslyn. I think Keow will ride down to the Burke VRE station to get some freebies as well. See you out on the trail!