Bike to Work Day Draws Over 1,000 Alexandria Bicyclists
Pit stops offer coffee, music, and giveaways. Sen. Ebbin speaks about protecting cyclists and pedestrians
ALEXANDRIA, VA-It is the day bicyclists have been waiting for all year. Well before the sun began poking through the clouds, they donned their trademark spandex and helmets, hopped on their bikes, and sped off to a pit stop or two on the way to work. Some overly ambitious cyclists managed to hit up multiple sites in Alexandria, Arlington, and DC.
This morning, Alexandria was abuzz with six pit stops sprinkled throughout the city. Volunteers and staff began arriving at dawn’s early light, erecting booths, laying out the trademark t-shirts (this year’s color blood red), brewing up hot coffee for all the cyclists, and arranging the stage at the two biggest pit stops. DJs unpacked equipment to blast lively dance tunes all morning long.
Bike to Work Day promotes a fun and healthy way to start the day and encourages commuters to get out of their cars and discover alternate ways of getting to work. The annual event is a joint effort of Commuter Connections and Washington Area Bicyclist Association. There were over 100 pit stops throughout the DC region.
Carlyle Council hosted one of the most elaborate pit stops. Booths ringed John Carlyle Square Park, offering up hot and cold coffee, sausage breakfast sandwiches, salad, pastries, and a variety of freebies. The Zebra caught up with Alexandria Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley just before she dashed off to Market Square. Bagley is an avid cyclist, even using her bike get to and from City Council meetings.
“I’d say maybe ten percent of my rides are recreational trail rides,” she said. “My bicycle is my vehicle. It is how I get around.” The vice mayor bought an e-bike for crisscrossing the city from east to west. The electric assist helps her “arrive fresh.”
Bagley acknowledged the city must do more to promote this healthier and environmentally-friendly way of traveling.
“There’s two key elements, I think. There’s connectivity of infrastructure and there’s education. We need to make sure that we are continuing to connect our existing structures and expand where possible to get people where they need and want to go,” she shared. “But on the flip side, we need to help drivers, bus riders, and walkers understand that for every cyclist on the road, that is one less vehicle, that is fewer emissions, that is people outside enjoying themselves.”
Virginia Senator Adam Ebbin received an award from the Virginia Biking Federation at the Market Square pit stop. Ebbin was honored for introducing Senate Bill 1416, which went into law this year. Beginning July 1, if a driver fails to stop for pedestrians, that driver will be in violation of the law. The infraction rises to a Class 1 misdemeanor if an incident results in serious bodily injury or death of a vulnerable road user lawfully crossing a roadway.
Kevin O’Brien is Virginia organizer for Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and a board member of the Virginia Bicycling Federation. In introducing Ebbin, he told the senator, “We know you’ve been a champion for safe streets for many years now.”
Ebbin credited Alexandria Families for Safe Streets for pushing for this law for years. The senator thanked all the cyclists who are “environmentally minded and keeping fit.”
“A few years ago,” he told the crowd, “we started dealing with distracted driving and to better define that because there’s a penalty but it’s rarely enforced. And then this year we came at it from a different approach, alarmed at the people being stricken in crosswalks and the perpetrators receiving just a slap on the wrist for failure to yield.”
O’Brien has ditched his car and now gets around Northern Virginia by Metro and bike.
“It’s a true multi-modal experience,” O’Brien laughed. It isn’t always easy. He sometimes wonders, “How the heck am I going to get all the way out there?”
“I get a lot of surprise looks sometimes when I roll in with my helmet and people go, ‘You biked here?’ But you know, I have to practice what I preach, right?” he added.
SEE ALSO: Campagna Center Names Edith Hawkins New CEO
