bike-to-work day
Friday was Bike-to-Work day. I did bike to work, but first I rode downtown to the annual rally at Freedom Plaza. I joined the convoy from McLean, but I stopped on the way at the Rosslyn (Arlington) pit stop, one of 20 satellite rally sites. I had signed up to pick up my free T-shirt there, because I wasn't sure I'd be riding all the way in. I registered for Rosslyn last year, and that was really a good move because the weather was pouring rain. This year the weather was fine - cloudy and cool and threatening rain, but OK.
The free handouts were different at the two rallies. Rosslyn had better maps, including an updated Arlington bike map, a new DC bike map, a new central MD bike map, a VA scenic-roads map, and bus route maps. DC had better water bottles. Rosslyn had less of a mob around the bagel tables. I didn't see anything to spread on the bagels at either rally. (In the past they've had margarine, cream cheese, and flavored cream cheeses - all of which always run out, but they're appreciated.) I didn't see any juice this year either, but DC did have bottles of flavored teas.
I lost my convoy when I stopped at Rosslyn, but there were plenty of people still heading in when I got rolling again. The one downside of the day was my rear shifter cable breaking about 3 blocks from Freedom Plaza. I decided the ride was flat enough to do without shifting, and I could do the repair at the rally instead of on a random corner. (I carry a spare shifter cable, a spare brake cable, 2 spare tubes (my wheels are different sizes), and tools.) But after spending the entire rally installing the cable (I had to disassemble the shifter to get the end of the old cable out), my cable turned out to be too short. (I must have salvaged it from another bike, and it would probably be OK for the front shifter.) Fortunately, the nice folks from City Bikes (who were one of the event sponsors) had a truck with spare parts, and they gave me a cable. I got it installed, and eventually got to work with no further incidents.
We did have a lot of people bike to my work Friday. There were 5 bikes in the rack, which is a record - although 1 of those bikes had been there all week (I think its owner's garage is full) and wasn't part of Bike-to-Work Day. And a 2nd bike was still there when I went home (fairly late), so I don't know what's up with it. And some people rode whose bikes weren't in the rack. Some have a spouse that still drives, so they have a car to put the bike in. Some drive the bike in one morning, bike home that evening, bike to work the next day, and then drive the bike home. Advantages of this scheme are that you still have your car available if you need to run errands or go to a client site, and it's easier to carry incidentals like a change of clothes. (One disadvantage is that if the weather is surprisingly bad the 2nd morning, your car is already at the office, and you are not. One of the guys doing this got caught in bad weather going home Thursday.)
5 of us got together for a photo-op in the afternoon, so I guess that will probably find its way to the company newsletter. (Those guys had some pretty expensive bikes. And I thought I was serious, because I bike commute so regularly. They'd better be doing a lot of riding someplace to justify that hardware....) We got email (and pictures) from another foursome who work at one of our sites downtown, and email from one more who works at our NIH site. (NIH is so progressive that it's had its own B2WD rally site for several years. It helps to have a director that bike commutes.)
This is the first year I haven't felt like I was the only one riding to my company on B2WD. And I've been seeing other bikes in the rack more often this spring. (But I'm still the only one who commutes through most of the winter.)