BTWD2015
Introduction/Definition/etc
Bike To Work Day 2015 is an annual event, now nationwide that encourages bicyclists to commute to work, by making Pit Stops and caravans or groups of people to ride with, learn from, safety in numbers, and providing swag (stuff we all get), t shirts, some snacks, bike accessories, discounts, raffles, etc, depending upon the stops...
Body
For many years, even as a bicycle advocate, I've been going to BTWD, with varying results. Mostly, you sign up online ahead, they ask questions on a web form, currently zipcodes of start (residence) and ending (work), name, etc, in order to register for a t shirt and the event.
This year one pit stop, nay, two I heard, was without a list, so on the honor system, said the host, a small city bike ped coordinator type person, and heard again elsewhere. Maybe they will be first come, first served. There are a few evening commute pit stops too. The website mentioned the first 14k people got shirts. Registering helps show that biking is popular, and may be used to help funding, idk. One year, or a couple, it was raining badly, and they almost cancelled. Picking up shirts later, from a sponsoring bike shop, was possible.
NBC4 was there, trying to get footage of the bikers, I was, of course, trying to avoid the cameras, as I didn't want to be on it, and the young lady with the large pink cased tablet and large tripod before an announcer showed up.
The health fair at the convention center with a Bike Rodeo was fun, even if just wearing a cafeteria type hair net, as the kids had to with sharing helmets, done in sympathy...
The BTWD2015 pit stop opened at 6.30 am, which seems early, but consider, maybe an hour commute into town, or whereever. Not everyone works 9-5, or even works. So encouraging bikers could be done other ways too. WABA, Washington Area Bicylists Association, the regional advocacy organization, has been around since 1970's, probably coinciding with the gas crunch, gas lines, and the oil embargo, etc... Some years they had a reduced membership fee that day ($5-$10 off a $30-$40/ year individual, but you could volunteer some number of events/ hours in lieu of it...), but I didn't find anyone selling memberships this year...
Beside the papparazi sticking cameras in people's faces, even the cheering team jerseyed crowds from a local bike shop, and then missing another bike pit stop, it had closed up by the time I got there, and was packing, missing more food and perhaps a water bottle. For Arlington, Rosslyn is probably the major pit stop, and on into DC, where Freedom Plaza was a destination before the Occupy Movement took over and they migrated to the Ronald Reagon Building. Speakers like Bloomhour (sp?), a congressional person from the very bike friendly Oregon, and other places. Bells, horns, safety vests, small and not very bright coin battery lights, an adornment, but not sufficiently bright for regular use, probably better than nothing, at free, it could help, but like security, a false sense of it for beginning bikers may be a problem. Once the coin battery is gone, it may cost more than the light to replace, some call them frog lights, as silicone wrap around the handlebars, or on the helmet, is a likely place to stick them.... CREE and other high power LED light options, if not dynohubs and not worrying about batteries helps too. Now, USB charging lights exist, at 5 Volts and up to about 2 Amps for newer tablets and smart phones, many chargers save another wall wart aka transformer to remember and carry...
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
Another year, another t shirt, to add to what one email mentioned was the rainbow colours of previous year shirts.
I have noticed fewer pickup trucks and people yelling at me out of car windows, but maybe wearing brighter stuff helps, or they are charged with harassment, or road rage when they do that, IDK. "Honk if you are horney" is probably NOT it...
Biking maybe better, odd DC bike lanes in the middle of the street, and between parked cars and the curb, and counter traffic or somesuch, need to be learned. One year the opening of Pennsylvania Avenue coincided with BTWD, but police and others like delivery services and taxicabs seemed to think it was their personal parking spaces, kind of like many people double parked in bike lanes, which are not exactly wide enough to avoid being "doored" (door opens into your path, you get hit/ go down/ injured/ etc)...
Bike to School Day was the week previous, and a walking school bus was interesting, but not seeing bright safety colors, nor headlights, I may have "broken the bus". Given than some neighborhood kids don't have bikes, even with an Earn A Bike program (ages 13 and above, iirc, but starting bikers learning to ride much earlier helps, ghe natural fascination with machinery and movement, before video game addiction sets in...), maybe they didn't do Bike to School Day, and the rain the night before probably didn't help that, washing out underpasses when the stream overflowed the banks and onto the trail/ paths. Fairfax County probably still has a risk managment problem, of most roads are not deemed safe enough, they have one bicycle club, no velodrome, and leave it to parents to determine if the kid can bike to school safely...
Nice to talk to some other bikers, compare equipment, be sociable, usually too rushed nor people congregating with bikes like a bike valet, to do that, and meet some interesting people, not as interesting (read peculiar, as in radicals, with occasional tall bikes, pedicabs, skateboarders, rollerbladers, joggers, etc) as Critical Mass, nor the kid friendly PC version Kidical Mass, but as a free event, still good, imho.
Discussion
A place for feedback on the page presented
Have you bicycled places on a regular basis?
What prevents you from getting exercise on the ways there and back?
Weather?
Clothing?
Bad roads?
Lack of known good routes?
Glass?
Safe storage of the bicycle?
A place to shower?
Carrying a business suit?
Or other things, too many miles, out of shape, required travel to customer sites, working for a fuel company like Exxon (remember Valdeez?), BigProblem, etc...?
For about the price of one major automobile repair, you can probably own a nice new bicycle.
(Motored Aside: If you take care of your teeth, likely own a motorcycle in what you save on dental, over a lifetime...)
Would a transit benefit like SmartBenefits for WIC/TANF, volunteering etc and/or disabled help you use the bike shares instead of just priced for tourists?
Would you be safe on those? Learn to Ride? Wear a helmet? Learn cautiously?
What about seniors' bicycles, three wheels?
Like the beach bicycles?
Recumbents are expensive, starting at around $1k, and more difficult to size, but for those that need to be off a wedgie seat, and get 'bent, just keep in mind they are likely lower to the ground and sometimes difficult for cars to see, hence the flags, etc... Bicycling up hills is a different experience too, down is fast, up may be much slower, not putting your weight on the pedals while basically standing...
Ever yell at a bicyclist and wonder why they ignored you?
That doppler effect may have something to do with it...
Ever find a silent and deadly hybrid sneak up on you, that you didn't hear?
Consider running noise, like running lights, maybe play Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls, no offense, just humor...
Ever been yelled at on a bike?
How did that feel? Did you yell back? Play New York TaxiDriver attitude?
Did you think it was Road Rage? Drunk? or just nasty that they had to slow down or change lanes some? For some reason, taking foot of the gas and onto brake, is so labor intensive for some people, maybe they are just jealous that they are not biking? /jk Or not actively engaged in the process of getting themselves there by human powered locomotion? And creating endorphines, wind in their hair, etc...
Better road design?
More criminal and civil penalties for harming bicyclists?
Like the EU?
Anti Car Crime laws? Monopoly and bad tricks be insurance agencies for hitting bicyclists, and just saying I didn't see you, changing the scene, blanket denials, bold faced lies, etc...
Or just plain civility?
Drive thru pit stops, where you can pull up, get the shirt, food, swag, chat a bit in line with your bike, etc might help. Not everyone has time to stop. Bike maps for all the jurisdictions, might help, there are online versions, but not always working for many people, expensive data plans, and/or browser support issues, but maybe helps with route planning, say a group ride with kids, or finding alternative routes to that boring same old, same old route... Take the long road home? Enjoy life a little, smell the roses, a bit, just watch the thorns...
Idears
Drive Thru Pit Stops
Drive thru versions of pit stops like mentioned above...
No, Cars, I don't mean like in South America, banker in SUV mows down CritMass bikers...
Pit Stop Alley Cat Passport Collections
How about an alley cat, pit stop to pit stop tour?
How many pit stops can you get to, get stamped, and like 50 States tour with a passport, catch as many as you can?
License
Creative Commons Share and Share Alike, Non Commercial, Non Derivative, for the whole site's contents unless otherwise explicitly stated
Page History
20150515 Jerry
- Jerry created this page to log some issues with an event ...
- Yes, I volunteer a little, and am counting that as "work", though not paid, in order to be one of the "kewl kids" (tm)...
- Limited income, seniors could be created too... Get the geezer out to ride, same day, give kids the skinny on how it was back in the old days... See some vintage bikes, bone crushers, etc, like seen at the maker faire, but forgot to log...
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