Inauguration Bike Valet- Your Thoughts

There is no official count yet, but the 16th St. bike valet location exceeded 1,000 bikes, and I believe the Jefferson Memorial site did as well. My ride in straight down 16th Street at 7:00am was a breeze. What was your experience coming from other parts of town? How were the trails and bridges coming in from Virginia? Talk about your experience biking to the Inauguration or using the valet in the comments.

Comments

[MB]

Ended up not using it. Came in from Arlington, and noted that it was a pretty clear and easy shot straight down Virginia Ave (from Key/Whitehurst Freeway). Ended up locking up right on Constitution. Much quicker exit resulted, I'm sure.

[Scott Feeney]

I came from Seven Corners and went down route 50 to Bluemont Park, where I took the Bluemont Junction Trail to the Custis Trail to the Mt. Vernon Trail to the Arlington Memorial Bridge. This was pretty late in the morning, probably after 10, but I was able to bike across the bridge, if slowly and carefully.

As far as I'd known, the south bike valet was right across the Memorial Bridge, but I couldn't see it and none of the inauguration volunteers knew where it was. One said 18th & Constitution, one denied it existed, several referred me to the one on 16th St and weren't sure about the other. I went to 18th & Constitution where I learned the valet was on the _south_ side of the Jefferson Memorial, way far away, and that I actually might as well go to 16th St. So I walked my bike slowly and painfully against the flow of traffic up 18th St, to I St, to 16th, where the main valet area was full and they had started using overflow space. Better directions on how to get to the valet location might have been nice.

There were many many bikes locked to road signs in Rosslyn and barriers around the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, so the total number of cyclists far exceeded those using the valet.

The ride itself was wonderful, nothing scary or too too hilly, and beautiful views of the shimmering, partly frozen-over Potomac with the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials on the other side. There was a "bike route" sign near Ballston after I got off the Bluemont Junction Trail that led me astray, just put me on a sidewalk and then I didn't see any bike route signs after that. Fortunately I caught up to some other riders who led me to the Custis Trail. Aside from that, navigation was easy, especially with the yellow "Walk/Bike Access to DC Bridges" signs posted at forks and trailheads.

It was cold. Biking advocates should drive huge SUVs, because that would accelerate global warming and therefore make biking in the winter MUCH more attractive. Wait, never mind.

Major props to WABA for organizing the valet. It worked great, and I have to add, when I heard there was a free bike valet, I thought to myself, "Wow, that's awesome. I have to go." If it weren't for that I actually might have stayed home. Glad I didn't because the inauguration itself was spectacular, especially when I lucked out and got to watch along the parade route.

[bikesnick]

we rode in from chain bridge about 8am. it was cold (18 degrees). chain bridge and canal road were closed to normal traffic, so it was fun to ride on them, almost car free. we rode through georgetown on m, through gwu, down to 18th and constitution. it was crowded! our plan was to see the activity and return home to watch tv. the return trip along canal and chain bridge was fun, too.

[worktheweb]

Things went pretty smoothly. I biked from Alexandria and was able to drop off the bike around 8:30 with a 5-10 minute wait, which wasn't bad considering the line went to the street. Picking the bike up took a bit longer, but nothing overly long, maybe 10-15 minutes, which was impressive considering the much longer line. Great job, WABA -- thanks for doing this.

[Jack]

Does anyone know if the Capital Crescent Trail was busy yesterday with inbound a.m. traffic?

I nominate WABA to run the security checkpoints for the next inauguration. It seems they know how to run an efficient operation!

[Contrarian]

Capital Crescent trail was very busy both going in in the morning and out in the afternoon. I went with my whole family and it was a snap, no hassles, although a little cold. (Not everyone in my family pedals as fast as I normally do, so I couldn't build up any heat).

We didn't use the bike valet. The NPS had lined the entire mall with bike racks. OK, they were actually security fences, but to thousands of people they functioned as bike racks.

Interesting observation: if you really want to move a lot of people into a little area in a short time, ban private motor vehicles. Hmmm.