County Trails and Comradery Highlight Bike to Work 2023

Riders left with green tee shirts and granola bars.

At the Kingstowne Bike to Work Day pit stop, cyclists continued to trickle in all morning, and most had their eye on the granola bars, water and the green tee shirt to commemorate this year’s event. At this pit stop, some were heading south to jobs at Fort Belvoir, while others were going the other way to Old Town or Arlington.

Margo started off in Shirlington, brought her bike on the Metro, got off at the Franconia-Springfield stop, and headed over to Fort Belvoir after stopping at the pit stop. She liked her multi-modal transportation method, and bringing her bike on the Metro helped. “They let you do that even during rush hour,” she said.

Chris Wong gets some bike tips from one of the volunteers at the Kingstowne stop. 

 

Chris Wong came in from Lorton and was headed to his job nearby. Some of his ride was on the road. “Most people could bike if it wasn’t so dangerous,” he said.

In the Kingstowne-Fort Belvoir part of the county there are a fair number of trails so biking is possible almost everywhere. Once across Telegraph Road, there are links to the Mount Vernon Trail which leads into Washington, D.C. and many trail links along the way. Last week, a bike bridge across Dogue Creek opened in the Mount Vernon area, creating a safe venue for that ride.

The Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling (FABB) supports Bike to Work Day, and they had members at 14 of the 28 Fairfax pit stops across the area, including this stop in Kingstowne. The number of riders is nearly back to the pre-covid times, said Bruce Wright of FABB. "It’s a great event and I think it encourages a lot of people to use their bikes for transportation," Wright said.

The coveted Bike to Work tee shirts.