Anne Forney has just biked 12 minutes from her job at Georgia Tech Research Institute in Rosslyn and made a quick stop for a strawberry-banana popsicle at the Lyon Village pit stop on Langston Boulevard for Bike to Work Day. This is an annual event to promote biking as an option for commuting to work.

“I’m halfway home to where I live in Cherrydale. My husband will be along in an hour or so.”

Russell and Allison Farrow have biked in from Falls Church “just for this.” Allison had hit the Rosslyn site this morning along the extensive Arlington bike trails, and this afternoon she and Russell were back at the Lyon Village stop. 

Normally Allison bikes from Falls Church to south of Alexandria where she works for NSF. “They’re all set up for bikers at work with a bike cage and showers.” Russell works from home so he bikes for fun. “My favorite ride is to Reston on the W&OD Trail because you ride through the countryside.”

Ginger Brown, who is in charge of the Lyon Village site, says they have had a steady stream of bikers since they opened at 3 p.m. “A lot of neighborhood folk work from home and they stop by.” She adds, “I think they like our goodie bags.” To demonstrate, she pulls out a black “Bike Arlington” towel, two peanut butter dark chocolate energy bars, an extensive bike map and an original Earth Day lithograph by Amber Haynes, a local artist.

Another biker pulls up and checks the registration list. “What’s your size?” Brown asks and hands over a medium orange Bike Arlington 2024 T-shirt. Kane says they had ordered 80 popsicles to hand out to thirsty bikers but King of Pops had thrown in extra “just in case.”

Bike to Work Day had seven pit stops located around the county for this annual event from Shirlington to Ballston to the Langston location. Bike to Work Day is held annually on May 17 in the United States, Europe, Asia and Canada. This year there were 110 stops in the metropolitan D.C. area, Virginia and Maryland.

Ginger Brown shows the contents of the popular goody bag at Arlington Bike to Work Day May 17.