What is Bike to Work Day in this age of telework?
Most of white-collar Washington has been on a hybrid schedule since the covid epidemic. That means people go into the office for a few days a week and are remote the rest of the time.
I work from home full-time. So I never bike to work. Or am I always biking to work?
I wasn’t going to get caught up in semantics when there were free donuts available. Bike to Work Day 2024 saw me at 7 AM rolling across the Key Bridge to Virginia
Rosslyn is trying to rebrand itself as more than just corporate office buildings. The concrete “skyway” system which old-timers might remember is being torn down. They want you at street level now, as jets roar overhead on approach to National Airport. Rosslyn got in early with a food hall, opening with spectacularly bad timing in 2020. It’s been redone, with a new slate of restaurants, and new name: Upside on Moore.
To me, Rosslyn will always be associated with covid. In 2020/21, when DC was saddled with maddening covid restrictions, freedom was available across the Potomac. I went there to do forbidden things like sit indoors and put milk in my own coffee. It’s where I wrote big chunks of LIKES and, later, HOW I BECAME RED BIKE GUY. It’s my happy productive writing place.
So, I’m probably the only Washingtonian with positive feelings about Rosslyn.
Gateway Park in Rosslyn hosted one of the many Bike to Work Day pit stops in the DC region. If you drive, Gateway Park is probably just a glimpsed concrete island as you rush to get to I-66 or the George Washington Parkway. Marooned by four-lane roads and speeding cars, it is not the most inviting prospect for a visit.
But they had free donuts. Lots of them! Plus, coffee from McDonalds and snacks for riders.
I registered here to pick up my trademark scratchy Bike to Work Day t-shirt and got a bike mirror, too. A mechanic from Trek did a safety check on my bike and I browsed tables from Arlington organizations such as the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail, who volunteer tirelessly to maintain the trail.
Then I was back across the river, riding past the Kennedy Center, the White House and to Franklin Park.
This is another redevelopment project, in which the city took over maintenance of the park from the federal government. They ripped out everything, regraded it and added a new fountain, benches, a Children’s Garden and bathrooms. Unlike forlorn Gateway Park, Franklin Park is easy to access and hosts events all year, including concerts and fairs.
Bike to Work Day in DC used to be huge. Pre-pandemic, hundreds of people would gather for speeches, music and raffles. These were veteran bike commuters and newbies, organized into rides from the suburbs.
2024 is more low-key. Commuters don’t come downtown on Fridays, even the bike ones. It’s everyone’s telework day.
At Franklin Park, there was less than a hundred people but the DC Public Library brought their book bike, there was a selection of Bromptons to look at and I got some DC Circulator freebies. Plus, I saw a lot of my bike friends, part of the rolling community in DC.
That’s the state of Bike to Work Day in 2024 in Washington, DC. Commuting patterns are different now. There’s not the 9-5, Monday to Friday influx of commuters anymore.
I went home to get online before 9 AM. I had biked to work, after all.
