Greenpeace

May 15 - Bike to Work Day...

 
Some of the Greenpeacers who participated in Bike To Work Day along with some who always ride....

I join the flow of bikers on the Washington & Old Dominion bike path a few miles west of the Vienna Town Green rally points where extra bike bike racks are all full and a scrum of nearly 100 bikers in their finest gear mill about the sponsor tables.

There's tee shirts, baby blue this year, bananas, apples, fruit bars and water for all. It's a festive morning. Cool, damp with the overnight storm and the lush spring growth of Virginia. People are talking about their rides to work, making new friends in the greater bike community.

I break away with a group when the light gives us a chance to cross the four lanes of Hwy 123 flush with single drivers in individual cars as far as the eye can see.  There's some joggers and a box turtle to share the trail with. A mother with a baby in a trailer holding her shoe. She was hoping to stock up on water bottles at this year's event and was disappointed.

From the bridge over I-495, the Capitol Beltway, i have a balconly level view of miles of trucks and cars crawling along side by side nose to tail. The now bare sides of the highway lanes raw and muddy with the old oak forest that bordered the road recently removed to make way for new HOT lanes. That once robust buffer now bald in the face of homes built to the edge of the former woodlands. If we get to carbon Cap & Trade I wonder if I could get money from all those drivers to ride my bike and offset their exhaust. That would be nice. What if the car drivers had to pay the cost of building these new big roads. Would they woke up and switch to bicycles?  Imagine what a great bike path the highways would make. How fast I could ride downtown without stopping and waiting to cross roads.

Through Falls Church, dog walkers, joggers, school kids and walkers on their way to Metrorail stations. Onto the bankside path along Four Mile Run rushing in its rocky bed toward the tidal Potomac River. Bird song is overwhelmed by wheelsounds along I-66 on the Custis Trail as the trail climbs and falls under road bridges hugging the highway side. Fantasize that the stop signs switch from the bike path to the streets.

Down the final stretch to the river, a knarly descent crossing six roads along the busy highway, bus stops, walkers, hotel entrance and then face down the gauntlet of two lanes of right turn traffic before descending to the river, muddy with last night's rain but glossy in the low tide calm.

Across fast George Washington Parkway traffic onto Memorial Bridge and into the District of Columbia through a convoy of tour buses. Kids in color coded tour shirts crowd the steps for group photos. A high school orchestra tunes up to play accompanied by the flights out of National Airport and the chainsaw/grinder duo courtesy of the park service tree trimming by the Vietnam War Memorial.

Lincoln's statue is up there in his big chair. I bet he'd of been a big bike rider. Big lanky legs fit for pedaling a touring bike. He did ride a horse in from the Soldiers & Sailors home to the White House in summer ruminating, so maybe he'd like the pace of the bike ride and the chance to clear his head. The horse was the private car of its day, though. Like humans, methane producer, but fueled by renewable resource, grass, but hay transported by wagons and other horses had an environmental impact too. As building bikes does as well - steel and component materials but no fuel over it's useful life, a bit of citrus cleanser to keep the chain clean and lubricants to keep moving. Tires and tubes wear out almost every year. Which is more eco friendly over a life span: horse or bike? Note: question for the research department.

More tour groups at the Washington Monument.  Misty clouds over the White House. Obama plays basketball, not heard he rides a bike. Bush did but only after the motorcades got him where he could ride. The Capitol dome looms large ahead framed by trees, the Museum of the American Indian and the National Art Gallery. I turn up 7th Street an ambulance and Capitol Police car with sirens and lights blast over Pennsylvania Avenue, Six blocks, eight traffic lights into Chinatown and arrive at the Greenpeace office.

Another ride, one of many in my 12 years of commuting to work in Washington, D.C., and the 11 years in London, England. A bit of a fair weather biker now I'll bike or even drive my car to Metrorail when the temperature is below 40 degrees Fahrenheit or a day of rain is forecast and looks likely. I enjoy the pace of the bicycle, the chance to see the parade of blossoms the year provides, now featuring azalea, rhododendron and dogwood. My head is always clearer when I ride to work. There is no better way to see, hear and smell the world while rolling along.

Bike to Work Day is great. Biking every day is priceless. Just seeing that many less cars  on the road is a great start. Something everyone, even those stuck in their cars, should feel good about.

I dreamed I saw the drivers, sitting all alone in their cars, turning into bike riders to save our nation. (thanks Joni!) We are star dust, we are golden, billion year old carbon, and we got to get ourselves, back to the garden.