CommuterPageBlog

Take me out to the ball game

I had the opportunity over the weekend to spend July 4th on a boat on the Potomac, for what are arguably the best darn seats in the house to watch the national fireworks display. Considering that our nation's capital was purposefully built on a river, we generally don't take really great advantage of the waterway at our front door. Waterways are frequently used as great transportation options -- the Staten Island Ferry comes to mind, as does the Hong Kong-to-Kowloon ferry, etc. 

Anyway, after spending the night at a nearby marina, we got up this morning and took a stroll over to the new  Nationals stadium. It looks terrific from both land and water. I was particular impressed with the plethora of bike racks -- aren't they great looking?! I also saw a pretty big bike valet available. 

There's also good access to Metrorail, and Metro's Circulator bus (I believe), and parking for cars, of course. Great transit options and we are inspired to come back to the stadium in the very near future to grab a hot dog and catch a game. Maybe by bike! 

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon. (dianasunVA on Twitter)

County Official Caught In the Act

I witnessed it literally moments ago... I spotted Arlington County Board Vice Chair Jay Fisette commuting to work... on his bike!

Mr. Fisette is a huge supporter of biking, and of our walkable/bikeable community in general. He's an ardent champion of our Fresh AIRE (Arlington Initiative to Reduce Emissions) program... and he's promoting green efforts across the Commonwealth, in a campaign he launched: "Go Green Virginia."

Ain't it great when elected leaders walk the talk?! Check out our Car-Free Diet to learn how you can occasionally use alternate ways to get around.

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Counting down to Nov. 4

Want to avoid long lines on Nov. 4? If you live in Virginia and you work, say, in D.C., you can vote absentee "in person" until this Saturday.

Here in Arlington, folks have been lining up this week to do just that -- they are using the regular voting machines... and contrary to some crazy rumor, YES, the votes count! (I don't know where this bad info came from!) The lines here are running about 45 minutes to an hour. I voted absentee myself a few weeks ago.

As for Nov. 4, please try to walk, bike, take transit or carpool! Things will be crazy enough around here! In Arlington, we have only 26 square miles but we have 51 polling places... hopefully close enough so that you really can walk or bike. Here's hoping that enough folks will take a car-lite approach and we can avoid traffic gridlock on the 4th. See our 2008 Election Survival Guide>>>

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

My vote counts!

Easy-peasy! I voted absentee today! Since I have a meeting that takes me out of Arlington on Nov. 4, I qualified to vote absentee.

I voted absentee "in person," which meant that I checked in, used the regular voting machines, and got my "I voted" sticker. The only difference: no waiting and no lines!

You may qualify to vote absentee as well! Absentee voting-in-person began Sept. 22 and continues to Nov. 1. (You can also do it by mail.) You can check out the Arlington Election 2008 Survival Guide for more info. And, despite some INCORRECT rumors to the contrary, EVERY VOTE counts.

So, if you can, vote absentee and avoid the lines, avoid the traffic, avoid the stress! Easy-peasy!

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo-moo..

As a bicyclist, I feel so lucky to be living in the National Capital Region! I have been enjoying riding the trails and bike lanes, as well as biking to errands and meetings. This past weekend, we biked through farm country, just a short drive away.

Our trip took us to Thurmont, Maryland, near Camp David. There, we embarked on a 25-mile circuit that included three beautiful covered bridges and a number of historic structures, many dating from the Civil War -- including an old foundry that supplied the shells for Yorktown.

We rode paved country roads that are very quiet and peaceful -- past crops, cows, sheep, goats, even an emu (I think). At one point I said, "I wish I could see a llama," and lo and behold, I saw 2 llamas! (So next I said, "I wish I could see one million dollars in small unmarked bills in a suitcase." Alas, no luck.) We EARNED our trip to the enormous buffet at Thurmont's historic Cozy Inn.

Our companion was the guidebook, "25 Bicycle Tours in and around Washington, D.C.: From National Monuments to Country Roads." My teammate Tracy recommended it and we have found it to be very helpful, with great ideas and advice.

My advice to you? Ya gotta get out there! We're surrounded by wonderful treasures -- both urban and country -- and by seeing them by bike (vs. car), you can enjoy a much richer experience. You can smell the aromas, say 'hi' to the emu who wanders over, and appreciate the beautiful stonework in an early 1800's building. And you can be totally guilt-free at the all-you-can-eat buffet!

P.S. My thanks to the very nice bicyclists who stopped to help us with Bob's rear brake problem. Folks in the bicycle community around here are the BEST!

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Bicycle dis-incentive

How silly is this?!

On a recent weekend -- when the humidity was low and the weather was GORGEOUS -- Bob and I made a trip on bicycles to Great Falls and back to Arlington.

At the entrance gate to the Great Falls park, all vehicles pay an entrance fee. Cars pay $5 each, while each bicycle pays $3. So Bob and I paid $6, but if we had driven there in a car, it would have been a dollar less. If we'd been a family of four? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Shouldn't we be incenting people to ride bikes around here? Vs. incenting us to drive.

By the way, riding in the park was very nice -- lots of trails, though some were pretty rough from  Hurricane Hanna rains, and all wonderfully shaded. Peaceful and quiet.

(Note to self: pay attention next time and be sure to read the part in the bicycle tour guidebook that says "hilly.")

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Biking in Galapagos

Ahoy! Bob and I have just returned from an AWESOME trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Suffice it to say that all you have heard is true -- the Galapagos islands are a wealth of natural wildlife, most of whom are perfectly content to treat us humans as mildly annoying paparazzi.

In my amateur opinion, Ecuador is doing a great job of preserving the islands as a nature sanctuary. So you won't be surprised to hear that biking is a popular way of getting around! Many of the islands are not inhabited, but there is a lovely village on the island of Santa Cruz, which served as our home base for the scuba diving portion of our trip.

There, we saw many biking residents and many sturdy bike racks. In the photo, you can see a bike rack, with the sea in the background. I was surprised and delighted to see a dedicated bike lane!!

I Am Brilliant

My husband and I moved from suburban life 3 years ago to a condo in Clarendon (Arlington) -- and I felt brilliant at the time, with gas at $3/gallon. With gas now at $4+, I feel like a downright genius!

Now the New York Times has confirmed my genius-ness with an article, "Fuel Prices Shift Math for Life in Far Suburbs." As the article states, "The shift to costlier fuel is threatening to slow the decades-old migration away from cities."

Higher fuel prices may at last be providing the big motivation for people to seek a more transit-oriented, walkable, bikeable life. We've already seen that Arlington's urban villages have weathered the housing downturn better than our ex-burban neighbors.

Urban villages = healthier and now, wealthier! Am I brilliant, or what!

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Settin' out on a 2-day trek

No, no, not me... my colleague Ken! I've blogged about Ken before... he commutes by bicycle to work every day -- in rain, snow, heat, cold, you name it -- from the Seven Corners area to Courthouse in Arlington.

He set off this morning from Arlington on a two-day trek -- the picturesque "W&OD - C&O loop."  As you can see in the photo. Ken loaded up his vintage Peugeot with a sleeping bag, foam pad, a tarp for the rain, drinking water, and other supplies. I'm thrilled that he's wearing his helmet (positive reinforcement!) and he's got sunscreen in the panier.

His route will take him west on the W&OD into Leesburg... he plans to cross White's Ferry today and camp overnight on the Maryland side. I've biked on the W&OD to Leesburg -- what a great ride, shaded and not crowded! My dad is buried in Leesburg and it was wonderful biking through the very old cemetery, looking at gravestones from the 1800's. How fun it would be to cross on White's Ferry by bicycle -- the last working ferry on the Potomac.

I've also biked on the C&O up to Bethesda for lunch... I'm struck by the awesome touring possibilities around here, in our own back yard! I primarily ride my bike for either errands or fun long rides... it hasn't dawned on me to take an actual TRIP by bike! Ken promised he would blog here about his trip when he returns, so I'll be interested to hear of his experiences... in the meantime, do you have touring/trip experiences to share?

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Fahrrad ist gut*

Guten tag! This time last week I was skiing in the German Alps, on the glacier at Garmisch, Germany's highest point at about 9,000' elevation. The weather was unseasonably warm (hello, global warming?) and beautiful -- a little too warm for great skiing.

The ancient town of Garmisch -- about 1100 years old! -- is charming. We especially enjoyed the pedestrian mall in the town center. And I really got a kick out of all the bikes! So many people were getting around on bikes! Old, young, families, you name it.

This top photo is of a typical commuter bike, with a basket behind the seat. Just about everyone had such a basket -- easily snaps into the rear rack. I have a similar basket myself, so I was feeling very smug. This bike is parked right outside a grocery store -- the shoppers load their items directly from their shopping carts into their bike baskets. The stores there don't provide free bags, as we do here. :-)

The other thing I wanted to share is this photo that I took right outside a local bike shop. Have you figured out what it is? I thought this was so clever! It's a 24/7 vending machine for bike tire innertubes! How great is that?! The stores there all close at 6 p.m., so this type of extended availability is such a great idea.

*Hopefully, this says something like, "bicycle is good"!

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, a new bicylist, and a happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.