D.C. cyclists are planning a local route as part of the national Ride of Silence tomorrow that will pass the places where Alice Swanson and Ian Wolfe died, as well as American Univeristy, where Brent Hurd, killed while cycling in India, taught.

The ride will start at 7 p.m. at the Jefferson Memorial and will be over by 10 p.m. The WashCycle, which planned the route, encourages people to wear a helmet and to bring a black armband to remember those injured on bikes. “If you have been injured while cycling,” the site says, “please wear a red armband instead. As we will be riding at dusk you should also bring reflective clothing and lights for your bike.”

The Ride of Silence, started by a Dallas-area cyclist in 2003 to honor an endurance rider killed by the mirror of a passing bus, is not sponsored by anyone and it’s free. Anyone can participate in tomorrow’s D.C. ride.

Photograph of Alice Swanson’s ghost bike at the 2000 block of R Street NW by Darrow Montgomery

or at least he tells Brightest Young Things.

That’s right: The guy that we put on our cover story about helmet use last week has been located. You remember him—he’s the guy that we photographed from the rear, on a blue bike. Carrying a helmet—not on his head, but rather around the hip area. We posed a question: “What’s This Guy Thinking?” alongside the photograph.

He answers it in his BYT post:

I consider myself a fairly established bike rider, nothing special, but I know what I’m doing. Like many people in the article, I was a bike messenger in Richmond for years. The day that photo was taken, I spent most of my day on the bike path, and only did a small amount of riding in traffic. Trust me – I wore that helmet when dealing with traffic, but found it pointless on the bike path and sidewalks. I know for a fact that cars eat bikes, and I’m not about to let some Maryland driver put me six feet into the ground. OUTRAGEOUSLY, when that photo was taken I WAS ON THE SIDEWALK. And then you ask “What’s this guy thinking?” Tell you what I wasn’t thinking: I wasn’t thinking that before I jumped onto the bike path to head home with my new Tobacco-Use-Only glass pipe in my pocket that some ass clown would take a photo of me and publish it on the cover of the City Paper. That’s the last thing I was thinking.

A couple of points here: 1) That “ass clown” is Darrow Montgomery, a professional photographer who took a priceless shot to illustrate the story. If you want to invest in a helmet and then proceed to not use it—and do all of that in public, then we have every right to grab a shot of it.

2) This whole notion about taking the helmet on and off according to traffic levels: Do you also take off your seat belt when you reach a country road, only to strap it back on when you’re in the city again?

LL Columnist and City Paper‘s rare hope for up-close coverage, Mike DeBonis, reports he is about to begin his journey. That journey? To debunk the naysayers who say you can’t get within spitting distance of the swearing-in of America’s First Black President AND watch the parade from sweet digs at the John A. Wilson Building.

IN THE BEGINNING: DeBonis left his house at 9 a.m., locked his bike to a signpost near South Capitol and D Street SW, and walked approximately two blocks to the green gate for ticketed swearing-in watchers. He reports he had little problem retrieving his bike post-ceremony, despite the “sea of humanity,” which now replaces “I wanted to be a part of history” as the most cliched phrase of this inauguration.

Regarding the bike valet experiment, DeBonis says, “Glad I didn’t do it. I’d probably still be waiting.”

He’s now attempting to bike or walk the bike to the Wilson at 14th and Pennsylvania NW. We will keep you updated on this historic quest.

UPDATE 1:54 p.m.: DeBonis, via BlackBerry, says he made it to 12th and Pennsylvania. Getting close!

UPDATE 2:04 p.m.: He’s at 14th and Pennsylvania! It was “real tough” around L’Enfant Plaza, where bicycleless, clueless hordes were trying to get on Metro. DeBonis had to “plow big-time” through them. He is mainly “gliding” on the bike, with one foot readied to plant on the ground and push him through. He did have to get off and walk the bike at one point.

UPDATE 2:30 p.m.: Thwarted! DeBonis makes it all the way to 12th and Constitution, where he meets a chain-link fence about 8 feet high and, more importantly, a Secret Service officer. The officer tells our intrepid correspondent that he cannot cross Constitution and suggests DeBonis go up to 18th Street and around the White House. DeBonis, ever calculating the maps inside his head, protests. “That would still put me north of Pennsylvania Avenue and I have to get south of it,” he says. No dice. DeBonis is on the hunt for another Secret Service officer, “one who tells me what I want to hear.”

UPDATE 2:46 p.m.: Denied again! Another SS officer at 14th and Constitution mocks DeBonis’ journey. In DeBonis’ words, she “didn’t give a shit.” But this is not a time for giving up. This is a time for optimism! For crossing icy waters and unclenching fists! DeBonis says: “I’m going to try another one, but you can see some of the parade from here, some of the bands.” Keep hope alive!

UPDATE 3:03 p.m.: Guess he can’t. DeBonis, dejected, calls in from the south side of the Washington Monument and reports that “the dream is slipping away.” Misery, however, has company: “A Post reporter and photographer are in the exact same situation,” he says. DeBone’s plan is to bike west around the perimeter and head back north, and then east through Penn Quarter. Asked if he might just stop in for a beer somewhere and call it a day, DeBonis was indecisive.

UPDATE 3:14 P.M.: “Here’s the poetic end to my quest,” says DeBonis by telephone. “I’m going to Delaney’s for Inaug Dogs….I’ll twitter some stuff on the way there.”

Tomorrow, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association will be running Inauguration Day bike valet stations from 7 am to 5 pm.

If you’re interested in having the cycling-supporters park and guard your ride while you hang with Obama, one of the two stations will be located north of the National Mall at 16th St. NW between K St. & I St., the other south of the Mall in the Jeffersonian Memorial parking lot. These spots are just outside the inauguration’s hard security zone, so after you drop off your two-wheeled loved-one, it’s an easy stroll to a “general public entry point,” as  WABA’s google map, replete with bike-routes you can take to the area, illustrates.

Though they’re bound to have quite a few bikes to park, considering the response the organization got from riders hoping to use the service, don’t worry, they’ll find space for your ride. If the bike racks donated to the group by Dero Racks fill up, WABA will start dragging over surplus crowd control barriers.

Handing over a cycle will be easy.

Read More “How to Use the Inagural Bike Valet” »

Yesterday, the Washington City Paper’s own Darrow Montgomery asked an important question in the comments section of a post focusing on the flood of RSVPs (as of now, over 1,300) the Washington Area Bicycle Association has received for its Inaug-Day bicycle-parking service: “What happens to bikes locked up outside these areas?”

Seeking an answer, City Desk contacted Kevin Griffis, spokesman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. “As long as [a parked/locked bike isn't] obstructing traffic, it should be fine,” Griffis said, but suggested we contact MPD to be sure.

D.C. police spokeswoman Traci Hughes had this to say about the subject via email: “If your readers want to park and lock outside the parade perimeter as they would on a normal day that is fine.” Hughes then added that bikers should, “Keep in mind there may be theft issues considering the number of people.”

An email from First District Commander David Kamperin was similar in nature, except the officer had his own keep-in-mind. “Keep in mind [bikers] are prohibited from securing to official signs, posts, etc.”

James R. Sebastian, the District Department of Transportation’s bike program manager, also offered up some advice on inaugural bike parking: Read More “Not Using the Inaugural Bike Valet? You Can Still Park Your Cycle” »

Update: It’s on. Find out how to use the inaugural bike valet here

The Washington Area Bicycle Association’s Henry Mesias says a 2:30 meeting between the organization and the District Department of Transportation yesterday, in which plans to allow WABA to set up a bike valet station for Inauguration Day were discussed, “went well.”  But he also says that the organization won’t know if inauguration-goers arriving by cycle will be able to hand their vehicles over to a crew of frocked WABA volunteers, until later: A number of folks “at the top of the ladder” will have to sign off on the idea, he explains.

Mesias is hoping that, for the sake of inaugural-pedalers, the station gets approved. “Biking will be the best way to get to the inauguration,” he contends, “roads are going to be out of the question and Metro will be overburdened. [Without a valet station] there might  be a lot of people parking their bikes in places they shouldn’t and getting their bike locks cut by Secret Service.”

Update: How to Use the Inaugural Bike Valet

Yesterday, Loose Lips Daily linked to San Francisco Bike Blog– which thinks the Washington Area Bicycle Association should bring its bike valet service to Inauguration 2009.

“Who wants to get hands-runneth-over by security guards just so you can stand on a packed [Metro] platform with dudes in blue, carrying big, automatic weapons? Not me. People need to be able to go by bike, and they need a place to put their bikes when they arrive. The local cycling organization knows how to do bike valet parking – they should offer it at the inauguration.”

Turns out WABA has a Thursday meeting with DDOT to discuss doing exactly that.

If all goes well at the meeting, says WABA staffer Henry Mesias, the organization will set up a bike valet station towards the south of the Capitol and just outside the inauguration’s hard-security-perimeter.

The Trek District is “Aggressive. Edgy. And entirely progressive. The District’s where things happen. It’s fast, unapologetic, and, well, not for everyone. You either get it or you don’t. For those that do, the District offers an experience unlike anything else out there.”

Well, that sounds like, you know, Morton Kondracke wrote it. This edgy and entirely progressive town deserves, no, DEMANDS a singlespeed bike with a revolutionary belt-drive chain that there’s like no chance in hell you’ll ever have to spend more than a minute or two hunting down a replacement for. Still, stuff to like here–a very sensible chainguard, and a saddle and grips that evoke the golden age of cycling (though these are set off a bit by the giant orange rims).

Portland has a bike. So does Valencia. New York, Seattle, and freaking Las Vegas have their own, too. So it’s about time we got a bike named after us, even if for all I know this is named after the Garment District. And if Trek sends a couple over, Darrow and I will def. give a complete and fair review.

Hey Mr. Expensive Bike Guy,

I couldn’t help noticing this morning that you weren’t whizzing past me on my way to work–the Four Mile Run trail, the Mount Vernon trail, and the Rock Creek trail were absolutely free of guys on $3,000 carbon-fiber Cervelos and Colnagos who don’t signal with bells because those add 25 grams. I didn’t see even one person in a moisture-wicking lycra suit covered in logos for European utility companies.

Read More “Fancy Bike Guy, Where Are You?” »

TheWashCycle, which is really just the greatest thing, put questions to Council candidates about bike policy. Here are the people who responded (links when I could find them):

• Jack Evans
• Cary Silverman
• Muriel Bowser
• Baruti Jahi

And here are the lame-o’s who didn’t:

• Patrick Mara
• Carol Schwartz
• Yvette Alexander
• Marion Barry
• Charles Wilson

And here is the candidate whose e-mail box was too full to receive the questionnaire:

• Villareal Johnson

Silverman, who says cycling is his primary MOT, said he’s in favor of striping bike lanes, adding bike boxes, increasing the number of racks, among other things. Evans likes bike lanes and thinks cycling should be taught in public schools. Bowser blew a bunch of hot air about encouraging cycling blah blah blah. Jahi said he used to be an avid cyclist but doesn’t have much time for it these days.

Fair warning: The word Klingle is used frequently in this post.

You can read Loose Lips’ primary endorsements here.