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.

Just find the line of people with bikes (WABA volunteers will be working very hard to keep that line short) and wait for a turn. Black-vested attendants will take both bike and biking-stuff, like trailers and panniers-- and assign a numbered ticket to the gear. Half the ticket will go with you, the other half with your bike, attached to its handlebars by a twist tie.

The last step is to visit the sign-up table and write name and cell-phone digits (supplying a cell-number isn't required, but encouraged ) in WABA's binder. If there's some sort of emergency, like heavy snowfall, the valets will buzz people's phones to let them know to pick-up early.

Try not to lose the ticket. If it happens anyway, be sure to have I.D. so the valets can link name and bike.

Art by  Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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:

There are no special bike parking spots besides the valet stations, but bicyclists can park where they normally are allowed to park: bike racks and other ‘stanchions’ in public space (like parking meters, streets signs, etc) EXCEPT for fire hydrants, poles in bus stop areas, within 25 feet of an intersection, and trees under 10 feet in diameter.

Sebastian said he doesn't know what Commander Kamperin meant by cyclists being "prohibited from securing to official signs, posts, etc."

photo by modomatic

Update: How to Use the Inaugural Bike Valet

WABA program-assistant Henry Mesias, who has provided City Desk with all sorts of timely scoops regarding the free bike valet service the association will offer on Inauguration Day, says the non-profit is fully prepared for a "bikepocalypse."  And why might he predict one?  Around this time last week, the organization had received some 650 RSVPs, whereas, by yesterday, it had received over 1,100 (a jump of 450 cyclists).

Considering RSVPs aren't required, and the inauguration is still seven days away, you can bet there will be more than eleven-hundred two-wheelers rolling into stations on Jan. 20. (Back in December, WABA imagined there would be a max of just a thousand.) No sweat. WABA can handle it. "We're prepared for the worst, I mean...er...the best," Mesias says.

Not only is the group ready for the worst-er- best, they're ready to supply the multitudes who stream into one of two (plans for a third were scrapped) stations--located north and south of the National Mall respectively-- with snazzy commemorative claim tickets and spoke cards. The spoke card design is pictured below.

Photo by Decadent

According to Washington Area Bicyclist Association program assistant Henry Mesias, it's official: WABA will be setting up bike valet stations at the Capitol on Inauguration Day. "Locations are still TBA," he writes in an email, "but there will be designated bike valet areas north and south of the event."

The nonprofit had been waiting for approval from various government entities so that it could offer free bike parking (and guarding) on January 20.

Mesias says more info will be released later today, through the organization's Web site, www.waba.org, and WABA is "asking folks who think they may use the valet to RSVP on our website to help us get an idea of how many bikes to expect."

Update: Asked to confirm the District Department of Transportation will be working with WABA to place bike valet stations at the inaug, DDOT spokesman John Lisle doesn't give up the goods.

"I know they're working on it and today may be launching a page asking people to RSVP so they can get a sense of how many people might bike to the inauguration.  From our standpoint, officially nothing's changed.  We think it's a great idea to offer people an alternative way to get to the Inauguration and we're working with WABA on the logistics to try and make it happen."

Mesias says he isn't surprised DDOT is refusing to confirm. "I don't think DDOT will do a press release until all the exact details are pinned down." But, he assures, an email WABA received from the department says the bike stations are approved.

Photo courtesy of Washington Area Bicyclist Association

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."

Recently, my brother started commuting by bike to and from his job in Chicago. I love my brother, but his commitment to half-assedness is breathtaking---rather than buy a helmet, he made do with his 10-year-old son's skateboarding helmet, which he perched on top of his head Chilly Willy--style, and instead of lights he had...nothing but optimism bias. It made choosing his birthday present pretty easy.

All this is by way of saying however you feel about bike helmets, it's considerably harder to argue that bike lights are not a good idea, especially as the days grow shorter. And today at 4:30, if you trot your lightless bike over, you can get lights for free at the plaza in front of the SunTrust on 18th Street and Columbia Road NW and at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Church at 16th Street and Park Road NW. The giveaways are organized by WABA, which will also hold another such event a week from today at Cora Kelly Elementary School in Alexandria.

(Hat tip: TheWashCycle)

(Oh heck, DCist had this way before me, too. I am crap at service journalism. Get some lights anyway.)

Photo by adamscarroll