Bike To Work Week Begins

Local and national bike organizations are encouraging cyclists to ditch their cars this week for "Bike to Work Week," a national celebration aiming to encourage citizens across the country to bike to work, or for pleasure, on a regular basis.

The week culminates in Bike to Work Day on Friday, held rain or shine, when cyclists can make a "pit stop" at one of 58 locations across the D.C. region for T-shirts, refreshments, giveaways and bicycling advice.

In Bethesda, a pit stop is planned for 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. Friday at the corner of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues.

Stop by on your bike before heading to work and enjoy breakfast, entertainment, speakers, and the chance to win a brand new bicycle from Griffin Cycle. Nominations are also being accepted for the Bethesda Bicycle Spirit Award, which honors Bethesda bicycle commuters.

For more information on biking to work and other means of alternative transportation in Bethesda, visit the Bethesda Transportation Solutions website.

A map of all planned stops in the region is attached to this story.

The national celebration dates back to 1956, when the League of American Bicyclists started the public outreach campaign and event to encourage more biking. Since then, it's grown tenfold in the Washington D.C. region, according to the organization: Participation has risen from a few hundred in 2001 to 11,000 last year, it said. 

Data from the American Community Survey shows Washington, D.C., as one of the country's 70 largest bicycling cities, with 3.1 percent of the total worker population reporting they bike to work — a statistic six times greater than the national average of .5 percent.

The League attributes the "bicycle friendly" cities' successes, in part, to the degree in which it promotes bicycling through education, encouragement, enforcement, evaluation and engineering.

Cyclists are encouraged to stop at as many pit stops as they'd like on Friday, but will need to register at one in order to pick up their free T-shirt.

For safety and commuting tips, check out advice from and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA).