Whole Foods and bikes@vienna Team Up in May

Peggy Williams
Originally uploaded by bikes@vienna.

May is Bicycle Month. You knew that. We work with Whole Foods in Vienna in staging the Pit Stop for Bike To Work Day (Friday, May 20). Many years we both help with the Vienna Bike Rodeo (which this year is Saturday, May 21). This year we'll also be teaming up to give away a 2005 Dahon Boardwalk D7. The adjacent photo shows my Whole Foods partner in these efforts, Peggy Williams, sitting on the Boardwalk before it gets suspended from the rafters for display at Whole Foods. Stop by Whole Foods and you'll be able to enter a drawing to win the Boardwalk. Look for the Boardwalk as you enter the store and you 'll find the registration area right underneath the bicycle.

If you can't wait until the end of May to find out if you've won this Boardwalk then come see us. Yep, we'll be happy to sell you one.

Reston Bike to Work Day

For the fourth year in a row, Bike to Work Day will also be celebrated in Reston, at the Town Center Pavilion. There will be bread rolls available along with peanut butter & jelly, bananas, juice, coffee, raffles for bike accessories on the half hour, and information displays from several groups. It's a great way to show your support for bike commuting and to talk to others about how you can make Fairfax County a better place to ride. Supervisor Hudgins will be there at 8:00 along with other invited dignitaries. Maybe this will be the year that Supervisor Hudgins takes us up on our offer to provide her a bicycle for the event.

Sponsors include the Reston Bike Club, Whole Foods, Great Harvest Bread, A-1 Cycling, Greenberry's Coffee & Tea, VDOT, Equity Office, LINK, Fairfax County, Reston Association, and the Friends of the W&OD Trail.

If 1 is good then 22 is spectacular. Think $240.

05_HT_AL_Pioneer_Trail_W
Originally uploaded by bikes@vienna.

Adam always kidded me because in ordering things I followed a thought process that if 1 is good then 2 is twice as good. Now take that a little farther. If 1 is good then 22 is spectacular. We will soon receive 22 Marin Pioneer Trails in a 15" women's frame in preparation for Mother's Day. The bikes are 2004 models which I noticed on the Marin inventory sheet. The adjacent photo is of the 2005 model, but think a white frame and that's what 18 of the 22 will look like. We'll have them on sale for $240 which is a good value. We'll have a package to add a basket (it clicks off the handbars to go into a store), a mirror (you've got to see what coming up from behind you), a bell, and a water bottle cage with a bikes@vienna water bottle. The package adds $50 to the transaction. These will be nice bikes for a mom or for a young person in need of a new bike.

If you think this sounds crazy then one of these times I'll tell you about the time I bought 103 bikes from Marin on close out. We made some cyclists very happy.

Reason for a folding bike at the office?

FolderAd
Originally uploaded by bikes@vienna.

Beginning this week there will be advertising for folding bikes from bikes@vienna in the Washington Post's Express which gets handed out at the Metro stations. You see the ad on the right.

My wonderful wife works in the American History Museum. On September 11th as we communicated back and forth we decided that I might need to ride a tandem to the city to get her if Metro was not a practical way for her to get home. I supposed that traffic would be so difficult that my old bike cummuting route of the W&OD to the Custis Trail might be the quickest in and out of Washington.

That discussion and others led us to the idea that she needed to have a folding bike at her office. It was an idea that other people must have examined because bikes@vienna had more calls about folders. We've continued to expand our folding bikes not as a response to terror, but a practical answer to how to store, transport, and get more enjoyment from a bike.

In Northern Virginia the traffic makes people consider interesting solutions. Women come to the store shopping for a bike and when presented with the idea of a folder they see opportunities for excercise and enjoyment while their children are at a piano lesson or ball practice. It is not practical to return home and then come back for their child so why not go for a bike ride? Parking can be a challenge so why not zip from one errand to the other on your folding bike when the locations are close, but not quite close enough to walk?

Metro allows folding bikes on trains anytime in a bag. Commuters can ride a mile or two to the station, bag their folder, and take it to the office. Let's see......not getting as hot and sweaty going to the Metro without a car, saving money on parking, or just the thrill of a ride on a beautiful day. Which concept appeals most to you?

You can see where the idea comes from for the folders ad in the Express. The joy of being alive on a sunny, beautiful day with the experience of a breeze in your face and the smell of blossoms sweetening your experience. The glory of riding a bicycle. That's the number one reason for having a folding bike at the office or in the back of the vehicle.

Fairfax County Trail Maps

Several people have asked about the Fairfax County Existing Trail Maps that are on display at the store. They were produced by the Fairfax County Trails Coordinator, Sheng Leu, with input from the Non-motorized Transportation Committee. Committee members took parcel maps and walked, biked and drove around the 9 supervisor districts to determine where the major trails and sidewalks were located. Sheng Leu and an intern used those maps and aerial photos to then draw the maps on the computer using a geographic information system. This data was then used to create the existing trails maps.

The maps were divided into four quadrants. The NW and NE quadrants make up the Northern Portion map, and the SW and SE are the Southern Portion. The maps are available on the committee website at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/nmtc/maps.html. They are large PDF files, so a broadband connection is recommended for downloading and viewing.

The maps are undergoing revision. On the current maps, the symbol for sidewalks and trails are the same, regardless of width or type of material (concrete vs. asphalt). Since most cyclists do not ride on sidewalks, it is important to indicate the difference on the map. On the updated maps, different symbols will be used for 4- and 5-foot sidewalks vs. 8-10-foot paved trails. The new maps will also include many segments that were omitted or built since the publication of the existing map. Publication is expected by the end of this year.

Paper copies of the trails maps are available from the Publications Center located at 12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 156, Fairfax, Va. 22035. Hours: 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday. Phone: (703) 324-2974.

SPORTWORKS SELLS QUICK-LOAD-BIKE-RACK DIVISION TO THULE

After nearly nine years of making innovative consumer bike racks, including the original Quick-load bike rack, Sportworks has sold the consumer bike rack division to Thule.  I received this news by email this morning. As with any vendor change I blink and wonder what it will mean to bikes@vienna.
 
The email included this information:

"This news may come as a great shock to many of you who have been our ardent supporters and pioneers over the years.  The reasons for the sale are many, including a very competitive market and the challenges of competing with the larger manufacturers.  Sportworks will continue to make and sell bike racks for transit vehicles as well as perform contract manufacturing for a variety of customers."

I just got in a shipment of Sportworks racks. I have more back ordered. bikes@vienna has been a Thule dealer since I opened in 1998. I believe you'll continue to find the Quick-load racks here without regard to the name that appears on the sticker.


 

Off She Goes

This week I received a phone call from a customer who is starting a grand adventure. She is cycling from San Diego to St. Augustine, FL and she flew to San Diego this week to get started. She is riding a Bike Friday Air Glide equipped with fenders and racks plus the travel case set up as a trailer. All of which she purchased at bikes@vienna.

She plans to let us know about her adventure by visiting public libraries and posting information on a blog. Are you ready? Her blog is named "queen of the road". I checked this morning and there is no information there other than her tests, but soon I hope to track her travels by going to Queen of the Road. Join in the fun and read about her travels.