Today, December 24, I shanghaied friends visiting from St. Louis, to go on sightseeing around Washington, DC by bicycle, instead of taxi-ing around the city. My friends rented bikes from Capital Bikeshare, for about $5 for the day. Weather was a balmy, in the 40s, and sunny, with the city streets empty, and with Congress finally on break, Cap Hill was quiet. We biked up to Cap Hill, stopped at Library of Congress, warmed up with hot mulled ciderat the Sculpture Garden Cafe, trekked over Memorial Bridge to Arlington Cemetery, and finally back to Foggy Bottom, where my friends (finally) dropped their bikes off at the Capital Bikeshare by The George Washington University Hospital, a few blocks from their hotel. We had a wonderful day!
Usually when friends come to town, I take them on a (free) ranger-led National Park Service bike tour...The NPS offers a variety of 'insider' bike tours every Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. around the Nation’s Capital.The tour season begins Saturday March 26 and concludes Sunday November 27, 2011. All tours begin at the Jefferson Memorial. Their one requirement is that all participants wear bike helmets. (Some bike stores in DC rent or loan bike helmets. Email for information.)
In 2008, Washington, DC became the first U.S. city to initiate a bicycle sharing program, modeled on programs like the ones in Paris, where you pick up a bike at a bicycle kiosk, and then ride it to the stand closest to your destination. The DC area has more than 120 Bike Share kiosks, with about 1,500 well-maintained 3-speed bikes, with lights. Bike rental cost is about $5 per 24-hours. Washington, DC. The bike kiosks are everywhere, near hotels, metro stations, university campuses, embassy consulates, and the Smithsonian Mall, and eliminate need to carry a bike lock, or worry about your own bike being stolen.
Having done extensive biking tours of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Seattle, I'd be happy to share my bike touring info, if you're considering a bike tour...
Usually when friends come to town, I take them on a (free) ranger-led National Park Service bike tour...The NPS offers a variety of 'insider' bike tours every Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. around the Nation’s Capital.The tour season begins Saturday March 26 and concludes Sunday November 27, 2011. All tours begin at the Jefferson Memorial. Their one requirement is that all participants wear bike helmets. (Some bike stores in DC rent or loan bike helmets. Email for information.)
http://www.nps.gov/mall/planyourvisit/national-mall-bike-tour-page.htm
In 2008, Washington, DC became the first U.S. city to initiate a bicycle sharing program, modeled on programs like the ones in Paris, where you pick up a bike at a bicycle kiosk, and then ride it to the stand closest to your destination. The DC area has more than 120 Bike Share kiosks, with about 1,500 well-maintained 3-speed bikes, with lights. Bike rental cost is about $5 per 24-hours. Washington, DC. The bike kiosks are everywhere, near hotels, metro stations, university campuses, embassy consulates, and the Smithsonian Mall, and eliminate need to carry a bike lock, or worry about your own bike being stolen.
Having done extensive biking tours of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Seattle, I'd be happy to share my bike touring info, if you're considering a bike tour...
Below are websites for Bike Share programs in other cities.
A long-time Planit Meetings client, who travels to Washington and New York on business at least twice a month, picks up a Bike Share bike near his hotel, bikes to corporate offices, where he drops his bike off at a nearby kiosk, and the reverse, at the end of his business day said that we need to tell other corporate travelers to try Bike Share programs in cities where they go for business, the way he does. Some hotels we work with, in cities across the U.S., have bicycles, bike helmets and locks for guests to use.
Chicago: http://chicago.bcycle.com/
Denver: http://denver.bcycle.com/
San Francisco: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/bshare/indxbishare.htm
