Yes You Can!: Bike to the Inauguration

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HEY, METRO RIDERS, if you're reading this during your commute, take a sec to inhale deeply. Smell that? This is what it's like when your face isn't smashed into a stranger's armpit. You won't be as lucky next Tuesday if you decide to head into town on, say, the Orange Line.

Yet Henry Mesias isn't concerned about fighting the crowds to get downtown. Actually, he sounds downright giddy: "So many of the streets will be shut down to automobile traffic — especially downtown, it'll be smooth sailing," he says.

Has he taken crazy pills?! Hardly. As the Washington Area Bicyclist Association's program manager, he's just one of 900-plus area cyclists who logged onto Waba.org to verify that if the D.C. cycling advocacy group provided a free bike valet for President-elect Barack Obama's big day, they'd pedal to it. So, in coordination with national advocacy group America Bikes and Dero Bike Rack Company, WABA is making it happen.

The free bike valet will be provided from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in two locations: the parking lot on the south side of the Jefferson Memorial, and on 16th Street NW between Eye and K streets. There will be more than 1,000 spots, and cyclists will receive a commemorative bike wheel spoke card. WABA won't be coordinating rides in, but you can find route suggestions at Waba.org/events/inauguralbikevalet.php for detailed maps with starting points ranging from Bethesda to Old Town.

Don't be scared, newbies: "It will be a really great time to ride your bike in D.C.," Mesias says. "It will be the most car-free the city's been since Bike D.C." on Sept. 27.

Photo by Tracy Woodward/TWP