FABB Blog

Today was the 3rd Annual National Bike to School Day and Fairfax didn't fail to deliver. The day started out early when the kids at Wolftrap ES joined forces with Eileen Whelan of ABC7 in delivering the day's weather. Eileen later escorted the kids to school in the ABC7 Storm Chaser Hummer. And across the county many other kids were rolling to school. Almost 1200 kids at the follow 19 schools reported huge numbers of riders. Four schools had over 100 bikers with a few getting very close. Kids who didn't biked walked in droves. What a great day with lots of fun stories and memories.

Over 1200 kids at the following 20 schools reported huge numbers of riders. Four schools had over 100 bikers with a few getting very close. Kids who didn't biked walked in droves. What a great day with lots of fun stories and memories.  (Updated on May 11 with reports from Kent Gardens and Kilmer MS)

• Aldrin 130 - A new record for FCPS
• Armstrong 121 - Delegate Plum attended
• Cunningham Park 9 (209 walkers) - Casey the Cardinal greeted students.
• Haycock 54 - Great job now that old policy changes were just removed last week.
• Forest Edge 81 - Only started promoting this in the last week or so.
• Dogwood 24 (400 walkers) - This school knows how to get walkers out.
• Hollin Meadows 86 - Senator Surovell attended
• Hunters Woods 25 - Principal scootered in and Asst Principal rode in.
• Kent Gardens - 121 bikes.  Another century of bikes in the bag.
• Kilmer MS - 126 walkers and bikers. 
• Lake Anne 98 - Award for best swag....
• Langston Hughes 28 - Ride organized by a student .
• Louise Archer 25 (281 walkers) - These guys also bring out their walkers in droves
• Marshall Road 44 - And their arrival area is under construction
• Terraset 47 - 16 scooters too
• SouthLakes 9 - Not bad for a high school
• Springfield Estates 79 - A new school record
• Sunrise Valley 114 - The W&OD must have been swamped.
• Vienna 87 - Rolling out with the Mayor and Hunter Mill Supervisor on Thursday.
• Westbriar 11 (105 walkers) - Students were carrying flowers for teachers so walking was the mode of choice.
• Wolftrap 101 (1 unicycle) - Rode with Fairfax Police Bike Patrol, Fairfax County DOT and WABA. 

And National Bike to School Day was also the third day of the Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge, a loose contest that is designed to challenge kids and parents to ditch the cars (and even buses if possible) and ride or walk to school. With a strong showing at the midway point, Wolftrap took over the 'proverbial' lead. With two days left and awesome weather on the way, many more kids are expected to continue riding. It's amazing how a single event day can set the trend for several weeks after. The Overall Challenge Cup is so close that it's really the school that can rally it's students that will move ahead. To date over 3000 students have walked and biked to school this week, with near 650 them on bikes. The schools are on track with last year's total walkers and bikers at about 3100. Will they break last year's numbers? Let's go kids!



Lastly, today was also the grudge match between the Reston and Vienna communities. This past October, Vienna eeked out a win over Reston on International Walk to School Day with a little over 60 more walkers. It was clear from the very first reports in that Reston was ready for battle. When the final numbers were tabulated, Reston had more than double the bikers than Vienna. With 3 schools over 100 and one within 2 riders of such, Reston showed up Vienna which had only one school over 100. 634 kids rode their bikes to school in Reston while 308 rode in Vienna. Congrats to Aldrin, Armstrong, Forest Edge, Dogwood, Hunters Woods, Lake Anne, Terraset and Sunrise Valley for bike bragging rights for the next year.

Only 7 days have passed in Bike Month and the kids are setting a high bar for the adults who will bike to work next week on Friday, May 16.