Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Bike to School Day, Part 3: Vienna Schools Bike/Walk Challenge
The 9th Vienna Schools Bike/Walk Challenge culminated on the Friday before Bike to Work day. For nine years various Vienna elementary schools have participated in a week-long challenge encouraging more students to bike or walk to school. The participating schools were Wolftrap, Westbriar, Cunningham Park, Marshall Road, Flint Hill, Louise Archer, and Vienna.
These schools actually had a Bike to School Day before Bike to School was a “thing.” Over the years they have expanded the event by challenging schools in Reston to a community contest. The Vienna schools also have teamed up with local businesses to promote the day. In 2016 this resulted in a large check being given to Committee For Helping Others to purchase bikes for less fortunate children. It's great to see schools team up yet compete in such a fun week of exercise.
The Bike Cup, which is based on the percentage of bike riders relative to the total number of participants, was again won by Vienna which had two days with 100+ riders. It's their fourth year of winning the Bike Cup with Wolftrap recapturing second place after an awesome 100+ day on Wednesday and a solid Friday. Marshall Road had a nice surge to take third overall.
Results:
Cup Challenge (ranking based on comparison with previous year's participation)
Vienna 102.12%
Cunningham Park 101.98%
Westbriar 98.12 %
Wolftrap 95.75%
Marshall Road 84.25%
Flint Hill 81.67%
Vienna 40.39%
Wolftrap 23.89%
Marshall Road 15.22%
Cunningham Park 13.84%
Flint Hill 10.61%
Westbriar 5.74%
Congratulations to all the schools for getting out there and continuing to show the rest of FCPS how to get it done.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
July-August 2016 FABB News
A bi-monthly publication of Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling
www.fabb-bikes.org
www.fabb-bikes.org
Capital Bikeshare is Coming to Falls Church
Falls Church will be part of the growing Capital Bikeshare network providing important links to East and West Falls Church metro stations, as well as, connecting to neighboring bikeshare networks. Local officials heard from several FABB members and bikeshare supporters who wrote in and spoke up asking that the Falls Church bikeshare program be funded during a round of public hearings in June.
There were a few twists to the victory, however. The City of Falls Church had applied to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority for funding to cover the capital costs of buying the equipment and to the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission for the first few years operating costs. The NVTC approved the operating funds but NVTA denied the needed capital leaving the program in doubt. Luckily, Fairfax County and City of Falls Church officials recognized the value of the bikeshare program and were able to work out a deal to help allocate necessary funds to jumpstart the city's program. Fairfax County agreed to defer $2 million of its 2018 Regional Surface Transportation Program funds for the Falls Church bikeshare. The county will get those funds back during the next RSTP process.
This is great news for bicycling in Northern Virginia and kudos to officials in both jurisdictions in working out a deal. With Reston and Tysons Corner bikeshare coming soon, keep your eye out for lots of red Cabi Bikes in the area.
FABB and Potomac Pedalers Promoting Bike-Friendly BrewFest
FABB is proud to be working with the Potomac Pedalers and the Workhouse Arts Center in promoting and supporting BrewFest, the first of its kind craft beer event in Fairfax County. BrewFest takes place on August 13, 2016 from 10am-6pm, rain or shine, at the Workhouse Art Center, 9518 Workhouse Way, Lorton, VA 22079. The Potomac Pedalers will have rides starting at 9am near the event with routes ranging from 30-60 miles out to Mason Neck and back. See the Potomac Pedalers calendar for ride details here. Bike racks will be available on site and FABB-prepared cue sheets for bike routes to BrewFest are available on the Workhouse website by clicking here.
FABB Supports Sports Backer’s First RVA2DC Ride
Despite some of the hottest weather in four years, more than 150 bicyclists took to the roads for the inaugural RVA2DC last weekend. They rode 156 miles over two days from Richmond to Arlington helping to raise awareness for bicycling across the Commonwealth. Approximately 30 riders from Fairfax participated in the ride, earning a cool medal and bragging rights for riding in the first RVA2DC ride.
FABB members supported the riders running the aid station in the Town of Vienna. Volunteers provided food, drink and a cool place to rest as temps hit the high 90’s. Hopefully that helped energize the riders for the remaining 15 miles along the W&OD to the finish in Arlington’s Gateway Park. Riders we spoke with said that despite the heat, the ride was great and would do it again. Some expressed the need for better biking infrastructure coming up out of Manassas, and improvements along the Fairfax County Parkway. FABB was a proud partner with Sports Backers and advocacy beneficiary for RVA2DC.
Clips Beer & Film in Reston September 16, Volunteers Needed
FABB is excited to again be partnering with New Belgium Brewing for the Clips Beer and Film tour at the Reston Town Center. Mark your calendars. This year Clips will be Friday, September 16. We’re looking forward to building on last year’s success and making this event even better!
Clips is a fun outdoors event at the Reston Town Center showcasing a collection of film shorts and sampling many of New Belgium’s specialty beers, all while benefiting bicycling in Fairfax County.
This is FABB's biggest fundraiser. We can’t do it without our volunteers! Volunteers will receive a Clips T-shirt, pizza before the event, and a special beer to celebrate afterwards. For details on volunteer positions and to sign up, check out the volunteer signup page.
If you can’t volunteer, then come by, have a few drinks and be sure to invite your friends! Bike valet will be available on site. The event begins at 7pm. Films will begin showing around 9pm.
County Supervisors Attend FABB's Lee and Braddock District Meetings
FABB was fortunate to have Fairfax County Supervisors join its last two monthly meetings that were held in the Lee District in June and Braddock District in July. Lee Supervisor Jeff McKay and Braddock Supervisor John Cook both attended the FABB meetings in their districts and discussed on-going and future bicycle projects and offered their support of biking as a key element to building better neighborhoods. Discussion at the meetings also covered the importance of providing trails to parks and recreation facilities, and continuing to add bike lanes around the county.
In addition, Fairfax County Public Schools Board Member Megan McLaughlin attended the Braddock District meeting. She talked about Fairfax County Public School’s efforts to increase biking and walking but also offered her experience on how to become better advocates to the FCPS School Board. Thank you Supervisors McKay and Cook and School Board Member McLaughlin for your time and support of better bicycling.
FABB continues to rotate its monthly meetings around the county in an effort to hear from bicyclists about their local biking concerns. The next FABB meeting will be held at 7:30pm, Aug 17, at the Patrick Henry Library in Vienna. Check out FABB's event calendar for information about upcoming meetings.
Bike Data Shows Commuters Avoiding SafeTrack Impacts by Biking
According to BikeArlington's bicycling data, the first week Metro’s SafeTrack program saw a 42%-86% increase in biking on the Custis Trail over last year’s numbers. The Mt. Vernon trail near Reagan International Airport experienced a 47% increase during Surge 3. With four surges of SafeTrack completed, some patterns are emerging with respect to the effect the Metro maintenance program is having on the bike traffic in Arlington. The bottom line is that biking numbers were up, but those numbers fluctuated between the different maintenance surges.
For a closer look at the numbers, check out BikeArlington’s “Arlington Bike Counters During SafeTrack: High Volume, Though Your Surge May Vary” which offers an interesting analysis of the county’s bike data during the different stages of WMATA’s SafeTrack program.
Vienna Schools Hold 9th Annual Bike/Walk Challenge
During the last week of school, students at Vienna area elementary schools participated in the annual Walk Bike Challenge Week and clocked a combined 6,473 trips to school by foot, bike, skateboard and scooter. Of those trips, 1,250 were by bicycle. Vienna area students have continued to fortify their impressive record during this annual event. This was the 4th year in a row students have exceeded 5,000 trips, and the second time they’ve topped 6,000.Cunningham Park E.S. received the Challenge Cup and Vienna E.S. was recognized with the Biking Cup for the fifth straight year. Vienna E.S. had 232 students bike to school on Friday - over 50% of the students. Great work everyone!
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Upcoming Events
- August 13 - 10a - 6pm, Brewfest, Workhouse Art Center, 9518 Workhouse Way, Lorton, VA 22079.
- August 17 - 7:30 pm, FABB Monthly Meeting - Patrick Henry Library, Maple Ave, Vienna, VA 22180
- September 16 - 7-10pm, FABB/New Belgium Brewery - Clips N Beer, Reston Town Center, Reston VA
- September 20 - 7:30pm, NOTE: TUESDAY NOT WEDNESDAY. FABB Monthly Meeting, Sully District Meeting, Frank Room at the Sully Governmental Center, 4900 Stonecroft Boulevard, Chantilly, VA 20151
Labels: Braddock District, Brewfest, capital bikeshare, clips beer and film, fabb newsletter, lee district, RVA2DC Ride, vienna bike/walk challenge
Monday, June 20, 2016
Results from Vienna Walk Bike Challenge Week
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| Banner over Maple Ave during Walk Bike Challenge Week |
Cunningham Park received the Challenge Cup at an awards ceremony June 17 before the Chillin On Church Street Party. The Cup is awarded to the school with the most improvement in participation over the prior year. Westbriar came in second making 3 years in a row with a top 2 finish.
Vienna Elementary will also be recognized for the fifth straight year with the Biking Cup which is awarded to the school with the highest level of participants that bike to school. Vienna ES had 232 students bike to school on Friday - over 50% of the students - which is as far as we know only the second time in the Commonwealth of Virginia that a school has had over 200 students bike to school. The previous time being last year Vienna Elementary had 279 students bike to school for our field day.
Final results:
Challenge Cup:
1. Cunningham Park
2. Westbriar
3. Vienna Elementary
Biking Cup:
1. Vienna Elementary
2. Marshall Road
3. Wolftrap
Labels: vienna, vienna bike/walk challenge
Monday, March 16, 2015
Walk, Bike, Shop Vienna! May 2-9
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From the Walk, Bike, and Shop Vienna! registration page:
Businesses wishing to participate will donate $50 to an aggregate PTA fund, which will be allocated to all Vienna Elementary School PTAs that participate in the Walk/Bike Challenge.
In addition, we are also looking for 5 local restaurants willing to host a “Dining for Dollars” event during the week, and donate 5% of their total event-related proceeds.
The Vienna Bike Rodeo: Saturday, May 9, 9am – noon at the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department
In addition, we are also looking for 5 local restaurants willing to host a “Dining for Dollars” event during the week, and donate 5% of their total event-related proceeds.
The Vienna Bike Rodeo: Saturday, May 9, 9am – noon at the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department
Labels: vienna, vienna bike/walk challenge
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge - Final results
Day 5 is in the books of Vienna's Bike/Walk Challenge Week. Over 5400 kids walked or biked to school all week. The Overall Challenge Cup goes to first timer Westbriar ES with a bang up job on the last day of the 5 day challenge - with 178 kids walking or biking to school. |
| Vienna ES bike racks with 186 bikes! |
The coffee shops were a buzz as it's customers were wondering out loud if they took a wrong turn and ended up in Portland. Kudos to the teachers who took time out of their morning planning to greet kids at various meet up points and ride in.
The third spot was taken up by Wolftrap, the only school that participated in all six years for the entire week. Wolftrap with it's bike train culture ran one that passed through the Old Courthouse Road S-Curve, which is on the County's list of projects to create safer bike conditions. A second bike train was run from within the Town of Vienna limits. We've heard that the parents will make that bike train a weekly event for the rest of the year. In addition, those kids had a great time delivering bike safety tips and the weather with ABC7 on National Bike to School Day.
Here is the link for that: EILEEN BIKE TO SCHOOL
View on www.youtube.com
Louise Archer, with notoriously difficult walking routes, has spent the last two years working with parents to encourage more walking. It's rumored that a bus stop was eliminated as a direct result of this week long Challenge. A group of Louise Archer students who attend that school's AAP center, but whose base school is Vienna, organized a bike train originating at Vienna Elementary School. How's that for leveraging how schools can work together? With that kind of effort, Louise Archer also set a new week-long high of bikes to school.
Cunningham Park also had a slight down year but the ever popular Casey the Cardinal, their giant red mascot, greeted walkers and bikers with 'free high fives'. Even commuters on the way to work on Park St. were excited to see Casey. Any ideas on who is inside?
The week is a lot of fun and huge thanks go out to the students who love it and have fun, parents who see just how important walking and biking to school is, and the school's principals, staff and teachers who get the direct benefit - kids ready to learn all week long. We'd also like to thank the Vienna Business Association for recruiting 30 businesses to donate a percentage of week long sales to the seven schools. Community involvement is always important.
Keep up the momentum kids. Great job on showing how to get to 'your' workplace for the adults who will join Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 16. We look forward to the 7th version of the Challenge next year, tentatively scheduled for May 4th-8th.
More photos from the Challenge:
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| Wolftrap ES |
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| Westbriar ES |
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| Westbriar ES |
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| Louise Archer ES |
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| Vienna ES bike train |
Labels: bike to school, bike to school day, bike train, vienna bike/walk challenge
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge - Thursday results
Here are the latest results from the Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge (click on table to enlarge). The challenge demonstrates what happens when kids are encouraged to bike and walk to school:
The standings are:
Challenge Cup:
Vienna set what we believe is a county-wide record of 155 students ride bikes to school today - that's 41% of K-6 students in attendance. We’re seeing a lot of young cyclists getting involved this year. Vienna Mayor Laurie DiRocco was handing out Biking Viking wristbands to the students that biked in. With the addition of 62 walkers Vienna Elementary beat their Walking Wednesday totals (as did Westbriar) and has retaken the lead for the Challenge Cup. Vienna appears to have a well deserved lock on the Biking Cup but both Wolftrap and Marshall Road deserve recognition for their exceptionally strong biking numbers.
Wolftrap has slipped to third place in the Challenge Cup with a strong showing by Westbriar. Westbriar is currently a very close second to Vienna and Louise Archer is licking at the Wolfie’s heels.
A strong turnout by either Westbriar or Louise Archer is all that is needed to capture the Challenge Cup for the first time. Westbriar had their best day yesterday and is poised to set a school best tomorrow. Louise Archer is making a push including running a bike train from Vienna Elementary. It would be quite an end to the challenge if mostly former VES students have a hand in spoiling a VES sweep.
Challenge Cup:
- Vienna
- Westbriar
- Wolftrap
- Vienna
- Wolftrap
- Marshall Road
Vienna set what we believe is a county-wide record of 155 students ride bikes to school today - that's 41% of K-6 students in attendance. We’re seeing a lot of young cyclists getting involved this year. Vienna Mayor Laurie DiRocco was handing out Biking Viking wristbands to the students that biked in. With the addition of 62 walkers Vienna Elementary beat their Walking Wednesday totals (as did Westbriar) and has retaken the lead for the Challenge Cup. Vienna appears to have a well deserved lock on the Biking Cup but both Wolftrap and Marshall Road deserve recognition for their exceptionally strong biking numbers.
Wolftrap has slipped to third place in the Challenge Cup with a strong showing by Westbriar. Westbriar is currently a very close second to Vienna and Louise Archer is licking at the Wolfie’s heels.
A strong turnout by either Westbriar or Louise Archer is all that is needed to capture the Challenge Cup for the first time. Westbriar had their best day yesterday and is poised to set a school best tomorrow. Louise Archer is making a push including running a bike train from Vienna Elementary. It would be quite an end to the challenge if mostly former VES students have a hand in spoiling a VES sweep.
Labels: vienna bike/walk challenge
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge - Wednesday results- Updated
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.
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.
Labels: vienna bike/walk challenge, vienna/reston bike/walk challenge
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge - Tuesday results
The latest results from the Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge are in. The Day 2 standings are:Challenge Cup:
- Vienna
- Westbriar
- Louise Archer
- Vienna
- Wolftrap
- Marshall Road
Click to enlarge the image (Revised May 7):
Labels: vienna bike/walk challenge
Monday, May 5, 2014
Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge - Monday results
Every day this week FABB will be reporting on the Vienna Schools Bike/Walk Challenge. This is the 6th annual version, with all seven schools in Vienna participating this year. The schools include Cunningham Park, Flint Hill, Louise Archer, Marshall Road, Vienna, Westbriar and Wolftrap. Last year saw Wolftrap awarded the Overall Cup and Vienna repeated for the Biking Cup. Westbriar was awarded the Rookie Cup. Over 5,500 kids biked or walked during the week last year.So let's get to Day One results.
The morning arrived with perfect weather to ditch the car or avoid the bus and walk or bike to school. Last year 866 students walked or bike to school on Day 1. (Note: Only six elementary schools participated 2013). This year 888 students got to school in what we consider the best method possible - self propelled. The numbers for all seven schools are below but it looks like Vienna has a slight lead in the Overall Cup. This one often comes down to the last day as momentum builds over the course of the week. Vienna also had an impressive 91 students ride to school today. That 60.7% puts it in a big lead in the Biking Cup. Their Bike Friday initiative has certainly paid off.
Weather for Day 2 looks to have some residual rain from over night but it should be out of the area by the time wheels and feet hit the pavement. Per NOAA, a chance of showers before 8am. Partly sunny, with a high near 69. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Great job kids. Keep up the great work. Here are the results (revised on May 6). Click on the image to enlarge it.
Bike to School Day is Wednesday, May 7.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Walk and Bike to School Day a great success
Vienna schools have consistently had high numbers of biker and walkers on this day and throughout the year. Participation in Reston has been growing. This year Reston challenged Vienna (or vice versa, not sure who challenged who) to see who had the most kids walking and biking to school.
After the final count, it can be said that both communities were winners; over 3,000 kids participated. Vienna, with 1,677 participants, had 63 more than Reston's 1,614. I checked the bike racks at my nearby elementary school and there are normally 10-15 bikes parked. Yesterday the racks were overflowing with 51 bikes.
Congratulations to all the schools that participated this year. Parents in Vienna and Reston deserve a special shout out for doing so much to get kids active. When kids learn at an early age that they don't always need to ride in a car or bus to get around, they will develop the lifelong habits of walking and biking.
See more about the challenge by Christine Green of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, Vienna wins the Vienna v. Reston Walk to School Day Challenge, and on the Fairfax Safe Routes to School Facebook page.
Labels: safe routes to school, vienna bike/walk challenge, vienna/reston bike/walk challenge
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Bike to School Day 2013 - Summary report
Thanks to Jeff Anderson, leader of Wolfie's Bike Train at Wolftrap Elementary School, FABB member, and recipient of this year's WABA Education Award, for the following summary report of Bike to School Day. If you have more news, please leave a comment. The event was a great success and we hope the turnout is an indication that more kids will be biking to school and for other short trips in the years to come:
Bike to School Day 2013
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| Marshall Road ES |
In preparation for May 8th, a few schools, Marshall Road ES and Oak View ES, held bike rodeos the weekend before whilst Vienna ES held a bike and trail safety session during school the Friday before. This is great news as we need more bike and pedestrian safety curriculum to be taught to future members of FABB.
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| Wolftrap ES - Check out all the bikes! |
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| Hollin Meadows ES |
And the fun wasn't limited to elementary schools. Kilmer Middle School participated as they always do with over 110 bikers whilst three other middle schools (Rocky Run, Luther Jackson and South County) ran smaller sized events. Even two high schools, Annandale and Woodson, participated - a first for FCPS. Woodson has four History teachers who regularly commute to work via bike, so look for big things from them next year.
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| Reston bike patrol at Hunters Woods ES |
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| One of the Hunters Woods ES bike trains |
Overall May 8th - National Bike to School Day in Fairfax County was a great success and we look forward to International Walk to School Day in October.
Side Note: Arlington Public Schools participated for the first time this year, with all 31 schools promoting the day and running various events. Although Fairfax is 7x larger than Arlington, wouldn't be amazing to see all 140 FCPS elementary schools participating!
Labels: bike to school day, hunters woods elementary school, kent gardens es, vienna bike/walk challenge, wolftrap elementary school
Friday, May 10, 2013
Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge results
Bike to School Day was Wednesday. Vienna area schools held their annual bike/walk challenge this week and Vienna Patch has the results:
For the second consecutive year, Vienna Elementary School won the Biking Cup in theFifth Annual Bike/Walk Challenge — but WolftrapElementary came from behind to claim the Challenge Cup.
Read: Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge: Day 5 Results
The Biking Cup is given to the school with the highest percentage of bike riders relative to the total number of participants. Of the 805 total participants Vienna Elementary had this week, 258 — 32.04 percent — came in on bikes.
At Wolftrap and Westbriar Elementary schools, 28.91 and 23.68 percent of all participants, respectively, used bikes to get to school.
The Challenge Cup is awarded to the school with the largest percentage increase in participants over last year's challenge. Wolftrap Elementary attracted 68 more students this year for a total of 1,155 participants overall, compared with 1,087 in 2011.
We hope to have a summary report of Bike to Work Day activities around the county. Some of the Reston schools postponed their Wednesday event due to the weather forecast and their event was held today. We saw this sign near Terraset Elementary School in Reston warning motorist about the event. We checked out the bike racks at Terraset were impressed to see 92 bikes. Way to go Terraset!Read: Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge: Day 5 Results
The Biking Cup is given to the school with the highest percentage of bike riders relative to the total number of participants. Of the 805 total participants Vienna Elementary had this week, 258 — 32.04 percent — came in on bikes.
At Wolftrap and Westbriar Elementary schools, 28.91 and 23.68 percent of all participants, respectively, used bikes to get to school.
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| Bike to School sign at Terraset ES |
Labels: terraset, vienna bike/walk challenge
Monday, May 23, 2011
Final Bike/Walk Challenge results
| Photo by |
It was also a record-breaking year for the three Vienna elementary schools that participated in the third annual Walk/Bike challenge, a week-long program that pit Cunningham Park, Wolftrap and Vienna Elementary students against one another to see how many of them could leave their cars at home and get to school on foot instead.
A total of 644 students across three schools biked or walked to class on Friday -- a number that surpassed the week's next highest participation number by nearly 100.
Wolftrap Elementary School hit a single-morning record on Friday with 89 bikers. Principal Anita Blain joined the school's bike train this morning on their last run.
Cunningham Park surpassed its week-high by 50 students, and Vienna doubled its number of bikers.
Tara MacCall, the parent organizer at Vienna Elementary School, said she wanted to continue a weekly bike train on Fridays, with a post-dropoff bike ride for the parents.
Organizers at all three schools will present awards to students in the coming weeks.
"We're always encouraging our kids to do more," MacCall said. "Hopefully we'll continue [walking and biking to school], since its spring and the weather is nice."
Congratulations to Jeff Anderson and all of the other organizers of the event; they are doing great work getting kids out walking and biking to school.A total of 644 students across three schools biked or walked to class on Friday -- a number that surpassed the week's next highest participation number by nearly 100.
Wolftrap Elementary School hit a single-morning record on Friday with 89 bikers. Principal Anita Blain joined the school's bike train this morning on their last run.
Cunningham Park surpassed its week-high by 50 students, and Vienna doubled its number of bikers.
Tara MacCall, the parent organizer at Vienna Elementary School, said she wanted to continue a weekly bike train on Fridays, with a post-dropoff bike ride for the parents.
Organizers at all three schools will present awards to students in the coming weeks.
"We're always encouraging our kids to do more," MacCall said. "Hopefully we'll continue [walking and biking to school], since its spring and the weather is nice."
Labels: vienna bike/walk challenge
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Latest Bike/Walk Challenge stats at Vienna Patch
| Vienna Patch photo |
Labels: vienna bike/walk challenge
Delegate Keam joins Wolf Trap ES Bike/Walk Challenge
All week schools in the Vienna area are holding a Bike/Walk Challenge. Yesterday Del. Mark Keam joined the walking school bus to Wolf Trap Elementary School. Check out this video clip by Jenifer Joy Madden of Del. Keam's comments:"I wish that instead of a week (of biking and walking to school) we could have a whole year; it's the right thing to do. I hope this is one of the examples that we can showcase to say that Fairfax County, we're getting it right. We're hoping the county and school system will respond and make this a part of our daily lives. Our kids will grow up healthier, more conscious of their environment, more conscious of how things like this affect all of our lives here and our quality of life."
See another video by Jenifer of Jeff Anderson, organizer of the Wolf Trap ES challenge and bike train leader:
Monday, May 16, 2011
Bike/Walk Challenge week began today
Three elementary schools in the Vienna area are holding a bike/walk challenge this week; Vienna, Cunningham Park, and Wolftrap. Jeff Anderson of Wolf Trap ES has been running regular bike trains during the school year and this week they'll have a train running every day. On Friday there was a pre-challenge bike train at Wolf Trap that was joined by Trek-Livestrong racer Joe Dombrowski.This morning was the first day of the challenge. Wolftrap had 33 bikers/138 walkers. Vienna had 117 total bikers and walkers. We're still awaiting results from Cunningham Park. We'll post results as we receive them throughout the week.
Labels: vienna bike/walk challenge
