DC Bike Events?

[PotomacCyclist]

There’s also the Nation’s Triathlon, with a bike course that passes the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, the Pentagon, the Lincoln Memorial, the Kennedy Center and parts of Georgetown (from the Whitehurst Freeway). The run course passes by some of those sites plus the Jefferson Memorial. It’s a race, but it’s beginner-friendly and even with the time cutoff, there’s no requirement that you ride all-out. For those who don’t like swimming (or running), you can sign up as part of a relay team, so you would only need to do the bike leg. It’s a fairly prominent event, although not nearly as big as the Army Ten-Miler or Marine Corps Marathon running races, in terms of participant numbers.

[PotomacCyclist]

The Best Buddies event is sort of an updated version of an older event that was only held once, the Bike for the Heart event, sponsored by Sister to Sister (a women’s heart health charity founded by Irene Pollin, wife of the late Abe Pollin, former owner of the Wizards and Capitals).

Bike for the Heart included separate events based in and around Verizon Center (formerly the MCI Center). It included a large group spin bike session in the Verizon Center, an outdoor group ride, and a 5-mile individual time trial. Although I just started riding that year (1st time since high school), I signed up for the time trial. Most people signed up for the casual ride or the spin bike session. The small field for the time trial included then-mayor Adrian Fenty (an avid cyclist, runner and triathlete), his brother (also a decent cyclist), the Marine Corps athlete of the year (a bike sprint specialist), and Evelyn Stevens (former Wall Street banker who became a pro cyclist and later represented the US in cycling at the 2012 London Olympics). The race organizer was also an Olympic gold medalist in cycling at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. They had a time trial start house, like you see at the Tour de France. Each of us had a personal motorcycle escort as we rode down to Pennsylvania Ave, toward the Capitol and back up to Gallery Place. (No, I didn’t win. I mean, there was a future Olympian, the Marine Corps athlete of the year, and the Fenty brothers.) But it was probably the coolest bike-related event I’ve ever done, even if I took a wrong turn near the end and went down the wrong lane. Too bad they never had that event again. (Abe Pollin passed away the next year. I have to wonder if Irene Pollin just didn’t have the motivation to help sponsor another large event after that.)

[GB]

Busted – Fenty wasn’t mayor while the MCI center was the MCI center. * per wiki

I bet you made up the rest of that story as well. *

*My sincer apologies if wiki is wrong.

[baiskeli]

@GB 98397 wrote:

Busted – Fenty wasn’t mayor while the MCI center was the MCI center. * per wiki

I bet you made up the rest of that story as well. *

*My sincer apologies if wiki is wrong.

For some of us old-timers, it will always be the MCI Center.

[PotomacCyclist]

http://www.sistertosister.org/programs/past-programs/bike-heart

[PotomacCyclist]

Even better, I actually gained financially from the event (although nothing like a lottery). We raised funds for the charity. I think I added $20 of my own, along with the donations from others. My total wasn’t that great, probably less than $100. Everyone in the time trial (except for those affiliated with the event like the Mayor, Evelyn Stevens, etc.) received tickets to a Wizards game and a bike jersey (which was maroon/pink-colored, so I never wore it, and I eventually gave it away). Everyone at the event received a T-shirt too.

Then they had drawings for the most funds raised, but you had to have something like $200 to be eligible for prizes. Or so they said. But because so many people were ineligible because they were affiliated with the event, I ended up winning 2nd or 3rd place in fundraising, with my meager total. I won a gift certificate to a local store to be used for a bike. That’s what I used to pay for part of the cost of my mountain bike. (I don’t know if I would have bought a mountain bike otherwise, but I had that gift certificate sitting in front of me.) It’s not a high-end MTB but it’s more than enough for the riding I do. (No real off-road riding and I later replaced the tires with cyclocross tires.) It’s kind of heavy, but that’s OK.

[Oldtowner]

@PotomacCyclist 98384 wrote:

The Parkway is closed for the annual Parkway Classic running race every March or April. It’s a 10-mile run from Mt. Vernon to Old Town. It used to be known as the GW Parkway Classic.

The Parkway south of Old Town is also closed every year for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half-Marathon.

[Author]

Posts