Washington DC Most Improved Biking City in the Nation!

Washington DC Most Improved Biking City in the Nation!

When I rode solo from the West Coast to Washington DC in 1979, after being celebrated in newspapers and with innumerable acts of kindness that included free meals, hats and t-shirts, etc, I got to the edge of the Nation's Capitol and had to hitch hike to get inside the Beltway freeway system that encircles the city. Once inside, I found myself dodging buses and taxis on a loaded touring bike. Every where I went, people looked at me with pity. I don't remember seeing anyone else on a bicycle.

It was a sad, depressing end to the victory I had won in biking across the US to prove that I had come back from my head injury. Like my long journey back from two months in a coma and paralysis and all the other many debilitations that resulted, Washington, DC is well on the way back to its return to health.

In the chapter of my new book,"How America can Bike and Grow Rich, The National Bicycle Greenway Manifesto", where I talk about Washington DC, I say:

========================================
it takes the persistent work of the Washington Area Bicyclist's Association (WABA) to make it possible for cyclists to effectively move about here.
========================================

And indeed they have come a long way. Toward that end, HERE is the Podcast interview I did with WABA director, Eric Gilliland, as WABA was, unbeknownst to them moving toward this award.......

Too exiting!!