Keep My Boss Happy

The Tour de Fat in DC is a big time fundraiser for the Washington Area Bicyclists Association. Last year, it was sunny and hot and Yards Park was filled with people having a great time. Revenues from beer sales were off the charts. This year not so much. It was cold and rainy and not very nice out. It wasn’t all that bad (I was under a tent drawing beers from a keg so what do I know?) but attendance was way down. Unfortunately, so were revenues that go to WABA and other local cycling organizations.

So WABA needs some mid-year love. Wanna get your merit badge for the month? Do what I did: open up your wallet and throw some green WABA’s way. While you’re at it, renew your membership. If you’re not yet a member, now’s a good time to become one.

Why? Bicycling in the DC area is getting better every year. WABA is a huge part of that. If you live in the suburbs and think WABA is irrelevant to you, think again. Changes in DC are being noticed and envied by suburban politicians and their constituents. They can see that DC is booming and that bicycling is a big part of that rebirth. The suburbs are losing young professionals and their families to DC. I heard this with my own ears at a Fairfax County meeting on bike lanes last year. I almost fell over.

Of course, this is not news to me. Every day I park my bike next to my boss’s bike. His bike is a longtail designed to carry two kids on the back. He rides from his home in DC’s Columbia Heights neighborhood to Mundo Verde Public Charter School on the eastern edge of Shaw. Then he rides back through the city to our office in Rosslyn,Virginia across from Georgetown. He loves it. His kids love it. This would simply be impossible without the decades of work of WABA.

So keep my boss happy. Donate to WABA. Here’s the link.

https://org.salsalabs.com/o/451/p/salsa/donation/common/public/?donate_page_KEY=2154