Yesterday, inspired by the Washington City Paper profile of PoPville’s Dan Silverman, who goes on 12-mile walks around the District looking for news, ARLnow.com decided to do all of our reporting and commuting via bike.
(It should be noted that our Borderstan news site — which covers Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, U Street and Columbia Heights — competes for scoops with PoPville.)
Here are the main takeaways from our “car-free diet” experience.
- The wood plank bridge on the Mt. Vernon Trail near Roosevelt Island feels even bumpier than last year.
- It’s not just you, most joggers and cyclists on local trails appeared to be huffing and puffing more than usual, as our winter hibernation ends.
- Arlington’s network of trails and bike lanes got us to our destination most of the time, with only a few instances where we were mixed in with traffic. The scariest moments were when parked cars, buses and construction blocked a bike line on a busy road — something that happened pretty frequently.
- The bike people are right: is it really is nice to have a traffic-free commute that also doubles as your daily exercise.
- Walking around in clip shoes isn’t the best look for a reporter trying to cover a story.
While this was a fun experiment, practicality dictates that we’ll probably have to keep driving for our daily reporting. It would be hard to get to a breaking news scene fast enough via bike. And the car doubles as a mobile workspace.
Feel free to discuss biking or any other topic of local interest in the comments.
Quick reminder this weekend: don’t forget to “spring forward” and set your clocks ahead an hour when you go to sleep Saturday night. Daylight Saving Time is finally here.
