The first ever Fairfax Bike Summit is open to the public at George Mason University Saturday.
“This event will be a powerful opportunity to learn from each other. Our goal is to build a coalition of local residents and work toward a bike future where people of all ages and abilities are comfortable riding on the streets,” said Bruce Wright, chairman of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB).
FABB hopes this summit will spread information about safe and effective bicycling in the Fairfax area and encourage residents to take advantage of bicycling as transportation.
“I live in the Fair Oaks area of the county, and I often get around by bike,” said Fionnuala Quinn, FABB board member and a founding member of a national initiative to get more women on bikes. “While I am comfortable biking to local coffee shops and schools, more people would be encouraged to do so with safer road conditions and more neighborhood connections. Riding my bike is so much more enjoyable than some of my other transportation choices.”
“[This event will provide] sessions discussing innovative road improvements, Safe Routes to School, growing bicycling participation, bike share, implementing the county bicycle master plan, as well as sports and recreation,” according to FABB.
Local businesses will be on hand to show off bicycling supplies and merchandise. Participants can take an optional bike tour of the GMU campus at the end of the day.
The event features a keynote from Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, as well as a list of local bike experts and enthusiasts:
- Chris Eatough, BikeArlington, six-time 24-hour solo World Cup champion in mountain biking
- Tom Biesiadny, Director of Fairfax County Department of Transportation
- Randy Dittberner, VDOT District Traffic Engineer
- Aaron Georgelas, managing partner of The Georgelas Group, Tysons developer
- Christine Green, Regional Policy Manager for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership
- Jeff Anderson, aka “Crazy Bike Dad”, founder of Wolfie’s Bike Train
- Fionnuala Quinn, Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling and Women Bike advisory board
- Charlie Denney, Alta Planning + Design
- Anne Mader, co-owner of The Bike Lane and local mountain biking advocate
- Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth
The summit will be held at The HUB (10423 Rivanna River Way) at GMU’s Fairfax Campus in the Front-Middle Ballroom from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Those who bike to the summit will receive free bike valet parking.
Entrance is free, but registration is required. You can register here.
Photo by Nancy-jo Manney via Patch.com. Read the original story here.