We arrived in DC Tuesday morning and checked in to the Sofitel Hotel. It was quite comfortable (aka, we stuck out like sore thumbs in bike garb) and it was walking distance to the summit. Capitol Hill was a short metro ride away, perfect. Thanks again to our sponsors, The Bicycle Hub or Marlboro, Fuji Bikes and Princeton Tec.
Here is the Bike Hub happy bus:
We stopped for some quick wraps after checking in to the hotel. Thanks for the wrap Jack!! L to R: Jack (Owner of Freehold Bikes), GT2Brew, Wally Tunison of the Bike Hub
After lunch we had some time to kill before the summit began. We hit the National Air and Space Museum. We spent a lot of time in the flight simulator room. They kick serious ass. I only got one kill but was upside down a lot and diving out of control for the ground was a great rush. 12 bucks for 4.5 minutes and I seriously would have paid until my pockets were empty. Frank got something like 3 kills, bleh. Always 2-upping me!
One of FIVE known complete Wright brothers bikes on the planet. We spent a lot of time in this room.
Tuesday evening was reserved for summit check in and a seminar for the new people. The room was packed with old and new attendees alike, which was cool. The old timers offered advice and tips on dealing with the politicians. We learned what to expect for the remainder of the summit and got tips on how to get the most out of the trip. Very well organized.
L to R: Frank, Wally, Patti, Jack. We woke up at 0-dark-30 and walked over to the Summit for breakfast.
Andy Clarke, LAB President, introducing the morning's speaker. He is a very passionate and effective speaker and kept the day flowing well.
Representative Earl Blumenauer, one of our congressional bike champions. He gave an outstanding speech.
From here we attended "break out sessions". These were aimed at increasing our awareness of issues, educating us on advocacy of just on bikes and bike organizations in general. The NJ folks split up to the sessions that most suited their needs, and we were able to cover all of the offered classes between us.
Frank and I attended "Putting the Green in Grass Roots-Engaging the Community At-Large". The moderator was Eric, the ED of WABA (Washington Area Bicyclists). Other speakers were a CEO of an advocacy education firm, a guy from Cambridge Bicycle Committee and the ED and VP o Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. They all had great info for us, and the Silicon Valley folks had just built a small group into a real successful coalition doing great things for cycling in their town. Very inspiring.
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