This guide will tell you everything you need to know to participate. It will be the most up-to-date information about the event up until it starts. Please check back here the evening before the ride to make sure you don’t miss anything!

Date: Sunday, November 17th, 2024

What to Expect

Be sure to dress for cool weather in the 50s and 60s. To keep with the theme of the ride, try to wear black or pink as your outer layer.

If you are starting the ride at Wood Acres Elementary School, expect to arrive, check in, perhaps check out the merch table, listen to the speeches from local elected officials, and start lining up to leave. We aim to depart at 10:30 am. A lead and follow vehicle will accompany riders at slow pace along a route that follows major roads into DC (For those who use the Ride with GPS app, please click here). Be sure to follow traffic laws – it’s ok if the group of riders breaks up along the way.

If you are walking from Freedom Plaza, expect to arrive and gather with the other participants. Depending on whether you are riding or walking, we hope to depart at about 11:30 am.

Upon arriving at the rally at the Lincoln Memorial, please walk or ride your bike across the large main terrace to its far side and take the ramp down to the lower terrace just off the Reflecting Pool. Don’t worry–we will have ushers who will show you the way. Please keep your bike with you–locking to anything other than a bike rack on Capitol Grounds is prohibited. There will be water onsite and bathrooms nearby to the south of the Memorial. Starting at 12:30 pm, Dan Langenkamp, Congressman Raskin, acting head of the Federal Highway Administration Kristin White, heads of bike and street safety organizations, and others will speak for 30-45 minutes.

The event should end at about 1:15 pm. Feel free to make your way home, or join with other participants at nearby restaurants for lunch.

Main Start Location

Transportation Options

Parking at the main start location is very limited, and we are expecting 600 or 700 riders. If you are able, please plan arrive by a means other than driving:

  • Metro | Bikes are allowed on the metro at any time.
  • Bike | The start location is easily reachable from the Bethesda area and downtown DC via the Capital Crescent Trail. There are several nearby Capital Bikeshare docking stations.
  • Bus | Numerous local and regional bus routes operate in the vicinity of the start location. Use a navigation app to determine which might work for you. Bear in mind that buses typically only have space for two bicycles.
  • Driving | If you are driving, consider parking in one of the many public parking facilities in downtown Bethesda and biking from there. There is also limited neighborhood street parking.

Need a bike?

Capital Bikeshare has bikes at the docking station at the intersection of Landy Lane and River Road in Bethesda, next to the Capital Crescent Trail (you can find it on the station map). If you choose to pursue this option, you will need to create a Capital Bikeshare account and sign a liability waiver onsite. This will take some time, so please make sure you allow yourself plenty of extra time to get a bike and ride to the start location before the ride starts (10:30 am). At the end of the ride, you will be able to park your bike at any Capital Bikeshare docking station, of which there are many near the Memorial.  

Rental bikes are also available for rent at Griffin Bikes, in downtown Bethesda.

Route

The route traces most of Sarah Debbink Langenkamp’s ride from Wood Acres Elementary School onto River Road, where it passes her crash site. From there, the route takes major roads to the Lincoln Memorial. You can participate by just following the column of riders, but, if you need it, here is a Ride with GPS link to the route.

Safety

Streets are not closed for this ride. There will be a lead and follow vehicle for the column of riders, and volunteer ride marshals throughout. We will have police and an emergency vehicle following us in Maryland, but not Washington, D.C. Participants have a responsibility to bicycle safely, respectfully, and lawfully to maximize safety. We ask you to:

  • Stop at all red lights and stop signs. 
  • Always yield to pedestrians. 
  • Use hand signals when turning.
  • Communicate verbally with other riders.

Ride Marshals

Ride Marshals are volunteers who are there to support the ride. They will be wearing bright vests. Marshals know participants may look to them for assistance. If something goes wrong during the ride, such as your bike having a mechanical failure or you are injured, find a marshal and ask them to pull over to help you. Marshals carry basic first aid supplies, and are instructed to call 911 in the case of an emergency during the event.

Walk Start Location

Transportation Options

  • Metro | Metro Center is the closest metrorail station to Freedom Plaza on the Red, Orange, Silver, and Blue Lines and Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter is the closest metrorail station on the Green and Yellow Lines. Bikes are allowed on the metro at any time.
  • Bike | The start location is easily reachable by bike, and lies near the intersection of protected bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave NW and 15th St NW.
  • Bus | Numerous local and regional bus routes operate in the vicinity of the start location. Use a navigation app to determine which might work for you. Bear in mind that buses typically only have space for two bicycles.
  • Driving | Your options for parking in downtown DC are parking garages and metered street parking. Use apps such as ParkWhiz and SpotHero to find a parking garage.

General Information

What to Bring

  • Black or pink external layer
  • Bike
  • Helmet (required by insurance – you can’t ride without one)
  • Bike lock (Even if you don’t plan to stop during the ride, it’s good to have a lock with you during the ride, in case of an unanticipated or emergency stop along the ride route.)
  • SmartTrip card or app
  • Weather appropriate clothing
  • Full water bottles 
  • Saddle bag (to carry spare tube, tire levers, and pump or patch kit)
  • Spare tube (especially if you have a non-standard rim size!)
  • Charged cell phone and charger
  • Sunglasses and sunscreen
  • Additional snacks

Water

There will be some water available at both the beginning (Wood Acres Elementary School) and the end of the ride at the Lincoln Memorial, but be sure to bring a full water bottle with you.

Bathrooms

We will have access to the bathrooms at Wood Acres Elementary School and the end of the ride (bathrooms are just south of the Lincoln Memorial). If you are starting from Freedom Plaza, the nearest public bathroom is at the Washington Monument, but you may be able to find one at a nearby business.

Getting Home

Once you are ready to leave the Lincoln Memorial (after the rally there) you have a few options for how to get back to the ride starting point at Wood Acres Elementary School. 

  1. Bike all the way from the Memorial – onto Rock Creek Trail to a left on K/Water Street that leads onto the Capital Crescent Trail to a left onto Brookeway Drive to the school – link to Google maps route here – or you can stay on the Capital Crescent Trail all the way to River Road and make a left onto the sidewalk along River Road and follow this route from the CCT and River – last leg alternative route link; OR
  1. Take Metro Mostly – bike up 23rd street to the Foggy Bottom metro – map link here and take the Blue/Orange/Silver (direction Largo/New Carrollton/Largo to Metro Center and transfer to the Red line (direction Shady Grove) to the Bethesda Metro and bike to Woodacres – map link from Bethesda metro to Wood Acres ES, or bike to the Dupont Circle Metro, a slightly longer bike ride but avoids the transfer from the Blue/Orange/Silver to the Red line.  Use the  map route from Lincoln Memorial to Dupont Circle Metro and then bike from the Bethesda Metro to Woodacres ES (see link above in this paragraph).

We will try to organize a group ride –  after the rally to the Capital Crescent Trail up to Bethesda, but it will be a bit chaotic after the rally and wanted to make sure you have the tools (above) to get yourselves back safely to the ride starting point. Please note, however, the ride back to Wood Acres is not an official part of our event and not supported by WABA or the Ride for Your Life.