Bike Valet at Obama Inauguration

Today was quite a day in Washington: huge crowds of people, all cold and all in a festive mood. I had a wonderful day volunteering as a bike valet. Ride your bicycle to the inauguration, we give you a claim check and safely park your bike for you while you enjoy the event!

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) has done this for many events in Washington...Fourth of July, Cherry Blossom Festival, etc. But this was the biggest yet. There were two locations with room for 1000 bikes at our location. We filled up well before noon and had to build another bike corral out of barriers to accommodate a few hundred more.

Maybe this wasn't like a train station in Amsterdam but it was incredible for DC:

The lack of people in the pictures is deceptive. I grabbed these pictures while there was a very brief lull when the swearing-in was occurring.

You'll find a few more pictures over on my Picasa site.