So the red bikes with happy yellow font have officially been around the region for five years, and are certainly a part of the local experience, with over 356 stations in DC, Arlington, Alexandria and Montgomery County. 30,000 active key-holding members and 800,000 short-term users have made over 11 million trips on the 3,000 bikes in the system. Which is a ton of activity, and a ton more people biking.

Bikeshare scavenger hunt celebration

To celebrate, we created a scavenger hunt to take willing participants on a tour of several notable stations—the oldest, newest, busiest and furthest west stations. We also asked folks to show us their favorite station.

The results were delightful. Some folks got festive and wore red and many people did it in pairs, taking the Scavenger Hunt as an excellent excuse for a bike ride. Two guys had a midnight quest to find them all and one woman took her whole family along! Many folks did the whole thing on Bikeshare bikes, including Greg Billing, new executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, who actually found one of the special Vision Zero DC bikes.

Favorite Bikeshare stations

Best of all was hearing all the different reasons people picked their favorite station. Here are some of our favorites:

• Easy Parking: Edgar loves the station at Fairfax Drive and Wilson Blvd because, as he says "Have you try to find a parking spot by Northside Social on a Saturday morning?"
• Close to Home & Trail:  Ken loves Wilson Blvd and Franklin St because “this station is conveniently located to my home with easy access to the Custis Trail.”
• Bikes & Breakfast: Amy picked Crystal Drive and 23rd Street station as a favorite "because in the mornings there is often a breakfast burrito food truck there." It is now our favorite station, too.
• Personal Challenge: Suzi explains, "I actually work in Rosslyn, and bikeshare home at least once a week. Once I undock at N Lynn and 19th, I challenge myself to make it to Army Navy Drive/12th St in under 1/2 hour.”

Check out the whole collection (with photos) on Facebook.