One of our hardcore BikeArlington groupies, Steve O, recently reminded us that a year ago today he visited all of the Capital Bikeshare stations in a single day.  He’s put together this blog post and a fun video below.  Sound tough? Remember, you don’t have to be crazy like Steve to enjoy riding your bike, you just have to follow four simple steps (and number 3 is optional, so that’s 25% less steps).

Capital Bikeshare Quest

Last year, on November 15, 2015, I completed a fun, personal quest I had been thinking about for a few months: to ride to every Capital Bikeshare station in Arlington in a single day.  At the time there were 81 stations.  There are now 87, serving a great deal of Arlington County (as well as neighboring DC and Alexandria).  I visited two of the new stations at their grand opening last spring, too. I got this idea from my brother-in-law, who accomplished a similar quest (twice!) with Boulder Bikeshare in Boulder, Colorado.  They have fewer than half as many stations as Arlington, though, so—as you might expect—there’s some bro-in-law bragging rights involved.

Here’s a video of the ride, which I called Cabi Quest Arlington.  For fun, below, I have listed some things to look for in the video at the bottom of this post—sort of like a scavenger hunt.

For part of the ride I was joined by my friend, Boomer, and we had lunch together at Café Saizon.  Earlier in the video you can see I had breakfast at Java Shack in Courthouse.  There’s a Bikeshare station right near both of these places.  In fact, there’s a Bikeshare station near literally hundreds of coffee shops, delis, bars, restaurants, libraries, community centers, parks and almost anywhere else you would like to go in Arlington.  You’ll see other destinations in the video, too.  You don’t have to ride your bike to all of them to go someplace you like and have fun while doing it.  Check out the Bikeshare map to find stations near where you like to go.

In the end, it took me all day to do the quest.  A dedicated rider might be able to do it in a half day, but they wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did—enjoying morning coffee, lunch, time with my friend and exploring places all over the county. So however you choose to ride your bike—or a bikeshare bike—whether to a single place or 81, Arlington’s a great place to do it.

Bonus Video Scavenger Hunt

Easy

• An ART Bus
• An escalator
• A playground (2)
• Protected bike lane (2)
• A bikeshare bike that originated in DC

Hard

• Non-bikeshare bikes locked up (there are 3)
• A trolley car
• Arlington County logo
• A yellow bike helmet
• Sushi restaurant

Expert

• Ice skaters
• A dog
• A reversed seat on a bikeshare bike
• A popcorn box
• A taxicab