By Emily Rust
Forget the Tysons you thought you knew. The once perpetually in gridlock, business mecca, is now a safe place to drive or bike.
Striving toward replacing corporate roads with a new city grid plan, developers are adding lanes for both cars and bikes. According to Michael Caplin, executive director of Tysons Partnership, the density of traffic will thin out in Tysons, making the area an easier commute.
“You can actually ride your bike to Tysons and not die,” Bill Luecke of National Capitol Velo Club (NCVC) says.
To promote the new bicycle friendly Tysons, NCVC has partnered with Tyson’s Partnership to host the second-annual Tour de Tysons on June 29. The bike race, which takes place behind Tysons Galleria, follows a 0.8-mile loop in which both novice and expert cyclists will compete.
Cyclists are split into categories based on experience and judged on speed. Elite cyclists are allotted 75 minutes to ride the course, with winners will completing around 30 laps or 24 miles. Beginning cyclists are given 30 minutes; race times varying among age and skill level.
To reach the course, participants can join a “bike train” with Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB). From three different locations in NoVA, FABB will show riders safe routes to bike to Tysons.
While waiting for the race to end, family members can explore food vendors and exhibitors along the course route. FABB board member, Elizabeth MacGregor will also speak about the commuting by bicycle.
The race is just a preview of many community events to come for Tysons Partnership, who Caplin says, hopes to make Tysons into a neighborhood rather than an office park.
Tour de Tysons
1800 Tysons Blvd.
McLean
June 29
8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Elite Race, 12:55 p.m.
