Families riding in a group through Capitol Hill by Robb Dooling used with permission.

Editor’s Note: A version of this post also appeared on The Hill is Home.

Have you seen the videos of huge groups of kids and grownups, joyously biking to school or other activities and thought, it would be awesome to see that in my neighborhood? Me too.

Capitol Hill is my home, and I want it to be safe and enjoyable for everyone to get around. After years of community efforts for safer streets including one particularly contested block, I’m working with neighbors who want the same to launch Hill Family Biking, a newly formed group with the mission of supporting all things family biking on Capitol Hill and surrounding areas.

How we got here

After nearly a decade living near Potomac Ave Metro Station, my wife and I bought our house about two blocks from Lincoln Park a couple of years ago, partially motivated by the C St NE Rehabilitation Project, which was soon bringing (and has now brought) world-class protected bike lanes steps from my new front door.

I soon joined folks who were working to ensure the final block connecting the C Street project to Lincoln Park, 1300 North Carolina Ave NE, remained on the DDOT project roadmap. Opponents of the one-block project launched a recall effort of Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Amber Gove that was held just three weeks before the next cycle’s election (and ultimately failed by a 3-1 margin). Both the recall effort and Gove’s successful re-election became a referendum on the plans for 1300 North Carolina Ave NE, so several of us organized a family-oriented bike ride and canvassing event in the week leading up to the elections, rallying neighbors and friends around someone who had fought hard to make Capitol Hill streets safer for everyone.

The ride was an incredible success, and throughout the event I was constantly asked: “Why can’t we do this all the time?” And now that answer is, “We can!”

Biking together

Families want safe streets, and that means safe for everyone whether you bike, walk, roll, or drive. Hill Family Biking will create opportunities for residents to enjoy bike facilities together and also to advocate for better cycling infrastructure.

We have a lot of plans in the works, but at the onset, we’ll be primarily focused on taking monthly family-oriented “Kidical Mass” rides, usually starting at Lincoln Park on Saturday afternoons that either highlight some of the great new bike infrastructure in our neighborhood, like the C St NE project or the Pennsylvania Ave SE protected bike lanes, or go to an event like a Nats or Washington Spirit game. Rides will be at a casual pace (accessible to all ages and abilities), and will usually end at a local, kid-friendly business. All are welcome!

Join us for our inaugural ride

Our first ride will be on April 29th at 4pm starting at the triangle park at A St NE and North Carolina Ave NE with a short unofficial ribbon cutting for the C St project followed by a 4-mile ride along C St NE and some adjacent streets and trails and then circle back to Capital Candy Jar for some ice cream. MPD bike officers will be escorting our ride and we’ll have volunteers marshaling to ensure we stay together as a group. If your family’s bikes need some TLC, please come 30 minutes early to get some assistance–we will have bike maintenance tools available, as well as some experienced amateur bike mechanics on hand to assist.

The purpose of Hill Family Biking is simple: To create a fun, accessible bike ride for families on and around Capitol Hill, and to highlight the benefits of cycling in our neighborhood.

We hope that Hill Family Biking will build a strong community around a shared love of biking as families.

Why Capitol Hill?

Many of our organizers cycle all over DC, taking advantage of its ever-expanding bike infrastructure. But we decided to keep the focus on our neighborhood for Hill Family Biking for several reasons, including:

  1. There are many families based on Capitol Hill who travel by bicycle
  2. Capitol Hill in particular has a lot of new bike infrastructure, and it is generally a bike-friendly neighborhood
  3. Keeping a Hill focus provides more predictability and accessibility
  4. Past bike-friendly events such as Bike to School Day (coming up on May 3rd!) and Bike to Work Day have been successful on the Hill, suggesting that there is a lot of interest here

Although our rides will primarily be on/around Capitol Hill, all are welcome!

What’s Next?

Does this all sound like something you and your family might enjoy? Be sure to do the following to stay connected:

  1. RSVP for our first ride on April 29th. It’s not required, but helps us plan accordingly.
  2. Sign up for our email list
  3. Follow us on social media. We’re on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Mastodon!
  4. Save the date for our second ride on May 20th

We can’t wait to get started, and look forward to riding together!

Mark Sussman is a DC resident and street safety advocate who has been a utility bicyclist in DC for over 15 years. When he’s not traversing the Washington region in search of the area’s best disc golf course (DC proper has zero!), you can find him on Capitol Hill where he lives with his wife Laurie and daughter Hannah.