The last two years, I’ve done more bike riding than ever before. The pandemic made bicycling the best way to get around in a lot of ways. We were all short on exercise, we still wanted to get out and see people, but it wasn’t safe to hang out indoors. Several neighborhood parents and I started a bicycling group that would go out on the weekends — and also Wednesday nights! — and go for a ride in the city.

Here in the world of IT, we know that Steve Jobs famously called the Mac a “bicycle for our minds.” It was a way to speed forward, to use a machine to amplify our own energies. As freeing as using a Mac has been for my life, career and profession, using a bicycle has been that for my body. On my bike, I’m immersed in my community, I see friends and neighbors, I wave at the folks I see, and my knees never ever give me trouble out there. It’s a freedom I can’t get elsewhere.

As the time has stretched on, we’ve had our kids join us sometimes, including a bunch of kids joining for this Fall’s Cider Ride.

What’s been challenging, though, especially over the last year, is getting around on my bike safely. The streets of DC can be very hostile to people who aren’t in cars. DC’s Vision Zero campaign over the last five years has somehow made things worse, and cyclists and pedestrians and other road users have paid the price.

What we need are safer places to bike, walk, scoot, roll and drive. And that’s why my family is partnering with WABA for a year end campaign. My family is backing up their end of year campaign, and we started with a big donation: $10,000. That’s a drop in the bucket for what they need, but it was what we could afford this year to make streets safer. We got together with 20 families and turned that $10,000 into $35,625.

If my work has ever touched you, I’d hope you could join us in making our streets safer here in DC. However, I know that most of you are all around the world. If you wanted to donate to a road safety organization in your community, that would be just as delightful.