Get Eco Active

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Within the cycling community, local club and race team DC Velo is taking the lead in promoting carbon neutral races and encouraging team members and others to make sustainable decisions. Beginning in 2006, DC Velo committed to promoting the area’s first carbon neutral road bike races, starting with the Carl Dolan Memorial Spring Classic in Columbia, Md. DC Velo’s Carbon Neutrality Coordinator Adam Fung says club members went to great pains to calculate the extent of the damage, such as gathering the round trip mileage traveled by all race participants, volunteers, vendors, services, and officials. “Even the mileage traveled to buy food for the racer recovery tent,” he says.

Based on the number of pounds of carbon dioxide emitted for the race, the promoter bought renewable energy credits from Clean Currents, a renewable energy broker that is also a lead sponsor of DC Velo’s racing team. The last step is submitting the calculations and the number of credits purchased to the Clean Energy Partnership for their certifying stamp of approval.

DC Velo’s efforts to be carbon neutral are not limited to its races. A growing number of club members commute by bicycle and their monthly mileage is recorded. These car-free miles result in certified, team-generated carbon offsets that are used to operate the team car and maintain carbon neutrality. See dcvelo.com.

Leading by example, the Friends of the W&OD 10K in Vienna, Va., aims to emphasize how athletes can go green. Promoters of the July 26 event are putting a heavy emphasis on recycling. All race announcements use recycled paper and are printed back-to-back with a flyer from another race to cut usage in half. Only recycled and recyclable napkins and paper plates will be used. When recycling isn’t an option, organizers are reusing race items. Race Director Jay Jacob Wind has been collecting unused and reclaimed bib numbers, which are made of non-recyclable materials, and will reuse them for the race.

All participants will also receive a commemorative t-shirt printed by Sport Science of Vienna using a non-polluting ink fusion process. Race organizers are scheduling carpooling opportunities and because the event takes place on the W&OD trail, racers are encouraged to use the trail to bike on the event. After the race, organizers will plant new trees along the W&OD Trail.

“By organizing the unique race, we encourage runners to understand their impact on the environment and how they can choose to mitigate that impact,” says Race Director Jay Jacob Wind. “Each of us has the tools to act to improve the environment – our own hands, our feet, and our wisdom.”

To help convey a bit of that wisdom, organizers will also present a “College of the Environment – Green University” during the event to expose environmental impacts and teach sustainable practices. See www.marathoncharitypartners.org/acf

Train Green

Being a responsible athlete means not just honing your body to peak perfection, but also training in an environmentally sensitive way. An increasing number of gyms and shops are embracing green initiatives to contribute to the cause and offering eco-friendly options to athletes.

One of the area’s newest health clubs, Equinox in Tysons Corner, Va., promotes the mantra, “commitment to a healthy lifestyle includes a healthy environment.” Adopting initiatives employed at its other clubs nationwide, the new Virginia location was built using recycled and rapidly renewable materials whenever possible. The yoga studios feature bamboo floors, while the spa floor is crafted in cork. Reclaimed materials are also seen throughout, such as iron rebar accents. Incandescent lighting is kept to a minimum and room lighting is controlled by sensors that dim or turn-off lights when areas are vacant. Water is conserved thanks to low-flow toilets, waterless urinals and efficient shower heads. To help members carry the mission with them, the shop offers clothing made of organically-grown materials and re-usable water bottles. See www.equinoxfitness.com.

District residents now have an opportunity to keep their legs spinning downtown whenever they want. This spring, D.C. became the first city in the U.S. to adopt a European-style bike share service. Similar to the pay-per-use Zipcar system, SmartBike allows users to check out a bike from one of ten racks located north of the National Mall and check it back in to any of the racks when finished. Jim Sebastian, transportation planner with the District, says he expects residents to use the bikes as an alternative to short Metro or cab trips, taking them to go to lunch, appointments, the movies or to run errands. “Having active transportation fits with our goal of providing transit options while reducing pollution,” he says. “Every bit helps.” Arlington County is working on a similar program that it aims to have up and running by the end of the year. See www.smartbikedc.com.

Larry Black, owner of Mt. Airy Bicycles and College Park Bicycles, has been living the motto “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” for decades – a practice he hopes will take hold in the cycling community. Black started recycling shop waste in the early 1970s, when there were few recycling centers in the region. Today, he tries to find new uses for everything, such as recycling old spokes or turning discarded inner tubes into rubber bands. Black is armed with an arsenal of options to offset his energy consumption, employing a mix of solar and geothermal power. He buys wind power credits and plans to build two windmills this year. Unlike many shops in the area, Black is a strong advocate for used bikes. Rather than pushing just the latest and greatest on customers, Black has more than 2,500 road-ready used bikes for sale. “Bikes can go for 50 years,” he says. “There are plenty of perfectly good bikes out there that still have life in them. Why not reuse them?” After decades of effort, Black’s ideas are gaining attention among his peers. In January, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News honored him with a BRAINy award for his green initiatives. “It’s starting to gain traction, but the movement among cyclists is still in its infancy,” he says. “There’s a lot more we can all do.” See www.bike123.com.