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Virginia First Gentleman Adam Spanberger clipped into his pedals at the front of the pack Friday morning and rolled through Rosemont alongside dozens of Alexandria families — the biggest turnout the Brooks Bike Bus has ever seen.
"There are 82 bikes on the racks at Brooks right now," organizer Stephanie Lavey said in an interview with The Alexandria Brief after the ride. Factoring in siblings, riders who didn't lock up, and kids who biked in on their own, she estimated roughly 80 children rolled to Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School together.
It was a fitting headline for a program that marked six months to the day since its first ride. "I like to tell people October 17th was our first ride," Lavey said. That morning drew about 17 kids. The second Friday drew closer to 40. By Halloween, the kids were riding in costume. A typical Friday now runs 20 to 30 riders — "in the winter you'll get me and maybe one other person," she said.
Friday was something else entirely. A state police motorcade — a lead car and a follower with lights on — escorted the First Gentleman's pack as it wound toward Brooks.
How the visit came together
Spanberger, a computer engineer who still works a full-time software engineering job in Springfield, took on the inaugural first gentleman role when his wife, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, was sworn in in January. According to Lavey, biking is one of his priorities in the role, and his office has been scoping out what a statewide bike bus network might look like.
His staff, Lavey said, went looking for Virginia programs to learn from and started at the top of the alphabet. "Brooks is at the top of the alphabet, and so they messaged me on Instagram," she said. "I thought it was a scam."
After a follow-up email from the Office of the First Gentleman, Lavey looped in Perrin Krisko, a longtime Alexandria bike bus organizer who has helped launch rides at Patrick Henry Elementary and Mount Vernon Community School. Krisko, Lavey said, does most of the "backend advocating, training, finding, attending the public meetings and doing the kind of pounding the pavement." Together, they walked the First Gentleman's team through what a bike bus is, how Brooks got started, and how it runs.
The visit wasn't confirmed until Tuesday night, Lavey said, with Spanberger's staff asking organizers to keep it "pretty low-key." A logo-stamped Instagram teaser went up two days before the ride.
What Spanberger is working on
Spanberger's interest, Lavey said, is connective tissue: building a coalition so Virginia bike buses can trade best practices and advocate together. "Right now he's just kind of in the research phase and seeing how we do it," she said. After Brooks, the First Gentleman, was scheduled to ride with an afternoon bike bus in Fredericksburg. "It's a big northern Virginia bike bus day for him," Lavey said, "and he started it with us."
He showed up in a button-down and a helmet, clipped in at the front of the group. After the ride he posed for photos, shook hands and met Brooks Principal Suzanne Hess. Lavey said she had worried riders might pepper him about dangerous crossings on Braddock Road, but families kept it light. "He's not an elected official," she said. "So I'm glad they didn't bombard him about things that are out of his control."
Three bike buses and counting
Alexandria now has three operating bike buses — Brooks, Patrick Henry, and Mount Vernon, which drew more than 30 kids to its second-ever ride Friday morning. There's also early talk of starting one at Douglas MacArthur Elementary, Lavey said, though nothing is official. The Brooks team has been advising the Mount Vernon group, including doing a practice run with them before their launch.
The program has also waded into pedestrian and bike-infrastructure advocacy, particularly around Braddock Road. Asked whether a bike bus could run down Braddock if it had protected bike lanes, Lavey didn't hesitate: "Yes. Yes, yes, yes." Mount Vernon riders already cross Braddock at a crosswalk, she said, with parents flanking the kids on either side — safe, but scary. "Wouldn't it be great if cars were more aware of the possibility that there would be bikers on this street, specifically kids going to school?" she said. Fewer people in cars, she added, would also mean less traffic on Braddock itself.
'A helmet and a smile'
Asked what she wants people outside Alexandria — including in Richmond — to take away from Friday, Lavey's answer was simple: it's doable. "This is the party that throws itself," she said. "If you put in the legwork to set the route, set times, communicate it, people just need to show up." Her pitch to any family on the fence: "a helmet and a smile."
What would help the most, she said, is a state-level point of contact — a subject-matter expert who can help schools plan safe, accessible routes and answer the "I don't have a bike" or "I can't ride a bike" concerns that come up. Strollers, scooters, balance bikes, and parents on foot are all welcome at Brooks, she noted.
Spanberger is the most prominent guest rider to date, but not the only one. Sandy Marks, the Democratic candidate for Alexandria City Council, rode with Brooks last Friday, and Alexandria City Councilmember Sarah Bagley rode over the winter. Ryan Freed, a Brooks parent who works as the city's Climate Action Officer, has also joined. Lavey said she has feelers out to the Little Theatre of Alexandria and the fire department.
"I told folks, this is the new Iowa State Fair," Lavey said. "If you want to be taken seriously in politics, you have to ride the bike."
The Brooks Bike Bus runs Friday mornings on three color-coded routes that converge at Naomi L. Brooks Elementary by 7:55 a.m. More information is available at @brooksbikebus on Instagram.
