It’s a goofy name that makes one scratch their head and say “Cycling in Tysons? This could get ugly” but in fact as this website has said many times there are parts of Tysons that look nothing like Route 7 or Route 123, the traditional image of the mall-goers. This was exemplified by the site selection for the Tour de Tysons, on a sleepy 4-lane road that just happens to house 3 Fortune 500 companies and several other headquarters, Jones Branch Drive.
The race was sponsored by several local businesses including Kaiser Permanente (just down the road) as well as the Tysons Partnership and the National Capital Velo Club. In attendance was Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling who provided race goers with info-packets about proper and safe bike rules as well as talked about bike access and master plans for the county. Also in attendance was Michael Caplin, executive director of the Tysons Partnership. Food was provided by Paul bakery, who recently moved into their new Tysons location.
Attendance to the festivities was hard to measure because it was a day long event. I ended up heading their in the morning and then once again later. At any given time the crowd was in the three-digits, but in total due to the many differing categories of racers it may have accumulated to over 1000 by days end.
More important than attendance or sponsorship was the idea of the event, to promote new ways of thinking about the Tysons community, transportation, and the future plans. It takes a lot more than renderings and design documents to change the sprawl culture that has defined the area for decades. Little steps like these, that get people thinking slightly differently about what Tysons might look like if it had more events, less cars, and more people are just as important to getting the process moving and hopefully reaching the end goal of a real sense of place.
In a year the site of the race will be adjacent to a massive construction effort occurring at Arbor Row and MRP. In 5 years Westpark and Jones Branch Drive will look nothing like it does today, lined by numerous high rises and wide walkways. Rarely used shared left turn lanes will be reduced to planted medians, and bike lanes will be provided where today there are none. This event is indicative of the changes that are ultimately going to come.