With the bright sun piercing the mist and warming the damp ground of early Friday morning, bicyclists from as far away as Bethesda descended upon Reston Town Center for the annual Bike to Work Day celebration.

Sponsored by the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and Commuter Connections, Bike to Work Day seeks to promote bicycling as a viable transportation option in the Washington area — an alternative to traffic congestion and rising gas prices with a simple, economical and healthy way to commute.

Participants had 49 regional pit stops available to them across Virginia, D.C. and Maryland, offering food, drink, prizes, tire-pressure checks and the official Bike to Work Day T-shirt, free to all registered participants.

Josh Rosenthal says he bikes to his work at Reston Town Center from Bethesda, MD once per week.

“I’d love to do it more,” he says.

The avid cyclist says he makes the 26-mile ride almost entirely on paths, trails and bike lanes, and that the trip takes him about one-and-a-half hours, the same as by car in rush-hour traffic.

Bruce Wright, Reston resident and chairman of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB), a co-sponsoring organization, says Bike to Work Day is very popular in the region.

 “We have 420 registered participants at the Reston pit stop,” says Wright. “They expect 10,000 people total in the entire DC metro area.”

Kathleen Driscoll McKee, president of the Reston Association, another co-sponsor, pointed out that Reston'ss 55 miles of paved pathways are dedicated to walking dogs, riding bikes and pushing strollers on the trails. That makes it easy for people to bike to work here, as well as to other places they need to be.

“They lead to pools, tennis courts and garden plots," said Driscoll McKee. "The trails connect all of the neighborhoods to all of the facilities.”