A bout of sunshine accompanied Loudoun County’s Bike to Work Day - providing two pit stops in Sterling and Leesburg for workers who chose to ditch the car and hop on bikes.

The event features 49 pit stops in the Washington D.C. area. The Loudoun locations were placed at the W&OD Trail entrance off Route 28 in Sterling and at Raflo Park in Leesburg.

According to Scott Gross, Transit Operations Manager for Loudoun County Transportation, more than 135 bicyclists stopped at the pit stop at Raflo Park on the morning of May 20.

“It depends on the weather, they were predicting rain all week,” Gross said. “Any time you can get people out of their cars and save their carbon footprint it’s a good thing for the county and a good thing for people in general.”

Participants were able to stop, refuel their bodies with oranges and water, and enter in raffles for t-shirts and other prizes.

“I do the bike trail regularly. I’ve been doing it for the past 12 or 14 years for Bike to Work Day,” Blake Netherwood, of Hamilton, said. “I can’t think of a better place to get your exercise, it’s fairly safe. At least the county [has] been able to keep it a very nice trail. We’ve been able to preserve it and it’s a good day today.”

Lisa Cockrell of Hillsboro said she drove to the Purcellville W&OD Trail entrance to avoid biking on Route 9. She’s been participating in Bike to Work Day for four years and with the increase in gas prices, she’s going to be biking a lot more.

“I live and work in Leesburg,” Mackey Hughes said. “It’s a great way, and a short commute. Why not? Save a couple of dollars on gas and do the right thing for the environment.”

Rob Wright, of Leesburg, said he was telecommuting for work during Bike to Work Day, and decided to take a bike ride from Leesburg to Purcellville and back to get some fresh air.

“I just like the people that are out here,” Wright said. “The solitude, just riding down the trail with your own thoughts, you don’t have to worry about traffic.”

According to Chris Kingery, Commuter Assitant for Loudoun County Transportation and Gross, the trail is well-used, even on an average day.

“For the weekends it’s more recreational. You see a lot of folks going back and forth on bikes, jogging [and] walking dogs,” Chris Kingery, Commuter Assistant for Loudoun County Transportation said.

Bicycle Outfitters, a bicycle shop in Leesburg, was at the Raflo Park pit stop providing services to fellow bicyclists. They provided free tune-ups and air inflation for tires.

“I know of a number of people who bike to work everyday,” Gross said. “Unfortunately there are a lot of people who work in D.C. and they can’t really bike to work because it’s a long way from here, so you have to be in pretty good shape to do that.”