WAMU 88.5 : News

Filed Under:

Good Times Roll At D.C.'s Annual Inertiad

January 3, 2011
Play associated audio
comments
Eileen O'Toole (left), Patrick Shaughness (center) and Michael Dolan at the 2011 Inertiad in Northwest D.C. The annual event celebrates the Law of Inertia.
Jessica Gould
Eileen O'Toole (left), Patrick Shaughness (center) and Michael Dolan at the 2011 Inertiad in Northwest D.C. The annual event celebrates the Law of Inertia.

By Jessica Gould

One group of D.C. residents likes to kick off the New Year by doing as little as possible. Michael Dolan says he'd rather let the law of physics do all the work.

"Are you ready?" he asks. "Push off with your weak leg and let it roll."

Dolan founded the Inertiad 16 years ago as a tribute to the Law of Inertia, "which says that an object in motion tends to remain in motion, while an object at rest tends to remain at rest."

Here's how it works: People on wheels –- usually bicycles –- roll down a hill, competing to see how far they can go without pedaling. Patrick Shaughness won this year's race by coasting a little more than a mile.

"If you participate in the Inertiad, you can say at least on one day that you've biked every day this year," he says.

Plus, Shaugness says, it builds momentum for the year to come.

Arts & Culture

NPR

Giant Renaissance Food People Descend Upon New York

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was a 16th-century artist who liked to play with his food, transforming it into the building blocks of many of his fantastical portraits. Artist Philip Haas has taken those portraits out of museums, reinterpreting them as colossal statues that interact with the natural environment.

Food

NPR

Giant Renaissance Food People Descend Upon New York

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was a 16th-century artist who liked to play with his food, transforming it into the building blocks of many of his fantastical portraits. Artist Philip Haas has taken those portraits out of museums, reinterpreting them as colossal statues that interact with the natural environment.

Politics

WAMU 88.5

Virginia Republicans Select Candidates For November Election

The Republican ticket for November's election includes Ken Cuccinelli for governor, E.W. Jackson for lieutenant governor, and Mark Obenshain for attorney general.

Technology

NPR

Book News: Amazon May Be Called Before Parliament Over Taxes

Also: AARP and The Nation join a growing list of ebook publishers; Hilary Mantel on Jane Austen; Anne Applebaum on Sheryl Sandberg.

Leave a Comment

Help keep the conversation civil. Please refer to our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct before posting your comments.