Getting a bike when I go home

I’m going to my parent’s house this weekend, and intend to get a bicycle out of storage while I’m there. I think it would be a pretty quick ride into my Arlington office, and a more fun way just to get out.
I just found this interesting site about bicycling in Amsterdam that really points out the difference between biking in the US and in Europe. Around DC, I see a lot of people on bikes. However, they are usually spandex-clad and pedaling furiously with their special biking shoes and aerodynamic helmets. To paraphrase the author of the linked site,

“Now faced with this shocking disparity, I think any reasonable person must come to the conclusion that either the people in Netherlands do not value the safety of their children, or [DC] bicyclists are clumsy pansies with soft heads and weak minds that must be protected from hurting themselves no matter how much it infringes on individual rights.”

I think I can refrain from talking or texting on my phone while riding, though.