I haven’t seen anything I would consider reliable about the number of bikes/riders. I did finally see some on traffic cams around the Virginia part of the beltway around 12:30, but not huge masses.
One pic I’ve seen posted at several places says it’s one staging area for a group. It’s a picture of the Pentagon parking lot with the bikers assembled for the annual Rolling Thunder ride. I wish people would not do that.
There’s been a lot of distortion about this ride from all sides. Showing the Pentagon/Rolling Thunder pix as if it were the 2M Bikes was unnecessary. Who knows any more what the actual truth is? I know more than I’d like about traffic jams in DC and on the Beltway, but didn’t see that on Wednesday.
I think there was probably a very good showing and those who rode are to be thanked. This could be the start of something significant as 9/11remembrances in the future. Planning needs to start now for next year. They didn’t have much time for effective planning, permitting, etc. this year.
Also, the pic listed at the beginning of the article implies that is a group leaving LA when it is actually the staging area at Harley Davidson of Washington, DC. It is located at Ft. Washington on Livingston Rd and easy to find on Google earth satellite images. I was in the group. I rode 950 miles for the 2 Mlion Bikers to DC memorial ride. I estimate 15,000 showed up in DC and we did clog up traffic around the mall. 800,000 to 1,000,000 bikes is an internet rumor in my opinion.