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Unlike most commuters, though, Aaronson estimated she has only driven to work a handful of times in the last eight months. Instead, she logged all those miles on her bicycle — 28 miles roundtrip, fewer if she takes a shuttle during the winter.

‘‘It really makes you feel part of the neighborhood,” said Aaronson, director of the Division of Records Management in the Office of Business Process Support.

As the FDA becomes more and more part of the White Oak neighborhood, officials are searching for ways to keep its impact on roads to a minimum. To that end, Aaronson and dozens of other employees bike to work each day, many riding more than 10 miles each way. The cyclists cited the economic, environmental and fitness benefits, as well as the satisfaction biking brings.

‘‘It brightens up your day,” said Karen Weiss, deputy director in the Office of Oncology Drug Products, who rides 24 miles a day from her home in Rockville when her schedule allows, often riding with Aaronson. ‘‘You actually look forward to coming into work because you can get on your bike.”

Salma Lemtouni, a medical officer in the Division of Cardiovascular and Renal Products, makes the 26-mile roundtrip ride from her home in Friendship Heights three times a week; the other two days, she works from home.

‘‘For me, it’s killing two birds with one stone. I don’t have to go home and exercise,” she said, adding the only time she will not ride is when the temperature drops below freezing.

During a typical day last summer, about 20 people would bike to work, said Andrew Dempster, team leader for transportation and general services within the Division of Logistics Services, which handles transportation issues at the White Oak campus. Last year, about 50 employees attended three meetings about bicycle commuting, he said.

While many ride bikes only when the weather is good, others ride under almost any circumstances as long as their schedules permit.

Ethan Cohen has been cycling to work since 1980 and rides at least two mornings a week the 20 miles from his home in Rockville and back.

‘‘I find that when I ride in, it helps my focus. It gives you kind of a boost during the day,” said Cohen, a research scientist with the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories. ‘‘It grows on you. It’s addictive.”

It is also infectious, said Dempster, who occasionally rides to work. ‘‘The best promotion of this type of program is the people.”

The agency has tried to help. Bike racks are located under cover and in parking garages for security, cyclists said, and showers and locker rooms are available at work.

Dempster called the steps ‘‘little pieces” that may ultimately persuade an employee to bicycle to work. Creating more cyclists among employees also reinforces the FDA’s mission in public health, he said.

‘‘You put those little pieces together and [prospective cyclists think], ‘It’s not so bad,’” he said.

The bicycle program is one of the ways the FDA is trying to reduce single-passenger cars coming to the campus. The agency also offers a free shuttle with bike racks, which carries 400 employees a week from the campus to the Silver Spring, College Park and Twinbrook Metro stations, said Marc Bloom, division director for the Division of Logistics Services.

A Ride On Transit route already runs from White Oak to the Silver Spring Metro station, and a proposed, new Ride On route in eastern Montgomery County would offer more public transportation options for employees, Bloom said, particularly those not on a traditional 9-to-5 work schedule.

Like all commuters, the cyclists just want to get to work without incident, which can sometimes be difficult. Those interviewed agreed the worst area to ride was the stretch of Route 29 between Southwood Avenue and Lockwood Drive, ‘‘the two minutes of terror” in the words of Larry Kessler, director of the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, who rides 24 miles roundtrip twice a week from his home near Rockville.

The cyclists said better bike paths, more sidewalks and safer intersections are needed in the county and that more people would ride if they felt safer. Cohen, who is a member of the Rockville Bicycle Advisory Board, added road construction coordination is needed among all levels of government, and bicyclists should be considered in road designs.

There is also a stigma cyclists have to overcome, said David Parsons, a technical contractor who has a three-mile roundtrip to work, often dropping his son off to day care along the way. ‘‘There is this mentality of, ‘Bicycling is not commuting,’” he said, noting some people think of cycling only in terms of recreation.

‘‘You’re not there for recreation,” Aaronson continued. ‘‘For recreation, I’d go out in the country for 50 miles.”

But whatever concerns or worries cyclists have during the day fade once they see their bicycles parked outside after work. ‘‘Sometimes you drive and go, ‘Darn, why did I do that?’” Weiss said.

‘‘Sometimes I see the bike, and maybe I’m tired,” Cohen said. ‘‘Then I get on it and start riding ... even if I’m slow, it just feels good.”