MacArthur Blvd.

Great topic for discussion, Brendan. Thank you for posting up.

It is not an easy problem to solve… as is obvious by the article. This sounds a lot like discussions and arguments I heard when I first moved to the DC area in 1989. It hasn’t changed much.

The problem honestly is not the amount of space available for cars and bicycles. There are plenty of places that I’ve ridden over the years with less space and more traffic (both vehicular and bicycle). I know that I sound like a broken record… because I always say this when topics come up. The problem is the mindset… of both riders and drivers. Having everything go OUR way and not thinking of cooperation, compromise and accommodation as the FIRST means to the end makes it so that getting a positive outcome is virtually impossible.

Safe riding habits should not have to be enforced. Humans in other areas of the country do it all the time. Feeling like we are entitled to ride the way we want and that it is drivers’ responsibility to deal with it precludes any positive outcome.

Drivers have a similar mindset. People drive as though they’ve got a Congressional mandate to be in front of cyclists at all times.

In the end, discussions boil down to a lot of finger pointing and blaming…. just like my post right here. I’m pointing my finger at pretty much everyone on this…. including myself. We could all do more than we do as riders, drivers and pedestrians. Every action we take while driving, walking or riding has consequences…. good ones or bad ones. Until we realize it and take responsibility for our own actions, there will be no resolution to things like this on MacBlvd or anywhere else.

Thanks for posting this up Brendan. It is much appreciated. Sorry for staying so long on the soap box.

Yeah, I think I rode past this group a little while after it had happened and they all gathered together (there may have been some other groups that stopped to help, as the mix of riders seemed odd to me).

One of the problems with group rides is that some cyclists stop taking responsibility for themselves – they just fill in the space and follow the person in front of them, regardless of other circumstances on the road. This is how you end up with 20 people at a time blowing a red light. Not cool. Further, with the big shop rides, you get a wide range of skills. This leads to incorrect assumptions (about the skills of the people around you) and a number of bad bike handlers in a big group (always bad).

I’m not down in big group rides, but I’m definitely thinking about better emphasizing the importance of being selective about them as I encourage others to check them out.

Thanks Brendan.

Does anyone know what actually happened though?