2 bike collision this morning 7/20 on 14th bridge

Saw the aftermath. The front tire of the VA bound bike was a complete pretzel. That accident had force.

@mohonk 143353 wrote:

The adrenaline and endorphins are flowing and you want to maintain that pace because it feels great.

Such a selfish mindset. I feel sorry for the oncoming cyclist who was in a serious accident just because someone felt too good to slow down.

As I’ve stated before, I’m not even a daily rider but I shake my head every single time I see a cyclist make a dangerous move just to keep his or pace.

@Subby 143358 wrote:

That’s a bad spot, to be sure. Not sure how much bang for your buck you would get with a sign though. Probably more effective working to get that foliage cut way, way back so you have better lines of site.

I think this was on the other end of the bridge (DC side), where the trail empties onto Ohio Drive by the Jefferson Memorial… at least that’s where the injured cyclist I saw was… where there are plenty of sight lines but the nature of the curve and lining up for the sharp curbed access ramps makes spacing tricky. A climbing cyclist wouldn’t have any way of avoiding an unexpected downhill passer while heading up the ramps to the trail.

@mohonk 143366 wrote:

That’s good advice except I would feel uncomfortable taking photos at the scene. That might be misconstrued as being ghoulish behavior, especially if someone was on the ground and hurt.

Not if you explain why you are doing it. Having just broken a bone in a biking accident a couple of weeks ago, I definitely would have appreciated the assistance.

@mohonk 143348 wrote:

This happened about 8:45 am on the bridge a little past the curve on the VA side. A cyclist heading into DC tried to pass a slow going cyclist and hit oncoming cyclist in opposite lane.

From this it sounds like the fault of the cyclist heading uphill…passing into a blind curve. Though also prudent for VA bound riders to take it easy around this curve, especially if otherwise not able to stay in their lane.

There are a few spots like this in that general area where I see riders going uphill passing into blind curves with no idea whether a fast downhill cyclist is just around the bend: south end of Gravelly Point path by the parking lot, bottom of the North airport bridge, just north of the crystal city spur at the start of that bridge, top of the long decline towards the car ramp from Aviation Circle onto GW Parkway, and a few of those curves as you continue on along the airport parking, and so on as you head south (or on MVT).

There are so many such spots, and with all the blind-curve passes you see going into those spots it is surprising that this does not occur more often.