2014 February Trail Conditions

Yep, agreed. Kind of touch and go on Idylwood but overall not bad. Thanks Shawn.

@KayakCyndi 77700 wrote:

Shawn’s road route into downtown from Falls Church is downright enjoyable at 7am. All clear expect for a few large snow piles in the bike lanes occasionally from where they cleared the roads. Fortunately drivers seem nicer and more willing to make some room for bikes at 7am than they do at 8am!

@baiskeli 77738 wrote:

Now that’s reasonable. What’s not reasonable is coming here and using the exact same arguments that motorists use against cyclists to bash other trail users.[/quote]

Except that they aren’t the same arguments, and I’m not bashing other trail users. So mostly you’re just trying to start a fight. What I’m looking for is a rational management policy from NVRPA, rather than a “we’re just gonna do nothing for some indefinite period of time until we do get around to doing something” policy. I think that the needs of all trail users, including skiers, could be better met with a better policy from NVRPA which actually solicited input from the affected stakeholders. Too often, that agency appears to act in a vacuum, making decisions which seem to be based on the whims of a few people within the organization rather than an open process. But, yeah, that’s exactly the same thing as telling bikes to get out of the street.

I am looking forward to the commute home being faster this evening. There was a lot of snow on the W&OD and it was a bit slow west of EFC. In Vienna I took Beulah (westward) to cut out some of the W&OD, though when I joined back up at Clarks Crossing I saw that there was a pretty good track down the trail, so probably could have just stuck on it from Vienna. I did have to ride in the narrow pavement track, and veering off was treacherous (slippery and then very thick snow that stops the bike quickly) — getting up to a reasonable speed (15 mph felt fast) and holding the line is adrenalizing. I love it.

I expect that this will be mostly rideable without studs tomorrow — we’ll see how it is just east of Maple in Vienna, since that seemed to be the worst of it.

The plow had been up the W&OD between Columbia Pike and EFC Metro between 7 and 9am this morning. They scraped some of the icy spots in the rain.

@mstone 77750 wrote:

Except that they aren’t the same arguments, and I’m not bashing other trail users.

It sure sounded like it. You’re basically saying your mode is more important so you should be catered to. Just like motorists who dismiss cyclists who ride on the roads.

What I’m looking for is a rational management policy from NVRPA, rather than a “we’re just gonna do nothing for some indefinite period of time until we do get around to doing something” policy. I think that the needs of all trail users, including skiers, could be better met with a better policy from NVRPA which actually solicited input from the affected stakeholders. Too often, that agency appears to act in a vacuum, making decisions which seem to be based on the whims of a few people within the organization rather than an open process. But, yeah, that’s exactly the same thing as telling bikes to get out of the street.

I agree. Maybe you should have said that instead of “because skiers!”

@baiskeli 77762 wrote:

It sure sounded like it. You’re basically saying your mode is more important so you should be catered to. Just like motorists who dismiss cyclists who ride on the roads.

I believe it’s been made clear, by mstone and others numerous times, that (1) it’s great that skiers can use the trails right after it snows, (2) after a little while (days?), the trails become unusable by skiiers and should be plowed, and (3) the NVPRA and NPS have been asserting that they won’t plow, even after that time has passed, because they want skiers to be able to use the trail. “because skiers!” is a shorthand way of calling bs on that argument.

It’s not the nicest way to say, but it’s also not the most rude. If you read along, you’ll see what people are really getting at, and that you don’t need to always pick fights with them when they don’t express themselves perfectly. Sometimes, it’s nice to be able to just type “because skiers!” instead of making all the caveats.

It snowed last Thursday. It’s been six days. We’re frustrated. Cut us some slack.

And BTW, I think it’s very cool that there are people who actually ski these trails. I hope there’s room for a compromise that makes us all happy (like plow half, and push extra snow into the other side = more skiing, no?).

@dagamon 77770 wrote:

I fell on the ice again this morning, time for studded tires. Any recommendations for a 10-mile commute on a 15-year old mountain bike? Falls Church to Downtown.

Bikenetic

@dagamon 77770 wrote:

I fell on the ice again this morning, time for studded tires. Any recommendations for a 10-mile commute on a 15-year old mountain bike? Falls Church to Downtown.

In the meantime, try to hold your line and not shift direction when going over icey patches. In loose conditions maintain a smooth pedal strokes and don’t mash the pedals which will cause you to spin out. Don’t be afraid to clip out in advance of potential trouble spots in case you need to take quick action.