2017 Freezing Saddles Thread #1

@cvcalhoun 149239 wrote:

All right, I’ve got a draft registration form up for comments at this link. You will notice there is no submit button. This is deliberate, so no one will try to submit it while it is still in draft. When it is final, I will add the submit button, and possibly move it over to the freezingsaddles.com site (if hozn determines that can be done). Meanwhile, fire away!

My only comment! “Merrland (a.k.a. the state where the drivers are bat-nuts)”

Um, after riding into Arlington last Wednesday night I would have to disagree:( that said, it’s always scarier on the other side of the river, whichever side that is…

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@CPTJohnC 149241 wrote:

Or maybe a nice pointless prize for best registration form comment (judged in the sole discretion of …. me! (but, of course, that would require me to have access to the comments, and that seems wrong somehow.)

It wouldn’t be that big a deal for me to give you access to just the comments (not the personal information on registrants), and tell you who wrote a particular comment only after you’d picked the winner.

@ewilliams0305 149255 wrote:

My only comment! “Merrland (a.k.a. the state where the drivers are bat-nuts)”

Um, after riding into Arlington last Wednesday night I would have to disagree:( that said, it’s always scarier on the other side of the river, whichever side that is…

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It’s also hard to compare. Virginia adds to the scariness by completely failing to have street signs in many places. And having roads that keep changing their names from one block to the next (I thought I’d missed my turn off from Chain Bridge Road recently when I was riding on Chain Bridge Road and it suddenly turned into Dolley Madison, only to find out that it turned back into Chain Bridge several blocks later). And having several streets with the same name except that one is Street, one is Drive, etc. It is the considered opinion of these Marylanders that Virginia believes that if you weren’t born in Virginia, you shouldn’t be trying to navigate it. So even drivers who are not bat-nuts may be frantically trying to figure out where they are, and not looking out for cyclists.

Maryland has this quaint view that street signs should tell you what street you’re on, and what the cross-street is. And while some roads do change names (see Rte. 355, a/k/a Wisconsin Avenue, Rockville Pike, and Frederick Road), they tend to go a lot longer before doing so.

@cvcalhoun 149290 wrote:

Virginia adds to the scariness by completely failing to have street signs in many places. And having roads that keep changing their names from one block to the next (I thought I’d missed my turn off from Chain Bridge Road recently when I was riding on Chain Bridge Road and it suddenly turned into Dolley Madison, only to find out that it turned back into Chain Bridge several blocks later). And having several streets with the same name except that one is Street, one is Drive, etc.

I grew up in S.E. Michigan, where this is totally normal and the expected way to name and rename streets…We even name them almost the exact same thing, and then have them intersect just for fun! For example–W. Commerce Rd meets S. Commerce Rd meets Commerce Rd meets a 4th rd name, within blocks of E. Commerce St, all located in Commerce, Michigan. We also have streets split in 2 with up to a mile between each segment.

This is probably why I find Virginia so easy to navigate and understand…

I will also point out that I recently managed to accidentally leave my cell phone (with its GPS) at home when I went biking in Virginia. I printed out a map from Google maps, but what with the whole “no street signs” thing, I was losing my way anyway. But I was trying to get to Chain Bridge Road, which is a big street, so it couldn’t be that hard, right? I asked four people in a row where it was. I didn’t need a specific address, just, “What’s the quickest way to any part of Chain Bridge Road?” Not one person could tell me.

@sjclaeys 147840 wrote:

One simple rule: you must pedal a bicycle.

What about push/scoot bikes?

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@Raymo853 149310 wrote:

What about pish/scoot bikes?

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If you go down that route, then people will want to do Freezing Saddles riding scooters and then motorized scooters and then all hell breaks loose. So IMHO, no pedaling, no Freezing Saddles.

@scoot 149308 wrote:

Here’s the kicker though: all these oddities exist because Arlington came up with an addressing scheme and stuck by it consistently in spite of the difficulties. And because of this, it’s actually extremely simple to find any existing street address in Arlington County (excepting federal properties such as Fort Myer and DCA) without consulting a map at all. All you have to know is the alphabetical and numerical grid layout, the address numbering system, and the exceptions to the naming rules (which are mostly just the arterials but also include other pre-existing road names such as Dittmar/Franklin/Fort Scott).

With this knowledge alone, you can zero in on the immediate neighborhood of any address (although you might not necessarily choose the most efficient way to get there). Locating the exact spot then would involve a bit of trial and error in some cases, especially given the curves in some of the hilly neighborhoods. For instance, one might meander trying to locate the 3300 block of N Vernon St, since the same block exists on N Vermont St, and there are other two-syllable V streets nearby as well. Or you might not know where the 3200 block of 1st Pl N is, relative to 1st St N and 1st Rd N. But these are challenges that are quickly resolved on-site with a minute or two of exploration.

The result? Arlington is much easier, not harder, to navigate than other jurisdictions. (DC is comparable, but it has far more exceptions to its schema than does Arlington)

Well, unless you are looking for something like Chain Bridge Road. Or unless you are in fact on N. Vermont Street, but have no idea that you are because there hasn’t been a street sign in the past 10 miles.