Attention ELITE Cyclists in Rosslyn

[arlrider]

Yes, I am referring to the deadly crossing eastbound on the Custis across Lynn towards the confluence with the Mt. Vernon. Every single morning when the light is red, I and anywhere from a couple to a couple dozen other cyclists queue up on the Custis along Lee Highway waiting for the light. Much like “cars” would do on a “road”, MOST of us stay to the right of the clearly painted line down the middle of the trail. However, certain ELITE cyclists have received an exception to those rules which allow them to fly by the entire line of waiting bikes to the very front by using the left lane of the trail. It seems to me that using the “left lane” of the trail would be very similar to driving in the “left lane” of a “road”, which in the presence of solid lines I understand to be “illegal”. Yet these very special ELITE cyclists have been granted the right to do this. They then speed across the crossing with Lynn, usually on my very left, when I am trying to TURN LEFT towards Key Bridge, blocking me off, even when I am signalling a left turn. Then the people going the other way, inbound into Arlington, well they usually almost run into these ELITE cyclists. who are continuing on to the Mt. Vernon.

I understand that to wait for others of us who have politely lined up at the stop line in the correct lane of the trail would lose you PRECIOUS seconds off of your timed rides and endanger your VERY PRECIOUS cycling careers, but could you ever think of doing the right thing and not being a menace to society? Or, if you have so little regard for the others of us who are crossing in an organized manner, could you just give us a slap in each of our faces as you ride by to reinforce how your really feel?

Topic

[txgoonie]

I find that in the same situation people will try to pass just as often on the right, either while you’re waiting at the light or at the moment the light turns. It happens a lot when you’re waiting at a light in a bike lane. ELITE biker rolls up behind you, does an assessment and determines you must be slower. Either proceeds through the gap between you and curb and lines up alongside or in front of you, or they sprint past on the right when the light turns, so you have cars passing on the left and cyclists passing on the right. It’s awesome. I feel such respect emanating from the ELITEs every time it happens :-l

[arlrider]

@txgoonie 33697 wrote:

I find that in the same situation people will try to pass just as often on the right, either while you’re waiting at the light or at the moment the light turns green. It happens a lot when you’re waiting at a light in a bike lane. ELITE biker rolls up behind you, does an assessment and determines you must be slower. Either proceeds through the gap between you and curb and lines up alongside or in front of you, or they sprint past on the right when the light turns, so you have cars passing on the left and cyclists passing on the right. It’s awesome. I feel such respect emanating from the ELITEs every time it happens :-l

I’m fine in most cases being passed on either side by an ELITE Cyclist, when actually in motion. I’ve hung out in the slipstreams of Felt riders for miles on the W&OD before and given them a pretty good surprise when they turn around and see me. The problem with this particular intersection is that you know that 50% of the population is going to be turning left, and you see that there are already a dozen people stopped on the correct side of the trail, so to shoal up on the left or pass on the left is just such a jerk move.

[pfunkallstar]

@arlrider 33698 wrote:

I’m fine in most cases being passed on either side by an ELITE Cyclist, when actually in motion. I’ve hung out in the slipstreams of Felt riders for miles on the W&OD before and given them a pretty good surprise when they turn around and see me. The problem with this particular intersection is that you know that 50% of the population is going to be turning left, and you see that there are already a dozen people stopped on the correct side of the trail, so to shoal up on the left or pass on the left is just such a jerk move.

Sure we can all agree that shoaling on Lynn St. is an issue. But let’s not forgot those UBERLITE individuals who go straight on the trail and then pass on the corkscrew – those guys are 0110000101110011011100110110100001101111011011000110010101110011.

[Certifried]

@pfunkallstar 33712 wrote:

Sure we can all agree that shoaling on Lynn St. is an issue. But let’s not forgot those UBERLITE individuals who go straight on the trail and then pass on the corkscrew – those guys are 0110000101110011011100110110100001101111011011000110010101110011.

There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can read binary and those who can’t.

[consularrider]

@KLizotte 33639 wrote:

When I was in London I saw an intersection that had separate crosswalks for bikes and peds at the same intersection. The peds had a traditional crosswalk whereas just a few feet away the cyclists (coming in from a bike lane) had curb cuts in the median to allow passage (the thruway was also painted green with cyclist symbols). It was brillant.

Photos or it didn’t happen.

[baiskeli]

@KLizotte 33639 wrote:

When I was in London I saw an intersection that had separate crosswalks for bikes and peds at the same intersection. The peds had a traditional crosswalk whereas just a few feet away the cyclists (coming in from a bike lane) had curb cuts in the median to allow passage (the thruway was also painted green with cyclist symbols). It was brillant.

They have separate lanes for cyclists (each way) and peds on some trails in Minneapolis too. Seemed to work well.

[Certifried]

http://transportationnation.org/2011/06/21/gov-cuomo-to-decide-whether-new-york-gets-complete-streets/sidewalk-crossing-2/

pretty cool stuff!

[KLizotte]

@consularrider 33729 wrote:

Photos or it didn’t happen.

Wow, tough crowd.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1859[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]1860[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]1861[/ATTACH]

[dasgeh]

@baiskeli 33735 wrote:

They have separate lanes for cyclists (each way) and peds on some trails in Minneapolis too. Seemed to work well.

This is what I hope can happen with the Custis in Rosslyn. Too many ped/cyclist conflicts, especially because the hill creates larger speed differences.

[baiskeli]

@dasgeh 33749 wrote:

This is what I hope can happen with the Custis in Rosslyn. Too many ped/cyclist conflicts, especially because the hill creates larger speed differences.

If we get enough width, it would be great.

It would also help pedestrians figure it out (I hope). I still remember a gaggle of tourists coming from the hotel talking about the rules for walking there. I had very politely warned them that it was a busy bike trail and they should stay to the right. They proceeded to talk about the rules and convince themselves that “there are no rules”…after I just very clearly and repeatedly told them the rule of staying to the right.

[JeffC]

Couple thoughts, get out of the area for awhile, even a long weekend, the change of perspective helps.

Bike to work earlier. I started leaving an hour earlier and it makes a huge difference. ELITE riders don’t like weighing down their 15lb bikes with useless things like flaslights and reflectors so only bike during daylight.

For anger management: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443675404578058523419497306.html

Totally agree that the infrastructure here is pathetic. It’s getting better. I was in Budapest and Vienna (Austria, not Virginia) a few weeks ago and was blown away by how MUCH better the biking infrastructure is there than here. Boulder, CO and Davis, CA are also great. Arlington is getting better, I won’t deny the real improvements seen on the Custis in the past few years, but we have so much farther to go.

Part of the problem here is that the ELITE ones also share the pathetic infrastructure that exists with the rest of us. I saw a single ELITE rider in Austria and he was riding on a road with cars (where he should be) not on the bikes only trails with the slower moving commuter cyclists.

[Rootchopper]

For a few hundred yards in the new Jones Point Park, there are three lanes on the Mount Vernon Trail. The lane on the far right is designated for pedestrians. The other two are bicycle lanes. More often than not pedestrians use the bike lanes anyway.

[baiskeli]

@Rootchopper 33766 wrote:

For a few hundred yards in the new Jones Point Park, there are three lanes on the Mount Vernon Trail. The lane on the far right is designated for pedestrians. The other two are bicycle lanes. More often than not pedestrians use the bike lanes anyway.

Interesting! Haven’t seen that. Peds aren’t used to it and probably aren’t aware of it.

I remember when we had absolutely no bike lanes or bike-specific lights in this town, so maybe we’ll eventually catch up with this too.

[dasgeh]

@Rootchopper 33766 wrote:

For a few hundred yards in the new Jones Point Park, there are three lanes on the Mount Vernon Trail. The lane on the far right is designated for pedestrians. The other two are bicycle lanes. More often than not pedestrians use the bike lanes anyway.

My dream Custis would have grade separation between peds and cyclists. I.e. cars would drive in normal lanes, then there’d be a little curb or similar, and bikes would ride on lanes at that level. Then there’d be a normal curb, and pedestrians would have a normal sidewalk. It would also help if the sidewalk looked more like a sidewalk (scored concrete, no lines, etc) and the bike lanes looked like something for wheels (no scoring, asphalt if possible, clear yellow lines). I’m not familiar with Jones Point Park — what do they do there to encourage separation?

[KLizotte]

@dasgeh 33773 wrote:

My dream Custis would have grade separation between peds and cyclists. I.e. cars would drive in normal lanes, then there’d be a little curb or similar, and bikes would ride on lanes at that level. Then there’d be a normal curb, and pedestrians would have a normal sidewalk. It would also help if the sidewalk looked more like a sidewalk (scored concrete, no lines, etc) and the bike lanes looked like something for wheels (no scoring, asphalt if possible, clear yellow lines). I’m not familiar with Jones Point Park — what do they do there to encourage separation?

Oz does exist! It’s called Denmark and the Netherlands.

At Jones Park the trail has a short section where it is extra wide. The bike trail part is normal sized and striped and the designers extended the asphalt a few feet on the right hand side and put up a sign indicating that section is for peds. I do think it should be a little wider for the peds to accomodate folks walking side by side. I don’t understand why the designers did it for such a short stretch though. There isn’t a whole lot to see or do down there so there are few peds so it’s of limited use. I think the area would have been better utilized if they had put in tennis courts, ping pong tables, dog park, more playgrounds for various ages, etc. The bridge provides rain and sun cover and makes a good play/sports area.

[Author]

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