Bike on bike violence on Custis

[sethpo]

My boss was taken out this morning inbound on the Custis on one of those narrow blind curves w/ the retaining wall on one side and Lee Hwy on the other. He was passed by a fast-moving cyclist who cut back in front of him and took out my boss’ front wheel. Boss man hit a light post pretty hard and tore up his knee (only road rash fortunately). The guy stopped and apologized but quickly took off w/o making sure my friend needed help.

If you insist on riding recklessly and your recklessness causes a crash please remember that there are no team cars or medical support vehicles so, you know, be a decent human and stuff.

[bentbike33]

@sethpo 141057 wrote:

My boss was taken out this morning inbound on the Custis on one of those narrow blind curves w/ the retaining wall on one side and Lee Hwy on the other. He was passed by a fast-moving cyclist who cut back in front of him and took out my boss’ front wheel. Boss man hit a light post pretty hard and tore up his knee (only road rash fortunately). The guy stopped and apologized but quickly took off w/o making sure my friend needed help.

If you insist on riding recklessly and your recklessness causes a crash please remember that there are no team cars or medical support vehicles so, you know, be a decent human and stuff.

This and discussion on another thread makes me think “Custis Trial” is not so much of a mistype these days, as well as glad I opted for the long way in via W&OD this morning.

[Fairlington124]

Whenever I see a dude in lycra on a road bike, I take extra precaution. Give me normal people on cruisers any day of the week.

[KayakCyndi]

@sethpo 141057 wrote:

My boss was taken out this morning inbound on the Custis on one of those narrow blind curves w/ the retaining wall on one side and Lee Hwy on the other. He was passed by a fast-moving cyclist who cut back in front of him and took out my boss’ front wheel. Boss man hit a light post pretty hard and tore up his knee (only road rash fortunately). The guy stopped and apologized but quickly took off w/o making sure my friend needed help.

If you insist on riding recklessly and your recklessness causes a crash please remember that there are no team cars or medical support vehicles so, you know, be a decent human and stuff.

Sorry to hear that but I’m totally not surprised. The Custis has gotten much worse IMO the past two weeks or so — many more cyclists of varying speeds and lots of runners. It also seems nearly everyone is wearing earbuds and a little on the oblivious side. The Custis is already tricky with bad sightly lines and hills to speed up/slow down rides. All of this is just making it worse.

Yesterday I opted to for the canal as my way in. This morning I rode W&OD/FMR/MVT. Both of those were much better. Pretty soon I’ll just going to revert to my former “winter” route down Washington Blvd.

If we could get everyone to do three things — don’t pass on blind corners, call your passes, and keep the music low enough to be aware of your surroundings — it would accomplish so much. Question is how to we reach them? Posting here is just preaching to the choir.

[Tania]

I come in early enough that bike traffic on the Custis is still fairly light (especially westbound) but I’m likely to start taking the canal home soon (I need the hill work anyway on 41st/Westmoreland…or is it Williamsburg? Whatever).

To add to KayakCyndi’s questions, how do we avoid being a victim of this? I approach and take blind corners relatively slowly which means I’m likely to get passed on them; it happened just this am in fact and it was a near-collision with an oncoming cyclist. Do I slow down way before so that hopefully I’m passed before the corner? Do I move a bit to the inside of my lane? Although that just might put the oncoming person at risk. I enjoy the bike paths – I like saying good morning to pedestrians/runners/dogs and nodding in solidarity to oncoming riders (even if I get a “WTF?” look in return).

[OneEighth]

I would add a fourth ask—use only as much trail as you need. Put another way, stay to your right.

[KayakCyndi]

@OneEighth 141068 wrote:

I would add a fourth ask—use only as much trail as you need. Put another way, stay to your right.

Totally agree with this. I’ve seen way to much riding down the center-line this week.

[vern]

The one modification I would make to Cyndi’s list would be NO ear buds. We need to be engaged with our environment and not distracted from it. Ear buds distract and separate users from their environment.

[Emm]

@vern 141071 wrote:

The one modification I would make to Cyndi’s list would be NO ear buds. We need to be engaged with our environment and not distracted from it. Ear buds distract and separate users from their environment.

For those who really like or need music, they make small bike speakers out there that do a good job of projecting music right at you, but at a low enough volume that you can hear even the quietest of bikes coming up behind you, and not annoy everyone around you*. I find mine to be WAYYYY less distracting that earbuds because it doesn’t block out any of the surrounding sounds. Generally though I think music should be avoided during commutes on busy trails. I tend to use my speaker while doing laps around Hains Point, and then turning it down or off when I get to the MVT.

*exception is at traffic lights or crosswalks. I swear to god every time I have a bike speaker on the most inappropriate song by pitbull, eminem or someone else on comes on right at the moment I’m stopped with a group of joggers and cyclists. Luckily most bike speakers also have easily accessible “off” buttons for those moments

[eminva]

@KayakCyndi 141064 wrote:

Question is how to we reach them? Posting here is just preaching to the choir.

On another thread, dasgeh suggested BurmaShave signs along the trails. I’m not as clever as some of you, but I’m imaging pithy rhymes ending with “don’t pass up the middle” and “call your passes” (among other messages).

This would use humor and put the message right where trail users can see it.

Liz

[KayakCyndi]

@Emm 141073 wrote:

For those who really like or need music, they make small bike speakers out there that do a good job of projecting music right at you, but at a low enough volume that you can hear even the quietest of bikes coming up behind you, and not annoy everyone around you*. I find mine to be WAYYYY less distracting that earbuds because it doesn’t block out any of the surrounding sounds. Generally though I think music should be avoided during commutes on busy trails. I tend to use my speaker while doing laps around Hains Point, and then turning it down or off when I get to the MVT.

*exception is at traffic lights or crosswalks. I swear to god every time I have a bike speaker on the most inappropriate song by pitbull, eminem or someone else on comes on right at the moment I’m stopped with a group of joggers and cyclists. Luckily most bike speakers also have easily accessible “off” buttons for those moments

The bike speakers are a great option for cyclists however I’ve found that it is runners/walker with ear buds that pose the biggest issue largely perhaps partially due to our variance in speeds. They aren’t ever going to stop using music and hence the reason I said “low enough to be aware of your surroundings”.

[americancyclo]

@eminva 141075 wrote:

On another thread, dasgeh suggested BurmaShave signs along the trails. I’m not as clever as some of you, but I’m imaging pithy rhymes ending with “don’t pass up the middle” and “call your passes” (among other messages).

This would use humor and put the message right where trail users can see it.

Liz

Don’t be an a$$
Call your pass!

Keep it tight
Stay to the right!

I’m sure SteveO could do this all day.

[sethpo]

Also, don’t hit other people with your bike and if you do don’t be a jerk and quickly ride off regardless of that person’s musical preferences.

[huskerdont]

@Tania 141067 wrote:

(I need the hill work anyway on 41st/Westmoreland…or is it Williamsburg? Whatever).

Is Williamsburg…unless you mean Westmoreland. :>) You could certainly do both (41st>Glebe>Williamsburg>Westmoreland)

The towpath is going to be my route in for the next couple of days, as long as it stays dry.

I am planning to go home W&OD for some miles, but you may be on to something. Those headwinds are going to be rough on the W&OD, and I prefer a steep hill to headwinds on a false flat.

[Steve O]

I’ve been taking the Custis this week. So far I have not seen any truly egregious behavior, thankfully. And I get to say good morning to a lot more people these days.
So what do we do? I could take the streets and avoid it all, which would make me safer I suppose, but doesn’t help anyone else.

I can’t really control others’ behavior either. The best I can do is model the behavior I would encourage. One thing I may start doing is wearing my mirror again. If someone thinks about passing me on the blind curve approaches, I’ll be able to see them far enough ahead to stop them with a hard left arm and a friendly, “Blind corner. Don’t want you to get in a head-on.”

In the end, this is what we want, though. 5-10 times as many people riding bikes. Keep in mind that the majority are riding like PALs; it’s only a visible minority who aren’t.

[Author]

Posts