FreshBikes Tuesday Night Ride Postponed Indefinitely?

[Crickey7]

Freshbikes may be experiencing some turmoil. The Bethesda location closed recently due to a flood, but also may have owed significant back rent at the time.

[hozn]

I don’t think this has anything to do with FB. The ride imposes a pretty big presence on the roads Tuesday evenings and there’s been pushback from residents in the past. I think it’s really too bad, though, that the county is not supporting the ride this year. Even if I may not be participating in the ride with any regularity [at all], events like FB TNR are exactly why I live in Arlington.

[rcannon100]

Yeah, gotta say, these things are cool. Marymount U just had a 5K along a very similar route, and it was well supported by the community. I would love to see some way to support these type of events – which builds great community – and the interests of the neighbors who, ya know, need to get to the soccer game or home to dinner or to the political debate. Have to say, seeing the FB mob go by always made me smile

[83b]

One thing to consider is that a fixed route puts the inconvenience on the same people every week. Varying the route might diffuse the dissatisfaction and help limit organized opposition.

I used to live on Crystal Drive in Crystal City and it got pretty old having to deal with the constant street closures and associated impacts. For example, there is a Twilight 5K series that cuts off access to our garage every Friday night for a month during rush hour. And there was a semi-annual antiwar protest where masked idiots repeatedly broke our lobby’s windows (the police were positioned to protect the actual defense contractor buildings, so we were the target that was left).

While it wasn’t a huge number of buildings that were impacted by the closures (which is why they were so frequent!) there were a number of residents who started to agitate to limit such events.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Yeah, cuz who wants a few hundred people–who generally have healthy disposable incomes–to come here for a bike ride, see how accommodating the county is, spend a bunch of money at local businesses while they’re at it, and heck, maybe even move here because it’s so great? Communists might want that, but this is America goddammit!

[vvill]

Not entirely surprised, but it’s sad to see. This was the first group/shop ride I ever did! I imagine there’ll still be a group out there anyway most Tuesdays through the season.

[Vicegrip]

@83(b) 115114 wrote:

One thing to consider is that a fixed route puts the inconvenience on the same people every week. Varying the route might diffuse the dissatisfaction and help limit organized opposition.

I used to live on Crystal Drive in Crystal City and it got pretty old having to deal with the constant street closures and associated impacts. For example, there is a Twilight 5K series that cuts off access to our garage every Friday night for a month during rush hour. And there was a semi-annual antiwar protest where masked idiots repeatedly broke our lobby’s windows (the police were positioned to protect the actual defense contractor buildings, so we were the target that was left).

While it wasn’t a huge number of buildings that were impacted by the closures (which is why they were so frequent!) there were a number of residents who started to agitate to limit such events.

Unlike the cristal city events FB Tuesday night ride does/ did not close anything it rolled through some intersections.

Just think of the heart break of dealing with a slight delay at a light per chance on some Tuesday night well after rush hour The horror!

[bobco85]

Don’t fret just yet (did not mean for that to rhyme). There’s some conflicting information here. From reading the Freshbikes page and the article on ArlNow, it appears that the whole ride is likely to be changed from a weekly ride that was supposed to start today to a monthly ride that will start in June.

There’s an article on ArlNow.com (article here but warning about the usual anti-cycling comment section) with the following text:

McAhren told ARLnow.com this afternoon that he reached out to the county earlier this year to make sure the permit would be renewed again, and the county staff told him the permit was unlikely to be renewed.

“[Special events staff] said there’s almost a zero percent chance we’re going to approve it every week again,” McAhren said. “In the past, they just kind of rubber-stamped it because the county was so pro-cycling.”

McAhren said he agreed to reduce the rides to once a month, but he said the county was planning to still put the permit’s renewal before the County Board, and asked him if he could move the time to the weekends to reduce traffic impacts.

Now, I don’t know how reliable this is, but there was a comment from someone claiming to be Susan Kalish (Arl Co Parks & Rec, I checked the name) which adds more detail to this story:

I am Susan Kalish with Arlington County and supervise the County’s Office of Special Events. Freshbikes Tuesday Night Rides applied for a special event permit two weeks ago. As we require large events that impact the roads to apply for permits three months in advance, we told Scott that he could not start the ride today but we would work as quickly as possible to have the event reviewed. The event impacts rush hour, requires police support and has a history of participants needing emergency medical support. We also have had community complaints. Staff is looking at what recommendations can be made to ensure the event is fun and impact-free in the future. The Office of
Special Events is coordinating with police, EMS and our transportation staff. Meetings are set for next week. Even though Freshbikes applied for a permit about two weeks
in advance, not three months as required, staff is working on the application
and hope that the event can be approved and start in June.

I can understand that this ride has grown quite a bit, which btw is AWESOME, and that it temporarily inconveniences some drivers, but I think they have tried to organize it properly. Yes, there have been crashes, but the police escort (and the delicious food on the first Tuesday of each month) was really nice. Plus, having it on a weekly basis allows everyone to get used to the timing, i.e., drivers will be able to make detours before hitting the route instead of being surprised by it.

Considering all the work that goes into organizing it, I think the fact that this ride now attracts hundreds of cyclists compared to the 20-30 when it started shows how great this ride has become. It is yet another example of cyclists choosing to ride when safe cycling infrastructure is provided.

TL;DR version: the ride is likely not being cancelled, it will become a monthly ride officially, people will still ride weekly, and it’s a pretty awesome recurring event for cycling in the area.

[rcannon100]

@Vicegrip 115133 wrote:

Unlike the cristal city events FB Tuesday night ride does/ did not close anything it rolled through some intersections.

Just think of the heart break of dealing with a slight delay at a light per chance on some Tuesday night well after rush hour The horror!

Well no. I live on the route. I can assure u the delay at military and Lee was not slight. Overwhelming local roads was prob part of problem. I got stuck a couple of times and of course thought it was great. But it is a disruption in a hood where traffic already rots.

[mstone]

Wait, let me see if I’ve got this. Filling the roads with cars is OK, but filling them with bikes sends arlco around the bend?

[TwoWheelsDC]

@rcannon100 115138 wrote:

Well no. I live on the route. I can assure u the delay at military and Lee was not slight. Overwhelming local roads was prob part of problem. I got stuck a couple of times and of course thought it was great. But it is a disruption in a hood where traffic already rots.

Makes me wonder if widening 66 or removing HOV restrictions might actually be worth considering…I hate that feeling.

[Dirt]

I’m really torn with this. I love a big cycling event that gets people active and brings a sense of cycling community to Arlington.

I’m somewhat less thrilled at having hundreds of cyclists moving in packs and flying through red lights and stop signs at 20+ MPH with zero regard for basic traffic laws. I tried really hard to like this ride, but always felt like it was about the worst representation of what cycling should be in a community.

A ride of that size with virtually no regard for traffic laws or safety needs to be on a closed course.

[Starduster]

@Dirt 115141 wrote:

I’m really torn with this. I love a big cycling event that gets people active and brings a sense of cycling community to Arlington.

I’m somewhat less thrilled at having hundreds of cyclists moving in packs and flying through red lights and stop signs at 20+ MPH with zero regard for basic traffic laws. I tried really hard to like this ride, but always felt like it was about the worst representation of what cycling should be in a community.

A ride of that size with virtually no regard for traffic laws or safety needs to be on a closed course.

Your PAL Ambassador has spoken. I’m with him.

[dkel]

Is the problem with the ride marshals, then? I’ve been on a couple of mid-sized rides, and though not very big, they’ve been big enough to blow through intersections en masse if that had been the way the marshals had run it, but they didn’t. Perhaps some (or all) of the responsibility lies with the organizers. I say this as a fan (and sometime customer) of FreshBikes, though not as someone who has been on their ride.

[hozn]

It is definitely true that this ride rolls through stop signs, but I haven’t been on many group rides that behave any differently (when there isn’t cross traffic). My experience is that everyone was always good about stopping & waiting at [red] lights on this ride. That may not be true throughout the ride, but has definitely been the case toward the front of the ride. I’ve probably done it 8-12 times over the past 3 years, so not a huge sampling. It’s a wonderful ride in its inclusiveness (anyone can do it), but obviously at that scale there is some increased risk of injury too.

Yeah, the further details here make it sound like Arl Co is not entirely to blame on the delay in getting this ride off the ground.

And ultimately there’s nothing stopping people from simply meeting up at the park and riding on Tuesday nights. I suspect motorists would find they far prefer the police escort system which at least expedites moving the riders out of the Ballston area to the north where the ride becomes stretched out and less congestive.

[Author]

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