In Praise of CaBi bikes

[Anonymous]

@GovernorSilver 118425 wrote:

Thanks!

I’m debating whether to ride my own bike to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival or take CaBi. Either way I’ll be coming from the vicinity of Huntington Metro in Alexandria, taking Huntington Ave to either the overpass to Eisenhower (a climb but not as steep a grade as I’ve seen in Tenleytown) or to the pedestrian bridge between Rt. 1 and Washington St./MVT.

I’ve already been dissuaded by someone else from the CaBi option on the grounds that I might fall victim to “dock block” in a festival environment. I was thinking of CaBi in the first place for fear of “rack block”.

???

Not on a CaBi you won’t be. You’ll be taking metro to King Street (or Braddock Road, or wherever), or your own bike or car to one of the stations in Alexandria, where you’ll pick up your shiny red bike to ride into the district on the nice flat MVT. No climbing (on a CaBi) involved.

Unless you are talking 2025 Folklife Festival, in which case maybe but I still kinda doubt it.

[PotomacCyclist]

@mstone 118424 wrote:

If you don’t lighten up a little bit, you’ll never be any fun at parties. Do you respond to everything with a wall of text in real life?

You’re telling me to lighten up? Um, OK. Not even sure how to respond to that one.

If you don’t want to read my posts, feel free to skip them. Or put me on Ignore. That won’t bother me. Your choice. Was that too many words? Did I go past your mandatory character count?

[PotomacCyclist]

@GovernorSilver 118425 wrote:

Thanks!

I’m debating whether to ride my own bike to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival or take CaBi. Either way I’ll be coming from the vicinity of Huntington Metro in Alexandria, taking Huntington Ave to either the overpass to Eisenhower (a climb but not as steep a grade as I’ve seen in Tenleytown) or to the pedestrian bridge between Rt. 1 and Washington St./MVT.

I’ve already been dissuaded by someone else from the CaBi option on the grounds that I might fall victim to “dock block” in a festival environment. I was thinking of CaBi in the first place for fear of “rack block”.

I’m not familiar with that overpass, so I can’t comment on that part.

As for CaBi, yes, the docks will probably be full during the Folklife Festival, although it could depend on what time of day you arrive. If you go during on a weekday, especially in the early afternoon, there might be enough back and forth traffic that there could be free spaces. But no guarantees.

If you have a smartphone, you should try the free Spotcycle app. It’s developed by the same company (8D) that wrote the software for Capital Bikeshare. The app has near-real time info on bikes and docks. You can check the Capital Bikeshare website before you head out, but the bike/dock info can change during your ride.

If you aren’t trying to get to a specific concert or program at the Festival, you could use a backup station if the closest ones are full. Spotcycle will come in handy there. Note that the Festival is moving over to a different section of the Mall this year, because of the renovations. They will be crammed into the area between 3rd and 4th St, with some programs taking place in the American Indian Museum.

P.S. I don’t use the “dockblock” word any more. Mostly because of what the word is based on. Just my personal preference.

[GovernorSilver]

@Amalitza 118427 wrote:

???

Not on a CaBi you won’t be. You’ll be taking metro to King Street (or Braddock Road, or wherever), or your own bike or car to one of the stations in Alexandria, where you’ll pick up your shiny red bike to ride into the district on the nice flat MVT. No climbing (on a CaBi) involved.

Unless you are talking 2025 Folklife Festival, in which case maybe but I still kinda doubt it.

I was thinking next weekend will be a typical Metro situation – 20-25 min. wait between Yellow line trains so I’d ruled out taking Metro. I could have sworn I saw a CaBi station near the downhill entrance to Huntington Metro.

I’ll probably just take my own bike due to the high probability of dock block under festival conditions. I figure it’s a lower risk of not being able to find a rack or other suitable spot to lock up my bike.

[PotomacCyclist]

There are bike hitch racks on the east end of the American Indian Museum. 22 available spaces. I don’t know if people know about these racks. I had ridden by a few times before finding them this month. You can’t really see them from the street, but they are there. I posted it on RackSpotter earlier this month, along with a photo.

There are U racks on the Mall side of Jefferson Dr and 3rd St SW. This will be steps away from the Festival, but it means that those spaces will be taken quickly. There are only 8 spaces there.

There is a small wave rack down 3rd St. at Maryland Ave. People may not know about this one, but it only has 4 spaces.

If all of these racks are full, check out the larger racks surrounding the Air and Space Museum, next door to the American Indian Museum. There are 10 spaces on the north side of Jefferson Dr. There is a wheelbender rack on the north side of Air and Space and another on the south side. But both have damaged bars and they are placed right up against the wall. It might be tricky to actually use those racks.

[Anonymous]

No, Fairfax County doesn’t have capital bikeshare. I believe they’re thinking of putting some stations in reston maybe sometime eventually. Pretty sure they’re not even considering our area.

[PotomacCyclist]

The last public statement I read from Fairfax about bikeshare was a vague expression of interest, that they could look at Tysons, Reston or Mosaic/Merrifield. But no definite plans and no timeline whatsoever.

Their long-time bike coordinator, Charlie Strunk, retired this year. He was the 1st and only bike coordinator. Seems like they still haven’t found a replacement: https://www.governmentjobs.com/jobs/936023/fairfax-county-bicycle-program-coordinator-transportation-planner-iii

So it could be even longer before CaBi comes to Fairfax than if they had a permanent bike coordinator in place. Any Fairfax people with an interest in and the qualifications for the job? If so, check out the posting.

[Author]

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