January 2015 Trail Conditions

[sjclaeys]

@Powerful Pete 103810 wrote:

BTW, can anyone report on road conditions at Hains Point today? Wondering whether it might make sense to get a lap or two in this evening on the way home…

Does it usually get cleaned by the Park folks?

As of about 8:45 am Haines Point was closed today. NPS too busy clearing the GW Parkway and other important stuff.

[chris_s]

Arlington Parks & Rec is kicking butt today.

BRAVO.

[mstone]

@chris_s 103847 wrote:

Arlington Parks & Rec is kicking butt today.

Especially compared to the fail whale that is VDOT.

[sethpo]

The CCT was plowed by MoCo parks from Bethesda to the bridge at River Rd when I rolled through around 9am. I saw the truck so I think he had just finished that section (and it was GREAT). The rest from the River Rd bridge all the win to G-town was unplowed and sloppy w/ ruts and stuff. Even w/ the snow being soft still it was difficult to hold a line through it on my 26er MTB but still passable. Met up w/ Ricky at the tunnel who was on a CX bike and he said he went down a few times before we met and then I saw him lose his back wheel and still recover w/ a foot assist twice.

If the NPS and MoCo don’t plow the trail today it’s going to freeze solid and be unrideable for awhile. I’m taking metro home since my ride in took 3 hours. Going through Bethesda was an absolute shit show.

Video here if you are interested. I didn’t spend much time editing so it’s a bit long.

Pics are from LSt cycletrack where you see plowed car lanes, cleared sidewalks, and untouched bike lane; a BMW I helped push; and Ricky on the CCT.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7354[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]7355[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]7356[/ATTACH]

[Mikey]

@mstone 103849 wrote:

Especially compared to the fail whale that is VDOT.

No the fail whale is FCPS. The buses had a bear of a time this morning at 7:45.

[KayakCyndi]

@ArlParksRec 103830 wrote:

Trails:
All trails were brined yesterday in preparation for the snow.
Crews have made one pass on all the trails that were identified for plowing this year. With this type of snow, we have been able to use our broom attachments to clear the existing snow. Based on the last forecast (4″-6″), we may be changing the attachments to either a plow or the snow blower. Crews will continue to clear the trails throughout the storm and after until clear.

Arlington County Parks & Recreation[ATTACH=CONFIG]7353[/ATTACH]

This is so awesome. THANK YOU! Think we can get an update at oh say 5pm on trail status?

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Mikey 103851 wrote:

No the fail whale is FCPS. The buses had a bear of a time this morning at 7:45.

I guess I feel for them. They caught hell all last winter for their early calls. And most everyone else made the same call this morning. I think the fail might be on the weather forecasters calling for “up to one inch” well into last night.

[jrenaut]

@ShawnoftheDread 103865 wrote:

I guess I feel for them. They caught hell all last winter for their early calls. And most everyone else made the same call this morning. I think the fail might be on the weather forecasters calling for “up to one inch” well into last night.

Forecast.io was saying 1-4 inches all day yesterday.

As to Hains Point – I haven’t been down, but it is unlikely to get plowed. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to be warm enough to melt much of anything this week, so I wouldn’t count on Hains Point laps until at least next week.

[Powerful Pete]

@jrenaut 103871 wrote:

Forecast.io was saying 1-4 inches all day yesterday.

… I wouldn’t count on Hains Point laps until at least next week.

That is very disturbing to say the least. Easy miles on my commutes are now gone.

Having said this, I am a bit concerned that things will be rather icy for the rest of the week/weekend if the forecast holds as-is. Might not be a good idea to ride to work tomorrow if it really is as cold as they are saying…

[Powerful Pete]

By the way, I assume everyone knows about this, but just in case, the snow priority streets and trails of Arlington:

http://gis.arlingtonva.us/gallery/map.html?webmap=292bfb65622f4431b4103b50bf574af1

[mstone]

@ShawnoftheDread 103865 wrote:

I guess I feel for them. They caught hell all last winter for their early calls. And most everyone else made the same call this morning. I think the fail might be on the weather forecasters calling for “up to one inch” well into last night.

Calling a two hour delay last night was a no-brainer.

The biggest criticisms last year were based on things like not reopening schools for days after a snow event, cancelling school entirely before the snow even started, and the infamous “closed because cold”. They did not get criticism for at least delaying based on a predicted accumulating snowfall in 20 degree temps during rush hour.

Also, their apology sucked. (They apologized “for the difficulties the weather caused”. Why are they apologizing for the weather? Why not apologize for things you can actually control, like the decision not to delay?)

[jrenaut]

And Forecast.io says Thursday is supposed to be even colder than Wednesday.

There have been discussions in my family about moving to a warmer climate…

[Steve O]

@jrenaut 103879 wrote:

There have been discussions in my family about moving to a warmer climate…

Rule 5

[KayakCyndi]

@jrenaut 103879 wrote:

And Forecast.io says Thursday is supposed to be even colder than Wednesday.

There have been discussions in my family about moving to a warmer climate…

Weather.com says 10 degrees at 7am on Thursday with wind chill of -3. Good times.

[jrenaut]

@Steve O 103886 wrote:

Rule 5

Yeah, yeah. And I actually do like it here, most of the time.

[Author]

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