Manners….or, "the A in PAL is not for A**"….

[JustinW]

So it was a lovely day today, and of course that meant time to hit the road. In the midst of a VA-DC ride I decided to take a turn around Hains Point before returning to the Commonwealth and finishing up.

I’ve been on HP before and was pleased to see a variety of users (runners, walkers, drivers, bikes, and more bikes). What was not cool was the sort of interaction between a few motorists and a group of 10-15 cyclists. I was bummed to witness this and it made me fear for the continued availability of HP for cyclists.

I’ve read previously of some negative interactions at HP, and I’d like to think that they are the work of a select few self-proclaimed “champions” who feel that their cycling prowess has given them title to the roadway. Thus it was dismaying to see and hear today a group “in action”, conducting themselves in a very aggressive manner towards motorists, saying sarcastic things to drivers within earshot, and generally acting like HP is *their* playground, one in which all others should give way.

That’s a great way to p*ss off the general public and feed existing poor stereotypes about lawless cyclists who ignore rules of the road. That’s possibly a great way to push the National Park Service to more aggressively observe and police bikers, and it is conceivable that they could ban cyclists entirely due to poor behavior and a perceived lack of interest in sharing public facilities.

If cyclists truly want to own that space, they should consider applying for a permit allowing exclusive use for a couple of hours at times. I bet the NPS would agree to that in exchange for a decreased amount of poor behavior at other times. Otherwise, in consideration of all cyclists (and other people, too) who like to use HP, it would be great if those “champion cyclists” would dial down the aggressiveness (or take it elsewhere) and generally realize that public roads are meant for all, not just for the spandex-clad champs.

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[timo96]

I’d have to hear both sides (or all 3 sides?) of the story before I pass judgment one way or another. Sometimes motorists deserve to get yelled out — and I make few apologies for some of the stuff that comes out of my mouth in reaction to poor motorist behavior.

Although far from ideal, HP is one of the few places in the city where there’s space to push your bike and body a little bit. For the most part, I think, people who use HP know what’s up and are generally civil with each other. You just have to pick the time and place to be out there — Saturday afternoon in the most touristy part of the spring or summer is probably not ideal for hammering for a personal best or something.

[PotomacCyclist]

I haven’t ridden much at East Potomac Park this year, but I have in past years. At many times, the road is fairly quiet. But at other times, it’s sort of a free-for-all. During the cherry blossom season, the tour buses can be obnoxious, especially when the drivers switch lanes and cut in front of bike (and car) traffic. On summer weekday afternoons, some of the large paceline groups ride there. Many of them go very fast, in excess of the posted speed limit on the road. The problem is that a large group can swallow up all the other traffic and surround other users. Many of the othe people are out there for casual rides, not 25 mph peloton riding. I’ve gotten swallowed up by a group a couple times.

At the same time, I wish the runners would follow some sort of pattern. I’ve seen some run with traffic on the right and some run against traffic on the left. But then some run against traffic on the right too. On some days, I see all this behavior at the same time. That can be a problem for everyone, when there is two-way runner traffic in both lanes at a single location where all the traffic comes together.

I’ve also had a couple unpleasant encounters with motorcyclists, including one weirdo who was riding and following directly alongside of me for a few minutes. I think he was actually trying to hit on me, until I started yelling at him. (I’m a guy, by the way. When I rode there in the past, I would wear typical bike/tri shorts and white running shirts on most rides.) It’s unnerving to have a motorcyclist tracking you like that, just a few feet away. It was on a summer afternoon and there were other people in the park, but it was still creepy.

I used to avoid peak hours as much as possible, but that didn’t always fit into my schedule. It’s the same situation on roads and trails though. Whenever there are a lot of people (cyclists, runners, drivers, motorcyclists), there are a lot of near misses and some aggressive/reckless behavior. I’d say that most people behave civilly and respect other users. But at congested times, it only takes a minority of people to make the road very unpleasant for everyone else.

I don’t mind when individuals are out there hammering away on tempo/speed workouts. But I found the large paceline groups to be a major problem. When they swallow you up, you have to either speed up to 25 mph (which most of us have difficulty with) or risk getting run over by 30 fast-moving cyclists.

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