Missed connection

[jabberwocky]

@ShawnoftheDread 69190 wrote:

That’s the People’s Car. The leaders needed cars too.

The leaders can drive Porsches, which are after all just overpriced Beetles.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@jabberwocky 69192 wrote:

The leaders can drive Porsches, which are after all just overpriced Beetles.

But you can’t stand up saluting in parades in a Porsche. Everyone knows this.

[jrenaut]

WHAT IS SO HARD about not turning left on a red arrow on 15th St NW? I yelled at a woman as she tried to turn through me. “Red light! You have a red light! Look at the light! It is red!” I yelled in my best Dad Voice, so she must have heard. Then I mumbled something about a donkey that she did not hear (probably for the best).

[jhr]

You: Cyclist dressed in all black with no lights in the dark on Southgate last night who then passed me with no warning (but with plenty of room at least) when I was stopped at a red light at the Columbia Pike intersection (marked “no turn on red” not that most people obey it) to sudden turn right into a gap between two cars with a green light going west on Columbia Pike.
Me: Trying to figure out how you have survived so far.

[pfunkallstar]

@jhr 69225 wrote:

You: Cyclist dressed in all black with no lights in the dark on Southgate last night who then passed me with no warning (but with plenty of room at least) when I was stopped at a red light at the Columbia Pike intersection (marked “no turn on red” not that most people obey it) to sudden turn right into a gap between two cars with a green light going west on Columbia Pike.
Me: Trying to figure out how you have survived so far.

Gumption. It tends to run out though…

[cyclingfool]

To the grey GMC Suburban (read land yacht) with (surprise!) Maryland plates making an illegal left turn from northbound 17th Street onto Constitution:

1. Your left turn was illegal. It was 9:15. No left turns until 9:30.
2. If you are going to make a left turn, especially at rush hour in DC when the walk sign indicated WALK, you should check to make sure no one is using crosswalk.
3. Next time, don’t act irritated with me that you had to slow/stop to avoid hitting me while I’m using the crosswalk going with the signal and you’re making an illegal maneuver.

[Subby]

dasgeh;69168 wrote:

i often use those sidewalks to get on to / off of the ellipse when i’m headed east/west. There’s no other option.

preposterous!

[CaseyKane50]

Me: On my bike, heading southbound on the Mount Vernon Trail
You: Walking with amazing vigor, also heading south
Me: Ring my bell, proceed to pull over to the left
You: Raise your hand to acknowledge my signal
Me: Passing and saying “thank you”
You: Have a great ride
Me: Thanks!

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I hate mornings like this because it seems like no one else can figure out why I hate mornings like this. Today is one of the worst types of days for cornering and stops at the base of a hill: film of water on road and tires, a million slippery leaves carpeting any line I take, and a low glare sun. So while I bike in response to these conditions, I get the hybrid Nissan that blows a stop sign on my right as I’m trying to execute a stop and right turn at the bottom of Courthouse Hill. He couldn’t wait 4 seconds to take his turn at the 4-way stop but he did have time to roll down his window and request I do something physically impossible to myself. (Upshot: I know where he lives now. Question: Are some people just hard-wired to drive more like a dick the closer they are to home?)

But the challenger from the bicylcle camp is Mr. 1993 in the blue bike shorts and running shoes. When you’re third in line on the sidewalk that’s curving tight around the Jefferson Memorial, and the first bicycle is a business attire grandpa taking up the center of the lane, wait your turn to pass. I had it. Don’t call on your left, then on your right, and then push the grandpa onto the wrong side of the trail with your pass. And then certainly don’t immediately bonk. I can’t help but not catch up to you and be forced to look more at your Wayans Brothers, “In Living Color” inspired color scheme. My eyes are bleeding now.

[cyclingfool]

Friday evening crossing Constitution Avenue at 17th St using the crosswalk on the east side of the intersection so I could cut across the Mall

You: The SUV that became a box blocker when your light turned red but were stuck there because of the stream of pedestrians already crossing the street.
Me: The cyclist courteously waiting to safely pass said pedestrians as I rolled across the street.
You: “Crosswalks are for pedestrians, not bikes!”

Um, well, sir, actually you’re wrong. Bikes are allowed to use crosswalks. And if I had my quick wit switch turned on, I would have retorted, “Intersections are for going through, not stopping in.”

[fuzzy]

Yes people do drive more like ass-holes the closer they get to home- the comfort factor sets in….

[baiskeli]

@cyclingfool 69450 wrote:

Friday evening crossing Constitution Avenue at 17th St using the crosswalk on the east side of the intersection so I could cut across the Mall

You: The SUV that became a box blocker when your light turned red but were stuck there because of the stream of pedestrians already crossing the street.
Me: The cyclist courteously waiting to safely pass said pedestrians as I rolled across the street.
You: “Crosswalks are for pedestrians, not bikes!”

Um, well, sir, actually you’re wrong. Bikes are allowed to use crosswalks. And if I had my quick wit switch turned on, I would have retorted, “Intersections are for going through, not stopping in.”

Here’s something I’ve wondered lately though – in the area where bikes on sidewalks are disallowed in downtown DC, would using a crosswalk also be disallowed, since you’re technically not supposed to be going between sidewalks? (I wondered this while, of course, crossing between forbidden sidewalks – don’t tell anyone).

And where you were crossing was the boundary between where bikes are allowed and not, so what about that?

[cyclingfool]

@baiskeli 69481 wrote:

Here’s something I’ve wondered lately though – in the area where bikes on sidewalks are disallowed in downtown DC, would using a crosswalk also be disallowed, since you’re technically not supposed to be going between sidewalks? (I wondered this while, of course, crossing between forbidden sidewalks – don’t tell anyone).

I get your point. As someone who also occasionally rides on forbidden sidewalks for a block or two but never at more than a jogger’s pace, I think in practice it’s a matter of common sense and respect. Ride slowly and pass safely and it’s not a big deal, whatever the law says.

@baiskeli 69481 wrote:

And where you were crossing was the boundary between where bikes are allowed and not, so what about that?

From a letter of the law standpoint, the sidewalks are off limits north of Constitution. I was already south of Constitution. Yes, it’s a boundary area, as you point out, but I get the sense this guy:

1. probably has no clue about the CBD sidewalk rules;
2. just wanted me out of his way and found an excuse to yell at someone (me);
3. was the type of driver that would have yelled at me to “get on the sidewalk” if I were riding in the same direction as him, regardless of speed limits and the legality of riding in said sidewalk in that area solely because
4. doesn’t care all that much about traffic rules since he decided to roll into the [VERY BUSY] intersection at rush hour not knowing he could get through it before the light changed

IOW, he was just a feminine hygiene wash bag.

[dasgeh]

As I got on the Custis this morning at 20th, I saw a cyclist coming towards me… wait it was two cyclists… on a tandem… on an orange tandem… I’m starting to get excited as I roll to a stop. But wait, the lead cyclist guy is not getting bigger as he gets closer… He’s almost to me and he’s not of super-human proportions…

Alas: not every orange tandem is Dirt’s commuter taxi.

So a missed connection instead of a Dirt sighting. *Sigh*

[rpiretti]

I usually don’t write these posts but for some reason folks were a little angry that I passed them this morning. I passed a gentlemen on a 90’s green mountain bike as I was headed up Virginia Ln. hill in FC/Dunn Loring area going East. I said politely that I was passing and the gentlemen responded with some sort of out of breath “OK”. After passing him, I felt that he sped up to stay right behind me. Come to find out he was trying to play catch up for a while and caught up to me in the heart of FC. Once passing me, he taunted me by saying ” Whatsa matter? Slowing down huh?”. I responded with “umm no…just going my pace” and he was off and went through an intersection where I couldn’t see him any longer.

Another person I politely passed on down the trail – gentlemen riding a old ten speed. After passing him very comfortably he sped up and tagged onto my wheel for a little bit before stopping at Columbia Pike. He asked if my bike had “steel wheels” and “was my bike from European”? No. He then bolted ahead of me and sped off once Columbia Pike intersection was OK to cross.

Did I miss that I was in an actual race this morning? Because I wanted to know about this race. To the guy that was taunting me, I was just going my usual pace and didn’t variate. I hope I see you on the trail sometime soon so we can continue our conversation.

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