Missed connection

[KWL]

@guga31bb 82778 wrote:

You:

Driving a Mercedes? ✔

Maryland plates? ✔

No turn signal? ✔

Turned onto Whitehurst Freeway from Key Br without even looking first? ✔

First and second can vary. Third and fourth happen way too often. I’ve been known to shout “USE YOUR DAMN TURN SIGNAL” while making arm gestures. Not my finest moments.

[bobco85]

@guga31bb 82778 wrote:

You:

Driving a Mercedes? ✔

Maryland plates? ✔

No turn signal? ✔

Turned onto Whitehurst Freeway from Key Br without even looking first? ✔

Me:

After slamming on my brakes, thinking that if I was playing bike-commute-bingo I think I would have won.

I’m glad you’re okay, but passing through there today around 7 p.m., there appeared to have been a made connection between cyclist and driver in the same fashion as your situation. No one looked hurt as I saw the cyclist and a few other cyclists checking his bike (nothing looked bent), and the driver and passenger of the car were standing there talking with them.

[brendan]

@bobco85 82794 wrote:

I’m glad you’re okay, but passing through there today around 7 p.m., there appeared to have been a made connection between cyclist and driver in the same fashion as your situation. No one looked hurt as I saw the cyclist and a few other cyclists checking his bike (nothing looked bent), and the driver and passenger of the car were standing there talking with them.

I’ll note for the record that I have *twice* seen southbound (VA-bound) cars turn left from key bridge onto the Whitehurst freeway. I know. Insane.

I haven’t seen any cars coming *up* the Whitehurst entrance ramp…yet.

B

[cvcalhoun]

As someone who grew up in a small town in the Midwest, where as “Prairie Home Companion” puts it, “People drive around looking for people to yield to,” I’ve been known to find people in the DC area overly aggressive. Of course, since JFK referred to DC as “a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm,” perhaps it’s not just the Midwestern upbringing that does it. But I especially treasure the encounters that challenge that view. Some recent examples:

You: Bicyclist who pulled up beside me in the right lane as I was stopped at a light while southbound on Wisconsin Avenue, then asked, “Are you going straight ahead, or turning right.”
Me: “I’m going straight.”
You: “In that case, I’ll wait for you to go first when the light changes.”

Given that I am in fact the slowest cyclist in the DC area (or at least in BAFS 2014), I told him he was welcome to go ahead. But it was still nice to have him offer, instead of trying to shoal me.

You: Pedestrian walking southbound on Wisconsin Avenue, a little south of the cathedral.
Me: Cycling northbound on Wisconsin Avenue, having just made it up that long hill from K Street.
You: “Nice job!”

Hey, it’s nice to be recognized!

You: Pedestrian that I passed while out bicycling at night, who said, “Nice lights!”

Hey, I’ll take any compliment, and doubly so when they confirm my visibility at night.

[mstone]

You: the nail

Me: the one who didn’t run over you.

How did you know that if you flatted my wife’s tire I’d still be the one who had to fix it?

[lordofthemark]

To the guy in the bed of the pick up truck turning left onto Sleepy Hollow

You really should wear a helmet if you’re going to do that. Maybe get one for your dog too.

[Terpfan]

Sometimes that backfire noise isn’t a backfire. I rode by down Cathedral Ave last night on my way home a little after five. I heard a backfire or two paying not attention. Then down on RCP I see hordes of police going the other way. When I got home, I saw on the Washington Post that there was a shooting outside the Zoo last night at that time. Beware of the backfire.

[creadinger]

On my evening commutes recently I tried out two new tactics to make for a more enjoyable ride.

On Friday, the Cat 6ers were out in force. I was tired, but feeling ok enough to keep up at least. So in the Waterfront area, I “raced” with a guy heading toward the 14th St. bridge. He passed me again going up the hill to the bridge and led all the way down to the 4MR turnoff. It was a win-win situation. He got to “win” the commute and I got a draft for a few miles of my commute. I’m usually not a drafter, but in the spirit of Cat 6 racing I feel like in this instance it was warranted.

Monday was another crazy afternoon on the trails and it started on the 14th St. bridge again where some crazy a-hole in an aero recumbent complete with full helmet, and red, white and blue fabric shell pulled an up the middle maneuver to pass between me and a jogger. I hope he could hear what I yelled to him through his goofy looking helmet as I flinched and tried to miss him and the metal barrier. Anyway, that pissed me off, and from then on as I approached an on-coming ped/jogger I drifted left a few inches to take up enough of the middle space so that oncoming Fred’s would think twice about passing up the middle lest they risk a collision with someone at least 100 pounds more than them, but not so much as to alarm the jogger. I think this influenced 2 cyclists, as I saw them about to ramp up to make a pass up the middle then instead hit the brakes as I drifted left.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@creadinger 83185 wrote:

On Friday, the Cat 6ers were out in force. I was tired, but feeling ok enough to keep up at least. So in the Waterfront area, I “raced” with a guy heading toward the 14th St. bridge. He passed me again going up the hill to the bridge and led all the way down to the 4MR turnoff. It was a win-win situation. He got to “win” the commute and I got a draft for a few miles of my commute. I’m usually not a drafter, but in the spirit of Cat 6 racing I feel like in this instance it was warranted.

I’ll probably catch some sh*t for this one, but as someone that commutes that also rides recreationally on faster tempo group rides, and feels confident holding a wheel at 23+ mph, I wouldn’t call this Cat 6-ing. it ain’t racing, it’s just how riding with two people that want to go about the same speed (and do the work toegether) works. I know if I’m cookin’ it and I hear someone catch my wheel, I’m gonna take a look back to see how “Pro” they’re lookin’ before I feel safe just letting ’em hang on, or if I think they’ll understand how to safely pass and take a pull. If i don’t trust whoever’s on my wheel, first i’ll just lower the tempo and let them pass, second I’ll just coast down to 15 mph and wave them around. But if i look back and whoever caught my wheel is fully festooned in a YJA, has 14 headlights duct-taped to their creaky hybrid’s handlebar and appears to be on a hell-bent mission to “show that cat 6-er d-bag a thing-er-two”, I’m gonna do my best to drop you. I don’t want you anywhere near me cause i don’t trust your bike handling skills. and i know through experience that letting you pass me only means i’m gonna be right back on your wheel in 6 seconds cause you can’t hold your vengence-tempo.

likewise, if i catch someone’s wheel, I’m going to ease up, survey the situation, and try to ascertain whether my fellow faster-than-average rider minds me on his/her wheel, verbally or by the “Pro”-ness metric. call me a d-bag, but in my experience this is safer than getting all bent out of shape about drafting, or thinking that drafting=Cat 6-ing it. At the end of the day, there’s two major rules of the road: your front wheel is your responsibility, and ride predictably (that means proper group-ride hand signals).

[creadinger]

@Harry Meatmotor 83242 wrote:

I’ll probably catch some sh*t for this one, but as someone that commutes that also rides recreationally on faster tempo group rides, and feels confident holding a wheel at 23+ mph, I wouldn’t call this Cat 6-ing.

You’re forgetting about the competitive factor. In Cat 6-ing there is no working together. There is no common goal, or “taking a pull” for the common good. The goal is to be in front and to “win” the commute. As a part-time rush hour driver, it’s not much different than how people do it on the roads. Technically, I was not Cat 6-ing. He was. And his competitiveness got me where I needed to go a little easier. Call it whatever you want though. I don’t really care.

[OneEighth]

@Harry Meatmotor 83242 wrote:

your front wheel is your responsibility, and ride predictably (that means proper group-ride hand signals).

Second

[Geoff]

@creadinger 83185 wrote:

On Friday, the Cat 6ers were out in force…

Am I allowed to be amused by the little conversation this spawned?
I don’t race. I generally ride alone and it has been maybe 40 years since I was in a paceline. Once in a while I find someone on my wheel, and when it happens, I don’t care. They rarely stay long. Sometimes we strike up a nice conversation. I don’t draft strangers unless we started a conversation first; not ethics, just personal preference. I’m not comfortable on his wheel unless he’s comfortable having me there. And I do mean “he”; I don’t want to worry female bikers about some strange guy following them.

The YJA (Yellow Jacket of Authority)? Sometimes I wear yellow because I like the color, or it’s dark out, or I want a wind breaker.

[Subby]

@Harry Meatmotor 83242 wrote:

I don’t want you anywhere near me cause i don’t trust your bike handling skills. and i know through experience that letting you pass me only means i’m gonna be right back on your wheel in 6 seconds cause you can’t hold your vengeance-tempo.

Vengeance-tempo ftw!

[sethpo]

You: SUV driver half into the L st. bike lane around 24th before it becomes protected for no discernible reason mid-block, no turn signal, traffic stopped (YOU ARE THE TRAFFIC).

Me: Slightly annoyed not-so-lovingly taps your massive truck that obviously didn’t make you feel safe enough not to jump out of your skin as I squeezed by you and looked back over my shoulder pointing to the bike lane as if to indicate the division between your travel space and mine.

Question: Too aggressive by me? In retrospect, I think so.

Will this man now avoid driving in the bike lane for fear of being scared shitless again by some cyclist “tapping” on his truck? Is he now properly schooled so as to become more attentive and understanding of where he is and isn’t driving his SUV? Or will he react with returned acts of aggression towards cyclists who he now perceives as a threat to his protected person and poor exposed vehicle.

I fear it is the later. My apologies, fellow cyclists for my aggressive behavior that may (but hopefully not) turned one more SUV driver against us. Next time, perhaps I will take a deep breath and count to ten by which point he will still be sitting in “traffic” and I will be enjoying the freedom and fresh air of my superior commuting mode. ooooohm

[Emm]

You: The driver going eastbound on Monroe Ave in Del Ray right before the Monroe/Mt Vernon Ave crossing, who decided to suddenly turn left into the Shell station on the west side of Monroe without any turn signal or bothering to look at oncoming traffic.

Me: The fully visible biker (had you been looking…) who was going westbound on Monroe Ave, and had just gone through the green light at Monroe/Mt Vernon at a moderate speed, and who was about to cross over the entrance to the Shell station. You came within 8 inches of hitting me before you swerved while I slammed on my brakes and had my rear wheel skid. I think I screamed something like “watch where you are going!!!”

You: The man on a road bike speeding out of an alley 2-3 blocks after the above incident occured, who was not looking where he was going as he flew into the street

Me: The biker you came within 2-3 feet of hitting and who swore at you under her breath, probably out of proportion to your dumb action—sorry . At least you caught yourself before I had to hit my brakes. I was jealous of your bike though…

Note to self: practice emergency stops more. Although I stayed on my bike and relatively in control, I need to remember to shift my weight back to keep my back wheel from skidding. At least I never felt like I was going to go over the handlebars which is an improvement over last year.

[Author]

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