Missed connection

[DCAKen]

Me: Cycling southbound on Beach Drive, doing about 20 mph
You: SUV who couldn’t be delayed

Don’t pass when there’s oncoming traffic. I suppose I should be happy that it wasn’t me who you forced off the road.

[UrbanEngineer]

@DCAKen 89170 wrote:

Don’t pass when there’s oncoming traffic. I suppose I should be happy that it wasn’t me who you forced off the road.

Yikes….That could have been way worse.

[CaseyKane50]

The cast.

Me on my bike
Pedestrians – mother and a young daughter
Bicyclists – let’s call them one, two and three
Car

Location – Old Town Alexandria

Time – Sunday, 9:40 am

Me – heading north bound on Union Street, stopped at the intersection of Union and King
Pedestrians – heading east bound on King, starting to cross Union in the crosswalk
Car – heading south bound on Union Street, stopped at the intersection of Union and King
Bicyclists One – heading south bound on Union Street, swerves around the stopped car and proceeds through the King Street intersection without stopping. Stops in front of the pedestrians who have stopped in the crosswalk as One was approaching them. One tells the pedestrians they can proceed. The mother and child start walking as One rides behind them.

Meanwhile, Bicyclist Two passes me on the right without stopping (I am still stopped at the intersection) forcing the pedestrians to stop again to allow him to pass.

While the pedestrians are still stopped, Bicyclist Three heading north bound on Union blows through the intersection and passes behind the pedestrians.

I told the mother that I was sorry for the behavior of the other cyclists.

In the eyes of one mother, her child and the driver of one car, bicyclists didn’t look so good this morning.

[Starduster]

That triggered. Beach Drive was the only place where I was knocked off the road (and on the ground when I tripped on the curbing) by a car.

[PotomacCyclist]

Speed Racer dude on Jefferson Drive, near the Smithsonian Castle: It is NOT appropriate to be screaming down the road at 20 mph when the road is full of cars, cyclists and pedestrians crossing, during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, among the busiest weeks of the year on and near the National Mall.

I was riding a CaBi bike and cruising along at my usual slower CaBi speeds, i.e., not fast at all. The cars were going even slower so I decided to try to squeeze around them to the left (because I was going to turn left eventually toward the bike station on the Mall). Half a second before Speed Racer passed me, he called out “on your left.” Then I felt the brush of air as he squeezed in between me and the parked cars. He couldn’t have been more than a couple inches from me. I could have looked to my left, but I thought it was pretty obvious that I was moving to the left. In any case, no excuse for him zipping down the busy road like that.

I didn’t think too much of it at first. I was kind of annoyed, but I figured it wasn’t too big a deal. But then I looked ahead and a pedestrian was just stepping into the crosswalk. Speed Racer kept screaming along at 20 mph or so, and just missed the woman by a couple inches. She had to step back suddenly. I could tell that she was surprised by the near miss. That’s when I knew this guy was a disaster waiting to happen, so I let loose with a loud semi-swear word. Speed Racer was already 50 feet ahead, but he heard me. He finally slowed down and looked back. More stunned than angered, I think. I hope I made him think about what he was doing. You aren’t supposed to be doing speedwork, or whatever he was doing, on a crowded road like that, nearly taking out cyclists and pedestrians, and possibly ramming a car eventually.

He didn’t look like a super-fit racer either. He was riding what appeared to be a decent road bike, though I only saw it briefly from behind. He was kind of flabby in the midsection, which is not what I usually see with many of the guys doing speedwork on crowded trails or packed roads.

[scorchedearth]

@CaseyKane50 89244 wrote:

In the eyes of one mother, her child and the driver of one car, bicyclists didn’t look so good this morning.

Unfortunately, there are plenty more where that came from at that intersection in Old Town.

[Terpfan]

@CaseyKane50 89244 wrote:

The cast.

Me on my bike
Pedestrians – mother and a young daughter
Bicyclists – let’s call them one, two and three
Car

Location – Old Town Alexandria

Time – Sunday, 9:40 am

Me – heading north bound on Union Street, stopped at the intersection of Union and King
Pedestrians – heading east bound on King, starting to cross Union in the crosswalk
Car – heading south bound on Union Street, stopped at the intersection of Union and King
Bicyclists One – heading south bound on Union Street, swerves around the stopped car and proceeds through the King Street intersection without stopping. Stops in front of the pedestrians who have stopped in the crosswalk as One was approaching them. One tells the pedestrians they can proceed. The mother and child start walking as One rides behind them.

Meanwhile, Bicyclist Two passes me on the right without stopping (I am still stopped at the intersection) forcing the pedestrians to stop again to allow him to pass.

While the pedestrians are still stopped, Bicyclist Three heading north bound on Union blows through the intersection and passes behind the pedestrians.

I told the mother that I was sorry for the behavior of the other cyclists.

In the eyes of one mother, her child and the driver of one car, bicyclists didn’t look so good this morning.

Sadly so frequent at that exact spot. It’s a large part of why I end up on Royal the whole way. I long ago lost patience for everyone doing dumb stuff in a busy area.

I took it home the other night and nearly got clipped by a Mercedes turning left out from the parking garage. He was so preoccupied with cars coming from the other way and pedestrians that he didn’t even look. Thankfully I was going slow having stopped at the stop sign there at Union & King that I was able to quickly stop. He did wave sorry with the sheepish look, but I remembered quickly why I avoid that route in warm months.

[jrenaut]

Me: slowly climbing one of the hills on 14th St north of Columbia Heights with the kids on the Xtracycle right as it was starting to rain
You: SUV, Maryland plates

Thanks for what sounded like a sincere offer for a ride.

[krazygl00]

@jrenaut 89265 wrote:

Me: slowly climbing one of the hills on 14th St north of Columbia Heights with the kids on the Xtracycle right as it was starting to rain
You: SUV, Maryland plates

Thanks for what sounded like a sincere offer for a ride.

I think we just need a forum abbreviation: SUVMDP

[culimerc]

@PotomacCyclist 89255 wrote:

Speed Racer dude on Jefferson Drive, near the Smithsonian Castle: It is NOT appropriate to be screaming down the road at 20 mph when the road is full of cars, cyclists and pedestrians crossing, during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, among the busiest weeks of the year on and near the National Mall.

I was riding a CaBi bike and cruising along at my usual slower CaBi speeds, i.e., not fast at all. The cars were going even slower so I decided to try to squeeze around them to the left (because I was going to turn left eventually toward the bike station on the Mall). Half a second before Speed Racer passed me, he called out “on your left.” Then I felt the brush of air as he squeezed in between me and the parked cars. He couldn’t have been more than a couple inches from me. I could have looked to my left, but I thought it was pretty obvious that I was moving to the left. In any case, no excuse for him zipping down the busy road like that.

I didn’t think too much of it at first. I was kind of annoyed, but I figured it wasn’t too big a deal. But then I looked ahead and a pedestrian was just stepping into the crosswalk. Speed Racer kept screaming along at 20 mph or so, and just missed the woman by a couple inches. She had to step back suddenly. I could tell that she was surprised by the near miss. That’s when I knew this guy was a disaster waiting to happen, so I let loose with a loud semi-swear word. Speed Racer was already 50 feet ahead, but he heard me. He finally slowed down and looked back. More stunned than angered, I think. I hope I made him think about what he was doing. You aren’t supposed to be doing speedwork, or whatever he was doing, on a crowded road like that, nearly taking out cyclists and pedestrians, and possibly ramming a car eventually.

He didn’t look like a super-fit racer either. He was riding what appeared to be a decent road bike, though I only saw it briefly from behind. He was kind of flabby in the midsection, which is not what I usually see with many of the guys doing speedwork on crowded trails or packed roads.

Got my bike stolen there last year. He not have been doing speed work perse.

[pfunkallstar]

Yeah – I’ve run into this guy – Navy something or another attire and lots of sweat. Nice guy, but we need to teach him more words.

[jrenaut]

You: a bug
Me: a cyclist

I hope you survived, but for [expletive deleted]’s sake stay out of my mouth.

[jrenaut]

Me: riding down Aspen NW toward 14th St on the Xtracycle with the kids on the back
You: Dude on a motorcycle, slowly coming up behind me then flashing the thumbs up as you pulled up alongside.

Ride on, Motorcycle Dude. Ride on.

[peterw_diy]

@PotomacCyclist 89255 wrote:

I let loose with a loud semi-swear word.

Please do share. I would really like to build an arsenal of phrases for jerks on bikes that’s effective at shaming them and showing pedestrians and motorists that I share their disdain for the behavior without degrading the public space with foul language.

[Terpfan]

The King & Union woes continue. Last night I was walking back to my bike crossing Union. It was extremely crowded given it’s a holiday week with tons of people, a relatively nice evening, and the usual aggressive drivers.

To the fine older gentleman who proceeded to come right at mid-crosswalk and then honk at me for daring to cross in front of you at arguably Old Town’s busiest intersection, you’re damn right I stopped, tossed my arms up and pointed out I was in crosswalk. Now, after that i failed to channel my inner-Dirt as you proceeded to verbally berate me with a few curse words and tell me to stick it where the sun don’t shine. Low and behold, I caught up to you at Duke and I’m sorry if while I cleared my throat from where the sun don’t shine, it happened to land splat on the side of your window. Like I said, my inner-Dirt should have smiled at you at the crosswalk and bid you a fair day.

[Author]

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