Missed connection

[CaseyKane50]

@ursus 149117 wrote:

I never was a good writer.

That must be me who appears on the far sidewalk after the car stopped.

Edit: I wonder what the driver was thinking since as the Street View picture shows, besides for the signage, he had to make a very sharp turn.

Minor correction – the driver was a woman.

[scoot]

@bobco85 149113 wrote:

Clearly they need better signage so this doesn’t happen again. :rolleyes:

I do think it would help to paint something on the pavement at the entrances and exits to this intersection. Directional arrows?

[Vicegrip]

@bobco85 149113 wrote:

To piggyback off Casey’s post, it’s important to consider that the signage could have been confusing to the driver.

I mean, this is what the driver was looking at just before they made their right turn:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12808[/ATTACH]

Clearly they need better signage so this doesn’t happen again. :rolleyes:

We need to have street signs pop up on phone screens too. That is where a lot of folks are looking anyway.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Vicegrip 149137 wrote:

We need to have street signs pop up on phone screens too. That is where a lot of folks are looking anyway.

Oh man…I always get nervous when I see a driver with a dash phone mount. Seems like the overwhelming majority of people with these are Uber drivers from VA or MD who are simultaneously looking for passengers and trying to figure out where they’re going. Uber is the worst.

[DrP]

Conditions: kind of cold and very windy.

You: All the cyclists who had been out on the trails all summer and until Saturday.

Me: Where did you all go? I’ve been checking the piles of leaves blown into fences and shrubs, but you aren’t stuck in them. It was nice having the trail mostly to myself these past few days, but kind of bizarre too. Even the number of commuters is down. It really isn’t that bad out there and which the cold and wind, hot chocolate tastes wonderful after a ride.

[Crickey7]

Yeah, it’s a function of appropriate gear. When I look at the gear I put on as the temps drop into the 20’s, it’s hundreds of dollars of temperature-specific gear accumulated over time (even with being cheap). Casual and newer riders don’t have that.

[huskerdont]

Considering the leaf piles and branches down along the Custis, I’ve been quite glad there have been fewer cyclists while I zig-zag around.

Rosslyn counter was 22 this morning when I went by, compared to mid-50s in summer and mid-30s for recent, warmer fall weather.

[notinthe18]

@DrP 149270 wrote:

Conditions: kind of cold and very windy.

You: All the cyclists who had been out on the trails all summer and until Saturday.

Me: Where did you all go? I’ve been checking the piles of leaves blown into fences and shrubs, but you aren’t stuck in them. It was nice having the trail mostly to myself these past few days, but kind of bizarre too. Even the number of commuters is down. It really isn’t that bad out there and which the cold and wind, hot chocolate tastes wonderful after a ride.

It’s true, though even I yesterday was doubting my resolve and down about the long winter ahead until I got to work and actually saw how low the wind chill was. Today was much more pleasant!

[MFC]

@DrP 149270 wrote:

Conditions: kind of cold and very windy.

You: All the cyclists who had been out on the trails all summer and until Saturday.

Me: Where did you all go? I’ve been checking the piles of leaves blown into fences and shrubs, but you aren’t stuck in them. It was nice having the trail mostly to myself these past few days, but kind of bizarre too. Even the number of commuters is down. It really isn’t that bad out there and which the cold and wind, hot chocolate tastes wonderful after a ride.

Unfortunately, there are still a number of ninjas out there at night. I saw two cyclists heading towards me with absolutely no lights or front reflectors, and passed one that had only a rear reflector.

[dkel]

@Crickey7 149272 wrote:

Yeah, it’s a function of appropriate gear. When I look at the gear I put on as the temps drop into the 20’s, it’s hundreds of dollars of temperature-specific gear accumulated over time (even with being cheap). Casual and newer riders don’t have that.

I have also noticed that as the weather gets cooler, I see most riders bundle up with a disproportionate amount of gear for the temperature. I will be out in shorts and a jersey in 50-degree weather, and see tights and fleecy tops all around me. My theory is that all those people are afraid of getting too cold, and they all give up early. It’s fine with me: more trail for the rest of us!

[OneEighth]

@dkel 149280 wrote:

It’s fine with me: more trail for the rest of us!

Not a minute too soon.

[Steve O]

@Crickey7 149272 wrote:

Yeah, it’s a function of appropriate gear. When I look at the gear I put on as the temps drop into the 20’s, it’s hundreds of dollars of temperature-specific gear accumulated over time (even with being cheap). Casual and newer riders don’t have that.

But they have winter clothes I presume. It is not necessary to buy special clothes to ride a bike. This is one of those myths that stops people from riding. It is, in fact, 😮 possible to ride a bike in regular old clothes: shorts, t-shirt and sandals in the summer; parka, gloves and boots in the winter. Khakis year round if you are a despondent economist.

When it gets really cold, I just dress like I’m going skiing. One pair of my biking gloves, in fact, are snowboarding gloves.

[Steve O]

@dkel 149280 wrote:

It’s fine with me: more trail for the rest of us!

I only partially agree with this sentiment. The more people riding bikes and being counted by the counters, the easier it is for us advocates to make the case for investments in improved facilities. If it’s just a hard-core few it’s easy for the powers-that-be to blow us off. On the other hand, if all sorts of people are riding bikes all year round, it’s harder to ignore.

[Vicegrip]

@TwoWheelsDC 149140 wrote:

Oh man…I always get nervous when I see a driver with a dash phone mount. Seems like the overwhelming majority of people with these are Uber drivers from VA or MD who are simultaneously looking for passengers and trying to figure out where they’re going. Uber is the worst.

Last year I had an uber driver shave the side of his car with my snow plow. I watched as he went by smacking his drivers mirror and knocking off a plastic body panel. One hand was on the wheel and one pecking away on the phone right up until he reacted to the sound of his car hitting a big steel plow blade. I was stopped in a left turn lane and he pulled in front of me and started to get all pissed at me until I pointed out that my truck and the end of the plow was fully in my lane and stopped at a light.

When I am in one of the work trucks I can see down at an angle into cars and SUVs and I see people messing with phones All The Time. It is nuts.

[cvcalhoun]

@Crickey7 149272 wrote:

Yeah, it’s a function of appropriate gear. When I look at the gear I put on as the temps drop into the 20’s, it’s hundreds of dollars of temperature-specific gear accumulated over time (even with being cheap). Casual and newer riders don’t have that.

Hmm, when I look at the gear I put on as the temps drop into the 20s, it is most definitely not hundreds of dollars. Much of it was accumulated at thrift stores. Tights from Forever 21, about five bucks each. And the vast majority of it is not bike-specific (e.g., the LLBean down jacket), and I’d need it to walk from Metro, say, even if I never biked.

Yeah, if you want the most aerodynamic gear, it’s pricey. But it’s quite possible to bike in clothes you already own, or would need for other purposes.

[Author]

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