Missed connection

[rpiretti]

@PeteD 55735 wrote:

…I called my pass, and in a British accent, I got a “Cheers Mate” in response. Thanks for making calling passes more worthwhile than normal.

So, growing up in the deep south, when I heard “cheers” for the first time a few years ago after moving away, I thought, “wtf does that mean?” Now I know that even though no alcoholic beverage is around, it’s still OK to say.

..The More You Know..

[Drewdane]

Dear jogger with headphones running smack dab on the MCT’s lane line the other day: I’m sorry I startled you – I did call out my pass. Several times. With increasing volume as I got closer.

[MV Clyde]

To the wounded warrior wearing a West Point t-shirt walking on the south end of the MVT today, thank you for your service and sacrifice. I wanted to stop and thank you in person, but looked like you were having a nice time with your family and I didn’t want to intrude.

[KLizotte]

To the Walter Reed Wounded Vets Cycling Team passing through Hancock, MD on Sunday during the Ride Across America (RAAM) race:

You rock! Whoohoooo.

I saw a handcyclist with bigger arms than my legs. Can’t even imagine what that must be like biking across the country. Thanks to all their support staff too.

[KLizotte]

Unfortunately this was not a *missed* connection. Last week, I think it was Friday, I was commuting home on the MVT heading south. Ahead of me was a female roadie doing about 9 mph through Gravelly Pt when a small kid on a razor scooter heading north in the other lane suddenly, and without warning, veered into her lane right in front of her. She hit him and went down, fortunately into the grassy area. The kid went down too but immediately got up and scooted off. There is no way she could have avoided the collision or seen it coming.

Fortunately she was not hurt and neither was the kid given how quickly he got up and fled.

Unfortunately, the father who went after the kid walked right by us and didn’t offer an apology or even ask if the cyclist was ok. How rude.

Beware of little kids on scooters; they are completely unpredicatable.

[NicDiesel]

@KLizotte 56133 wrote:

Unfortunately, the father who went after the kid walked right by us and didn’t offer an apology or even ask if the cyclist was ok. How rude.

I was out riding yesterday and had not one, not two, but THREE people walk directly into me when I was slowly crawling through the “scenic” curve near Gravelly Point. No amount of bell ringing or “hey dude, look out” got their attention – these bozos were in their own worlds and were paying NO attention to anyone. I looked back and two of these maroons were STILL walking into people just completely clueless and walking three wide on the path.

I will gladly pay anyone $100 in small bills if they can explain what’s so damn enthralling about watching the planes take off and land. I mean, some of these people are picnic literally next to the chemical toilets and are in their own worlds, oblivious to anyone and anything around them.

There’s a lot I’ll miss about riding in the DC area (mostly winters not being subzero) when I escape to the Twin Cities, but I sure as hell will NOT miss the MVT and the clueless space cadets that take it over every April to October.

[AMRunBike]

At the risk of sounding really grumpy and anti-family fun, I freaking HATE Gravelly Point on the weekends.

I get that it’s a place where families come to enjoy the weather, the outdoors, etc., but please enjoy it on the ACRES AND ACRES of grass (with picnic tables!) and not on the trail where people are training, commuting, and exercising. And Jesus H, if you’re going to let your kid ride their bike/scooter/skateboard/whatever on the trail, WATCH THEM. The young ones don’t understand the danger like adults do (or SHOULD). When I have a close encounter or almost-close encounter with a kid who’s “playing” on the trail, I always comment out loud to no one in particular, hoping the parent will at least be in earshot, that they should be very careful with their kids near the trail. It’s like a road, after all, people are using it to get from Point A to Point B, and some of those people are traveling at decent speeds on vehicles with wheels. I just don’t get why people don’t get this.

And sadly it’s not just kids who are a danger! Full-grown adults will wander into the middle of the trail without looking right/left and STOP and STAND there. Since they apparently aren’t aware of where they are, they don’t hear me when I ring my bell non-stop and say things like “excuse me” as I’m coming up to them. It’s actually unreal. I have no idea what these people are thinking. If you are at Gravelly Point for longer than 100 seconds (on any day of the week), you will realize that a trail goes through there, where people run and bike. You should then realize that you should be conscious of that trail and its users as you’re wandering around the park. But people don’t. And it astounds me every weekend.

I would love it if they put up a little fence or something along both sides of the trail just on those 30-40 yards of it that go perpendicular to the river, in front of the port-a-potties. NO CROSSING the trail there. You can only cross at the street/parking lot, where the cars are also crossing, or on the far end, closer to the river. Put a little crosswalk there for all I care. I think people would be less likely to walk into the trail and STOP if there was a crosswalk. They’d cross and get on with it. It’s not as natural to stop in a crosswalk.

Rant over. (Sorry!!)

[ShawnoftheDread]

@AMRunBike 56156 wrote:

I think people would be less likely to walk into the trail and STOP if there was a crosswalk. They’d cross and get on with it. It’s not as natural to stop in a crosswalk.

My daily experiences downtown suggest otherwise.

[krazygl00]

@AMRunBike 56156 wrote:

At the risk of sounding really grumpy and anti-family fun, I freaking HATE Gravelly Point on the weekends.

I get that it’s a place where families come to enjoy the weather, the outdoors, etc., but please enjoy it on the ACRES AND ACRES of grass (with picnic tables!) and not on the trail where people are training, commuting, and exercising. And Jesus H, if you’re going to let your kid ride their bike/scooter/skateboard/whatever on the trail, WATCH THEM.

Gravelly Point is a frequent topic of discussion here, and I can’t say I disagree completely with anything you posted. I’ve had my share of frustrations there with exactly the same kind of behavior you’re describing. Usually it is kids, but occasionally adults view the path as their own personal “gawkway”. On holidays like July 4th it can be even worse, when the entire DC area fills up with people who tend to be completely unfamiliar with the rules of a MUP. I once encountered two guys each holding one end of a HUGE cooler…walking abreast directly down the middle of the path. When I slowed down and gave them the look (you know, the look that is supposed to tell people they are in the wrong) they returned blank stares. I just shook my head and went around them off the trail. And what is worse is that as I went around them they seemed unfazed and unashamed, like this was the expected behavior.

In any case, for all the cases of pedestrian misbehavior (and really, pedestrians are the worse offenders; I won’t attempt any kind of equivocation here), I have seen some cyclists doing stupid stuff too. Mostly it has been riders thinking they have the right to not slow down when other slower traffic is on the trail. Many times I’ve seen stupid passes (by ELITE riders) that put several people in danger. GP is analogous to any other area with heavy cross-traffic. You should not expect to ride at-speed through GP any more than you should expect to drive at interstate speeds through downtown Vienna. It is just that GP has no formalized crossings, and relies on individual etiquette rather than signals to regulate traffic flow.

And a special note with regard to kids…before I had my own I would have agreed with you more on parents keeping better control of them. But now that I do I’ve realized they are not remote-controlled robots; they are little people with wills of their own, and no matter how well-behaved they are, and no matter how attentive the parents are, they will make mistakes and wander into areas of the trail that they should not. The only time I do get annoyed is when the parent is either completely negligent or blissfully unaware that the path is not his kid’s own personal hopscotch court.

It’s frustrating, but GP is just one of those areas in which one just has to cool it, take it down a notch and just accept the fact that you’re going to have to ride through there slowly. I always remind myself that if I hit a kid, even if I’m completely in the right, it’s not going to make it any better.

[bobco85]

I’m posting this video because I have already posted about this type of incident on this very thread and it happened again today at the same location (Carlin Springs Rd/Thomas St in Ballston). That said, I’ve experienced this at other locations, too.

[video=youtube_share;W995bG6elqI]http://youtu.be/W995bG6elqI[/video]

Dear guy in the wrong lane about to try to pass me when I’ve already moved to the left and signaled my turn (arm-signal): Um, what are you doing?

If he had just stayed in the travel lane, he could’ve easily gone to the right around me and not risked a collision. Patience is a virtue.

[NicDiesel]

@bobco85 56171 wrote:

If he had just stayed in the travel lane, he could’ve easily gone to the right around me and not risked a collision. Patience is a virtue.

I’ve had this happen quite a bit lately and I’ve gotten to the point where I just yell at them as loud as possibly. Most of them sheepishly give a “my bad” wave, but a few just look confused and clueless. Last week I actually caught up with one at a red light (i made a wrong turn and doubled back) and had the dude tell me “you ride on sidewalk, no ride on road.” I won’t repeat what I told him but he’ll pay better attention from now on. Just way too many needledicks in a hurry to get nowhere but another red light.

[krazygl00]

@4st7lbs 56173 wrote:

I’ve had this happen quite a bit lately and I’ve gotten to the point where I just yell at them as loud as possibly. Most of them sheepishly give a “my bad” wave, but a few just look confused and clueless. Last week I actually caught up with one at a red light (i made a wrong turn and doubled back) and had the dude tell me “you ride on sidewalk, no ride on road.” I won’t repeat what I told him but he’ll pay better attention from now on. Just way too many needledicks in a hurry to get nowhere but another red light.

You gave him a stern lecture about his grammar?

[mello yello]

Maybe he thought you were pointing for him to go around you in the other lane?

Some drivers are just clueless, and dangerous.

[NicDiesel]

@krazygl00 56217 wrote:

You gave him a stern lecture about his grammar?

Only if Lenny Bruce was my teacher.

Some drivers are just clueless, and dangerous.

Replace “drivers” with “people” and you’re dead on.

[mikoglaces]

@bobco85 56171 wrote:

I’m posting this video because I have already posted about this type of incident on this very thread and it happened again today at the same location (Carlin Springs Rd/Thomas St in Ballston). That said, I’ve experienced this at other locations, too.

[video omitted]

Dear guy in the wrong lane about to try to pass me when I’ve already moved to the left and signaled my turn (arm-signal): Um, what are you doing?

If he had just stayed in the travel lane, he could’ve easily gone to the right around me and not risked a collision. Patience is a virtue.

Yeah, that’s happened to me too. It’s like the driver thinks, hey, I am driving a car, I have to pass that guy on a bike. It’s just the natural order of things. I can’t let him beat me to an intersection. Or something like that.

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