My Evening Commute

[huskerdont]

Went by 9:30 to pick up some tickets and loped over and through Georgetown for something different. Avoided M Street b/c death. 34th Street has a strange, incredibly narrow bike lane that is completely in the door zone, and cars were backed up to get across Key Bridge and were often taking up much of what bike lane there was. Went v. slowly and still made it through much faster than the cars. Yay bikes.

[Terpfan]

The warm weather brings the idiots back to the trails. I forgot my camera at home today, but I will try to post some fun videos of insane passes I watched a few racers pull. I say racers because I’m stereotyping these riders that are full kit with no bags, going as fast as possible, and who make insane passes. Argh.

It was like their driving peers were out in full force and I had a few people pass me on Columbus St with oncoming traffic only to race to a stop sign. One woman had her windows down and I couldn’t help but say, “gosh, you made it there 3 seconds faster and only endangered one driver and cyclist to do so, congratulations.” I saw her point to the traffic and throw up her hands. Then I just started laughing saying, “yes, the traffic sucks, but let’s all make it home in one piece.”

I swear, what is it with warm weather than brings the idiots back out to roost?

[Steve O]

Lots of fair weather people on bikes failed to judge dusk last evening. I’m sure they left in the bright morning daylight without a thought about sunset.
I stopped counting after about 6-7 on the Custis with no lights between 6:15 – 6:45 pm. That was essentially the dusk going to twilight period.
Ah, well. All solved this coming Sunday at 2am.

[americancyclo]

Saw a pathlete going full bore heading east yesterday on my way home. He was about to encounter a woman with a wide stroller on a curve on the Custis. Hope it ended without incident.

[vern]

@Terpfan 136422 wrote:

The warm weather brings the idiots back to the trails. I forgot my camera at home today, but I will try to post some fun videos of insane passes I watched a few racers pull. I say racers because I’m stereotyping these riders that are full kit with no bags, going as fast as possible, and who make insane passes. Argh.

It was like their driving peers were out in full force and I had a few people pass me on Columbus St with oncoming traffic only to race to a stop sign. One woman had her windows down and I couldn’t help but say, “gosh, you made it there 3 seconds faster and only endangered one driver and cyclist to do so, congratulations.” I saw her point to the traffic and throw up her hands. Then I just started laughing saying, “yes, the traffic sucks, but let’s all make it home in one piece.”

I swear, what is it with warm weather than brings the idiots back out to roost?

4 or 5 times last night I called out to other cyclists who I saw making bad passes, “That’s a Bad Pass”, not yelling or scolding, but in an even tone, trying to inform.

[MFC]

@Steve O 136428 wrote:

Lots of fair weather people on bikes failed to judge dusk last evening. I’m sure they left in the bright morning daylight without a thought about sunset.
I stopped counting after about 6-7 on the Custis with no lights between 6:15 – 6:45 pm. That was essentially the dusk going to twilight period.
Ah, well. All solved this coming Sunday at 2am.

Agreed. I don’t know if the nice weather brought out the casual bikers and runners, but I saw a lot of ninjas (runners and bikers without lights or reflective gear) on the MVT last night.

[Boo Boo]

@MFC 136448 wrote:

Agreed. I don’t know if the nice weather brought out the casual bikers and runners, but I saw a lot of ninjas (runners and bikers without lights or reflective gear) on the MVT last night.

Ditto on the W&OD. It was brutal.

[huskerdont]

Custis last night on the first hill WB past the S turn there was a kid on a scooter and accompanied (I assume) by his mother. The kid was out of control down the hill, all over the trail, and wiped out a little up from me since I had slowed. Mother didn’t seem that concerned, either that he had wiped out or that there was a yard sale in the middle of the trail. I’d say extra caution is advised for a few days. They’ve got the fever, and there’s only one solution.

[americancyclo]

also, on that nice day last week, on the W&OD at Little Falls, a girl on rollerblades collapsed sprawled out across the entire trail (in exhaustion?). I advised her that was not the best place to lay down.

[komorebi]

I normally love my commute, but tonight’s was one of the most aggravating commutes I’ve had in a long time. It felt like users of the various transportation modes were competing to see who could break the most laws and use the least amount of common sense.

I encountered:
— a car going the wrong way on a one-way street.
— a driver who decided that the start of the leading pedestrian interval entitled him to go too, and who proceeded straight across the intersection even though he was in a right-turn-only lane.
— two runners who ran across intersections against the light, without even (so far as I could tell) checking for cross traffic — causing at least two cars to slam on their brakes.
— two kitted-out cyclists who stopped to chat on the sidepath around the Tidal Basin, simultaneously blocking half of the sidepath and one of the curbcuts used frequently by westbound cyclists.
— a large family that was blocking both sides of the MVT by Gravelly Point, and who were visible in the dark only because of the camera flashes as they took photos.
— a driver who buzzed me as he was passing, even though there was a completely empty lane to the left.

I won’t even mention the innumerable ninja runners and cyclists, except to say that I took more pleasure than I should have in dropping a ninja wheelsucker who was trying way too hard to keep up.

All of this put me in a bad mood, until I got to the MVT north of Old Town. Whoever was riding behind me was exceedingly courteous — didn’t try to ride too close, politely greeted the pedestrians that we passed, and called out friendly acknowledgments for my hand signals. Thank you, Mr. Mystery Cyclist, for reminding me that there are nice people on the trails and for singlehandledly turning an aggravating ride into a good one.

[consularrider]

@komorebi 136474 wrote:

… I won’t even mention the innumerable ninja runners and cyclists, except to say that I took more pleasure than I should have in dropping a ninja wheelsucker who was trying way too hard to keep up …

Just curious, what would your reaction have been if this unfortunate individual had apologized profusely and asked to ride with you because s/he hadn’t expected to be out so long? Does BikeArlington still have a small supply of their lights from the fall distribution that forum members can pass out in this type of situation?

[ginacico]

@komorebi 136474 wrote:

I normally love my commute, but tonight’s was one of the most aggravating commutes I’ve had in a long time.

It was that kind of evening.

Thought I was going to be the filling in a bus sandwich several times next to Farragut Square.

Rode through the new bike chute on Madison Place, only to get turned around by guards at Penn Ave. They’re so efficient at blocking cyclists at Lafayette Square, why can’t they do it earlier before we get to the bottom of a dead end? I’m baffled by the vagaries of White House security.

More madness getting down 15th to the top of the cycle track, swarms of vehicles and pedestrians at the security perimeter required me to Flintstone through a lot of it.

Took a relaxed lap around Haines Point just to shed the stress, after a full foot-down stop at Buckeye and Ohio (Bikes Must Stop signs) to let the cop car go first. Sure, I got dusted by several fast bike teams, but they were exceedingly polite about it.

More crazy Ivan passes on the MVT than I’ve ever experienced. WTF with the risk takers?

Encountered a cluster of older kids on bmx bikes appraoaching the MVT-4MRT transition. Weaving around and doing wheelies on a crowded trail, there was no way to safely pass them and several cyclists got stuck amidst their shenanigans. I finally got ahead, then had to stop at dusk and swap my sunglasses for clear lenses, so I had to get around them again later.

The rest of my cruise home was tame, just lots and lots of ninjas to avoid.

I can’t wait for cherry blossom season. Really.

[lordofthemark]

@ginacico 136481 wrote:

Encountered a cluster of older kids on bmx bikes appraoaching the MVT-4MRT transition. Weaving around and doing wheelies on a crowded trail, there was no way to safely pass them and several cyclists got stuck amidst their shenanigans.

They were not calling their passes either, at least not on 4MRT where I caught up to them.

[DismalScientist]

One of them tried to race me up the WOD. He lost badly.

[ginacico]

@lordofthemark 136489 wrote:

They were not calling their passes either, at least not on 4MRT where I caught up to them.

Trail etiquette wasn’t in their vocabulary.

According to our Strava tracks, I should’ve let you catch up and had good company up the 4MRT. Go team!

@DismalScientist 136490 wrote:

One of them tried to race me up the WOD. He lost badly.

Because I stopped to swap lenses, I had the glee of stomping them twice. The second time, they got the glare of disdain.

[Author]

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