October 2018 – Road & Trail Conditions

[huskerdont]

Yesterday on the way to the DCU game I saw a woman fall trying to use the runnels. Very glad I can just shoulder my bike.

BTW, there was glass all over Key Bridge downstream side this morning. Three Heine bottles strategically broken at intervals best suited to catching you once you relaxed and let your guard down. Kicked some out of the way.

[dbb]

Some photos from this morning

Looking up the stairs
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A rider using the runnels
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Notice how the runnels are discontinuous on the flat. That forces cyclists to have to aim their wheels at each runnel.
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[Judd]

@bentbike33 182071 wrote:

I used the concrete stringer next to the incomplete runnel to roll down because some Lumberjack or other had moved the cones out of the way over the weekend.

Some other Lumberjack beat me to it. I gave the runnels a test run yesterday though. It was okay with my carbon bike which I could have also easily just shouldered. If I had my commuter bike with a pannier it would have been challenging, particularly going down.

I know of one person that has managed to use the detour with his cargo bike and three very young children. I don’t know how the heck he managed to do it.

[KWL]

@Emm 182067 wrote:

I actually found balancing my bike with panniers on the non continuous runnels to be more difficult than just carrying my bike. The runnels are narrow, and my bike was heavy and a little tough to control with the constant moving on and off the thin runnels. We’ll see what going up is like this PM.

I carried my bike with 3 U-locks in the panniers down the steps this morning rather than use the runnels. I’d prefer a hand rail to keep from falling down the stairs to the runnels.

[Emm]

I think the Park Service realized they weren’t doing a shitty enough job with the 14th bridge detour so they went ahead and upped their game today.

Now the runnels are being blocked by cones and pipes on both sides, which they’ve placed into the runnels to make them completely unusable. The cones narrow the staircase so much (especially at the top) that only one person can fit going up or down at a time.

I didn’t think they could make it much worse than it was… but boy was I wrong.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[sjclaeys]

OK, can we now drop the pretense that NPS would be better if only it weren’t for Congress and if they had more money. They are a poorly run organization that doesn’t give a flip about cyclists.

[dbb]

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It seems that yesterday’s accomplishment was installing these little turn-downs that connect the runnel to the landings. While the quality of the work seems good, it appears to be a good execution of a clueless design. Not sure why the runnel just didn’t follow the concrete stringer on the side of the stairs continuously on the slope and landing.

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A shot from yesterday morning. Note the editorial amendments to the sign.

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Apparently the NPS took offense, as shown in this shot from yesterday afternoon.

[mstone]

@Emm 182110 wrote:

I think the Park Service realized they weren’t doing a shitty enough job with the 14th bridge detour so they went ahead and upped their game today.

Now the runnels are being blocked by cones and pipes on both sides, which they’ve placed into the runnels to make them completely unusable. The cones narrow the staircase so much (especially at the top) that only one person can fit going up or down at a time.

[dbb]

Perhaps we should include in the Forum Glossary the term “Lumberjack”, meaning to remove trail obstructions as they are encountered. One might say, “John went full lumberjack on all those traffic cones.”

[bentbike33]

@dbb 182119 wrote:

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A shot from yesterday morning. Note the editorial amendments to the sign.

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Apparently the NPS took offense, as shown in this shot from yesterday afternoon.

At least they left the double black diamonds.

[huskerdont]

Someone has gone full Lumberjack on the stupid “Stay in Lane” sign that takes up a quarter of the walkway on the Roosevelt Island Bridge. They had done it before and put in flat on the road, but eventually it was rehung. Now it’s in the road again and getting banged up by car tires rather than cyclists’ helmets.

[Judd]

@dbb 182125 wrote:

Perhaps we should include in the Forum Glossary the term “Lumberjack”, meaning to remove trail obstructions as they are encountered. One might say, “John went full lumberjack on all those traffic cones.”

I fully endorse Lumberjack being a term. I have caused the employment of 1 FTE from Washington Gas as we battle on whether or not a road sign should block off the bridge over Four Mile Run on Columbia Pike or be placed in front of a crosswalk.

[Mariner]

@huskerdont 181739 wrote:

…and Chain Bridge, for those of a N. Arlington inclination.

.. with strong emphasis on “inclination.”

[lordofthemark]

@bentbike33 182128 wrote:

At least they left the double black diamonds.

We wouldn’t want one of the newbie downhillers to head down that. As happened to me once at Seven Springs, when QOTM was rather more evil than she is now “Just follow me” “OMG! How do I get down this thing?”

[Author]

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