The "I bit my tounge" incident thread

[StopMeansStop]

Since I’m trying to be a more polite cyclist, I’m filing these reports here to let off steam instead of screaming or flipping the bird. Feel free to chime in with your reports.

Location: The MUT between Clarendon and Route 50

Me: Properly attired, alertly scanning the trail ahead and notifying users with a bell

Subjects: Two thirty something women blocking the trail and ignoring my requests to make a hole. One of them was “walking” an unleashed dog. I had to stop and unclip and skid stop to avoid hitting dog.

Result: I bit my tongue. Not even a “leash your dog”.

Bile level: 3 out of 10

Topic

[DaveK]

I rode home after the Conte’s ride tonight on my usual route, which involves the Route 110 trail between Iwo Jima and Memorial Drive. Only today I managed to hit it right after the Sunset Parade got out (every Tuesday at Iwo Jima – everyone should go, they’re cool). I got so sick of “Passing on your left! Passing on your left!”. I’ve been riding my commuter so much that I forgot how naked I feel on the MUPs without a bell. That and when I forget to wear bike shorts. Wait, what?

[acc]

No shorts? Really? Please tell me where you ride. And when.
ann

[DaveK]

@acc 7475 wrote:

No shorts? Really? Please tell me where you ride. And when.
ann

Just follow the police scanner.

[Usern Ame]

I find the anti-cyclist attitude on this site baffling…

[StopMeansStop]

@Usern Ame 7558 wrote:

I find the anti-cyclist attitude on this site baffling…

Not anti-cyclist, but anti-safe.

[Jsnyd]

I’ll chime in. Sorry if it’s long, I’m venting. I was riding just the other day around 6pm (I should know better than to be out at that time if I can help it) on a loop from Clarendon and back (From Suitland) via M st, MVT and Custis trails. I got caught behind this young lady, around my age, with no consideration for anyone on the trail. I noticed about 90% of people with the same mind set. I was blown away! Eventually I get the chance to pass, so I take it and leave her and my frustration behind me. Then I am slowed down by a guy in front of me cruising on his MTB/Commuter. That’s cool, no problem. The bridge that shoots across GW parkway was right in front of us anyway so I hit a granny gear and enjoy the incline. Out of nowhere, just before the sharp left 180 turn, here comes said young lady who passes both the commuter and I with no thoughts about who may or may not be coming around the other side. Fine, go for it, I’m hanging with my commuter friend and he just gave you the same head shake I did. There’s still 3 miles of an incline if you plan to follow Custis. No… She doesn’t. She gets to the other side of the bridge, turns right up the next short incline and stops to turn around…. Are you kidding me? I think we should all be more friendly and thoughtful. When I say “we” I mean everyone else other than the ones in here. Just because you’re trying to go fast and are maybe on the MVT all the time, doesn’t mean you’re an expert and are better than others on the trail.

[americancyclo]

I was riding in on the Custis this morning, and had picked up a wheelsucker around Ballston. He was right behind me on the downhill in to Rosslyn until Oak St., where he went out in to traffic on Lee Highway against traffic to pass me and some pedestrians before swooping back in through the Key Bridge Marriott parking lot. Then another cyclist DID THE SAME THING. I was so astonished I wasn’t sure what to think. I waited at the light to cross N. Fort Myer Dr and watched them both go over the Key Bridge on the north side. I made my way across Lynn (without getting hit!!) and through Georgetown only to catch up to these two guys again at Penn and 17th where they blew through a red light towards the White House in front of two bike cops. I followed them until they turned on G St and finished my commute.

I admit I bend the rules here and there, but am I wrong to think that riding against traffic on Lee Highway on wet roads is a little bit crazy?

[rcannon100]

Okay. Okay. I have one. I was biking east on the Custis trail in Rosslyn. There was a police officer on the North West side of Lynn Street standing watching traffic. This should be good, I thought. So I watched. The light was green for traffic going west on Lee Hwy. Then it was yellow… then red. Sure enough, two cars blew thru the red light and turned onto Lynn street right in front of the cops.

Now, guess how many tickets he issued???? NONE. ZERO. ZILCH.

I know, right?!?!?

It’s care free day, dammit. Where is my prize

[baiskeli]

@americancyclo 8402 wrote:

I was riding in on the Custis this morning, and had picked up a wheelsucker around Ballston. He was right behind me on the downhill in to Rosslyn until Oak St., where he went out in to traffic on Lee Highway against traffic to pass me and some pedestrians before swooping back in through the Key Bridge Marriott parking lot. Then another cyclist DID THE SAME THING. I was so astonished I wasn’t sure what to think. I waited at the light to cross N. Fort Myer Dr and watched them both go over the Key Bridge on the north side. I made my way across Lynn (without getting hit!!) and through Georgetown only to catch up to these two guys again at Penn and 17th where they blew through a red light towards the White House in front of two bike cops. I followed them until they turned on G St and finished my commute.

I admit I bend the rules here and there, but am I wrong to think that riding against traffic on Lee Highway on wet roads is a little bit crazy?

Wow. Never seen that, yet.

[americancyclo]

@baiskeli 8413 wrote:

Wow. Never seen that, yet.

Quite fashionable as well with a garbage bag wrapped over their backpack.

[Dirt]

I see the *Wrong way on Lee Hwy* thing almost every week. All the cool kids are doing it.

[americancyclo]

@Dirt 8419 wrote:

All the cool kids are doing it.

I had suspected, but now it’s confirmed. I am totally uncool. Better see if I can get a refund on my buddy holly frames and skinny jeans.

[pfunkallstar]

I admit to doing some light wheelsucking this morning, but it was largely due to the two herniated discs in my back giving me grief. Now my didn’t “quite bite my tongue story.”

W&OD yesterday ladies running side-by-side with those double-wide baby strollers. Pulled up behind them and said in what I thought was a genuinely nice voice “Could I get by on your left.” Lady in red on the left looked genuinely outraged and muttered something under her breath. I passed and glanced back to see that she didn’t even have a kid in her stroller! WTF? I guess she was just trying to commiserate with her fellow mom runner or something? Perhaps the kid abandoned ship back on the Custis? We’ll never know. But GOD SPEED LOST STROLLER CHILD! We’ll never forget you!

[americancyclo]

@pfunkallstar 8421 wrote:

I passed and glanced back to see that she didn’t even have a kid in her stroller! WTF?

As a new dad in a family with one car, I sometimes walk with the stroller on the trail to pick up the little one and bring her back home. Now that doesn’t justify the muttering she did or side by side rolling blockade, but it might explain the absence of kids. Either that or they were invisible.

[americancyclo]

Article on lifehacker about why not saying anything might encourage bad behavior. Applicable to cyclist/motorist interaction?
http://lifehacker.com/5842923/being-the-better-person-will-teach-people-to-treat-you-like-crap

[Author]

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