The Shoal Report

[thucydides]

Good, it’s not my imagination then. I had an extraordinary one the other day. He shoaled about 5 of us at Lynn St and then proceeded to have serious problems getting started as he was in the wrong gear (but was using regular pedals). So we all get bunched up behind him as he makes an incredibly dangerous pass between traffic. We get to GW Parkway bridge and — I kid you not — in order to make the left turn onto the bridge he has to stick his left leg way out. Past the bridge I pass him which apparently causes him some sort of Cat 6 meltdown and he jumps the curb and sprints to get past me again. At the end of the TR parking lot he sticks out his right leg to make the right turn and then his left to make the left. He’s poking along but by now I decided to not pass him again because I’m just laughing too hard to do it. He comes up on the MVT/TR ramp fork he and does the left leg thing again. Thankfully I was heading to the bridge.

It gives me pause to say he was not the most incompetent cyclist I’ve seen this month. That would be the guy on the Custis who turns like he’s on training wheels (as in turns the handlebars rather than lean the bike). To do this he arcs the bike way over into oncoming traffic, even on blind turns like the one under 66 near the Custis-WOD merge. Crazy cakes.

[grandallj]

@thucydides 60469 wrote:

We get to GW Parkway bridge and — I kid you not — in order to make the left turn onto the bridge he has to stick his left leg way out. Past the bridge I pass him which apparently causes him some sort of Cat 6 meltdown and he jumps the curb and sprints to get past me again. At the end of the TR parking lot he sticks out his right leg to make the right turn and then his left to make the left. He’s poking along but by now I decided to not pass him again because I’m just laughing too hard to do it. He comes up on the MVT/TR ramp fork he and does the left leg thing again.

Was he using his legs to signal his turns? Or am I trying to give the benefit of the doubt to an apparent lunatic?

[OneEighth]

@birddog 60441 wrote:

What will make these shoalers stop?

You could try pointing and laughing while commenting on the irony of shoaling as a coping-technique for feelings of inadequacy.

[thucydides]

@grandallj 60477 wrote:

Was he using his legs to signal his turns? Or am I trying to give the benefit of the doubt to an apparent lunatic?

Nope, he was using them as an outrigger or some such to help him turn. Maybe he’s watched too much motocross.

[birddog]

Custis trail at the Oak st crossing: https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N+Oak+St+and+highway+29+arlington+va&aq=t&sll=38.898644,-77.076275&sspn=0.003941,0.006518&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=N+Oak+St+%26+U.S.+29,+Arlington,+Virginia+22209&ll=38.899107,-77.075411&spn=0.007882,0.013036&z=17

After passing a bunch of folks on the rolling hills of the custis trail, I stopped at the bike stoplight here and leaned against the wall before the intersection because I saw cars stacked up there. Then I got passed by at least 8 people who proceeded through the light.

SHOAL ALERT – stop at those lights. OR at least look before crossing AFTER shoaling me. OR you could do the right thing and wait behind the person in front of you for 15 seconds. The person in front of you might know something about what’s ahead – crossing traffic. The next bicyclist death will occur on this trail either at one of these intersections or the lynn st death crossing.

[mikoglaces]

@birddog 60804 wrote:

Custis trail at the Oak st crossing: https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N+Oak+St+and+highway+29+arlington+va&aq=t&sll=38.898644,-77.076275&sspn=0.003941,0.006518&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=N+Oak+St+%26+U.S.+29,+Arlington,+Virginia+22209&ll=38.899107,-77.075411&spn=0.007882,0.013036&z=17

After passing a bunch of folks on the rolling hills of the custis trail, I stopped at the bike stoplight here and leaned against the wall before the intersection because I saw cars stacked up there. Then I got passed by at least 8 people who proceeded through the light.

SHOAL ALERT – stop at those lights. OR at least look before crossing AFTER shoaling me. OR you could do the right thing and wait behind the person in front of you for 15 seconds. The person in front of you might know something about what’s ahead – crossing traffic. The next bicyclist death will occur on this trail either at one of these intersections or the lynn st death crossing.

I have been hit at that spot. I was going toward DC. I had a Walk light (this was before they installed the bike light). I slowed anyway because cars don’t always stop. A car stopped, so I released my brakes. The car sped up and started to turn right. I ended up on his hood. Maybe a year later i am having breakfast with a local cyclist and cyclists from out of town and the subject of accidents comes up. The other cyclist says he’d been hit once by a car, and it turns out it was at this same spot. Moral: Be very careful there.

[creadinger]

@Terpfan 57451 wrote:

Not much shoaling on the way in this moring save the usual 15th St folks on the wrong side and refusing to move back over as if suddenly it was a one-way cycletrack, but going home yesterday some idiot shoaled me on the cycletrack heading south. No surprise I leapfrogged him. He shoaled again. And then we get to the fun rising barracade things at the White House where he goes through so slowly I thought he was going to fall over. That was the last point he shoaled me too as it’s mostly straight away from there. Still funny to watch people shoal who are slower, then find out their slower, and then do it again–such a selfish attitude.

Is it out of the question to speak up and say something to them? Or do passive aggressive things to them? In this case maybe you could have made a joke about how slow they are, and if they don’t like being made fun of, maybe they won’t constantly pass people who are obviously faster, or ride faster themselves.

Could you try to take up more of a blocking position at stoplights by taking up more room? Maybe pull up at an angle so your bike is harder to pass by shoalers?

I don’t ride downtown where shoaling is a problem, but it sounds like a infuriatingly hilarious problem to have on a daily basis. What do people do in practice to help ward off notoriously slow shoalers who insist on passing at intersections?

[bobco85]

@creadinger 61031 wrote:

Is it out of the question to speak up and say something to them? Or do passive aggressive things to them? In this case maybe you could have made a joke about how slow they are, and if they don’t like being made fun of, maybe they won’t constantly pass people who are obviously faster, or ride faster themselves.

Could you try to take up more of a blocking position at stoplights by taking up more room? Maybe pull up at an angle so your bike is harder to pass by shoalers?

I don’t ride downtown where shoaling is a problem, but it sounds like a infuriatingly hilarious problem to have on a daily basis. What do people do in practice to help ward off notoriously slow shoalers who insist on passing at intersections?

Now, this is completely anecdotal, but in the few instances where I’ve stood with one foot on a pedal, leg muscles flexed, and looking like I’m about to rocket forward at 1000 mph once the light hits green, I think I’ve had fewer people shoal me. I think everyone understands the physics behind a determined-looking 6 foot 220+ lb man on a bike about to accelerate forward

Couldn’t hurt to try, though.

[birddog]

I ELITE myself and yell at them more often than I should.

I did it by accident this morning in the NoMA (confused driver at a 4-way stop), but apologized and slowed before passing again.

People who shoal will only stop shoaling if you make them remember that time that they shoaled that guy and were embarrassed enough to pedal sadly, but pedaled on – to NOT shoal another day.

With cars, I just hit their hood or side view mirror or whatever I can reach out and flick without falling over haha.

[Tim Kelley]

@bobco85 61035 wrote:

Now, this is completely anecdotal, but in the few instances where I’ve stood with one foot on a pedal, leg muscles flexed, and looking like I’m about to rocket forward at 1000 mph once the light hits green, I think I’ve had fewer people shoal me. .

What do you do with the other foot?

[83b]

@creadinger 61031 wrote:

Or do passive aggressive things to them?

I’ve taken to just executing an aggressive aggressive pass. That usually inspires better behavior at the next light.

One day soon I may break out my (very old) full face helmet and downhill pads and just ride up and down East Capitol and Penn like it’s my own personal BMX/dual slalom course. I may also replace my front rack and crate with a menacing cow catcher.

[bobco85]

@Tim Kelley 61058 wrote:

What do you do with the other foot?

I didn’t want to answer because I know it automatically un-ELITEs what I do, but I cannot track stand and must balance with my other foot on the ground

[Terpfan]

@creadinger 61031 wrote:

Is it out of the question to speak up and say something to them? Or do passive aggressive things to them? In this case maybe you could have made a joke about how slow they are, and if they don’t like being made fun of, maybe they won’t constantly pass people who are obviously faster, or ride faster themselves.

Could you try to take up more of a blocking position at stoplights by taking up more room? Maybe pull up at an angle so your bike is harder to pass by shoalers?

I don’t ride downtown where shoaling is a problem, but it sounds like a infuriatingly hilarious problem to have on a daily basis. What do people do in practice to help ward off notoriously slow shoalers who insist on passing at intersections?

It’s definitely a comedy of errors. I think I would care less if their shoaling didn’t make it harder for me to catch lights. For instance, at L & 15th you have really got to high tail it southbound to make the light at K and if you have to pause to pass then there is no sense passing since you will miss the light.

I’ll try the blocking position a little more and maybe say something about how perhaps their turtle approach to passing will miracously beat me over the long-run 15 miles, but in the short run the hare approach seems easiest.

[consularrider]

@83(b) 61075 wrote:

I’ve taken to just executing an aggressive aggressive pass. That usually inspires better behavior at the next light.

One day soon I may break out my (very old) full face helmet and downhill pads and just ride up and down East Capitol and Penn like it’s my own personal BMX/dual slalom course. I may also replace my front rack and crate with a menacing cow catcher.

Maybe Messala’s chariot scythes from Ben Hur.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3483[/ATTACH]

[mello yello]

@bobco85 61078 wrote:

I didn’t want to answer because I know it automatically un-ELITEs what I do, but I cannot track stand and must balance with my other foot on the ground

I was gonna chime in that a wobbly track stand usually keeps people from getting too close, either on bike or in car, which might keep shoalers in their proper place. Seeing so few cyclists though, it’s hard to tell for sure.

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