Took a spill

[JimF22003]

Even on clear summer days with completely dry planking I’m always extremely leery of that section. I hate the thought of falling down and taking a 6″ splinter in the thigh…

[baiskeli]

@5555624 6846 wrote:

Wood gets slick when wet (or covered in snow or slush), so I slow down.

Now you tell me.

[LilBit]

Hi. I am always weary of the wooden bridges. I actually slow down and ride with caution. I see others who just fly over them and it worries me that they will crash, causing further harm to others on the trail. Thanks for your post.

[baiskeli]

@LilBit 7266 wrote:

Hi. I am always weary of the wooden bridges.

Now I am too.

[txgoonie]

Mornings like this one are always a little squirrelly. Clear but humid and still super slick surfaces from last night’s rain. I didn’t actually see it, but I came upon someone who went down this morning on the MVT in Old Town at the corner of the boardwalk. Didn’t look like the kinda of rider who would normally fall, judging by both his gear and the peeved expression. Be careful out there, folks!

[pfunkallstar]

I’ve eaten it there on two occasions, once was my fault (ice) and the other time was due to a jogger who turned the corner tagged the railing and then turned around suddenly. After the crash she was incredibly apologetic and I told her that maybe she should make Roosevelt Island her “turnaround point.” I think she was a Georgetown student who was training for a 10k or something, increasing her distance each day. Anyways, I slow down to a crawl on that part. A while back there were also some planks coming up but they seem to have that under control.

[GreyBear]

@DismalScientist 6842 wrote:

While we are on the subject of the intersection of the Mount Vernon trail and Roosevelt bridge, has anyone investigated putting in directional signs? Just last week I had to give directions to some confused cyclist trying to stay on the MV trail.

One time I had just crossed Roosevelt Bridge into Virginia when I encountered a Park Police car driving up the bike/ped ramp. I have no idea where the officer thought she was going, clearly a car cannot fit in the bike/ped lane over that bridge.

Regarding the wooden boardwalks, they are slippery. It seems to be a constant thing with people going down at the turns. Most of us learn pretty quickly to slow down so that you don’t have to be leaning into your turn when its wet or frosty, but I guess new people are always coming along. Also, in colder weather the boardwalks frost over long before the roads do. Its seems the Park Service has tried to address the situation, they painted the boardwalk near Washington Marina with some sort of gray/white paint. I think it did make it a little less slippery.

[JorgeGortex]

Well, I am late to this comment thread, but it is more than just the wooden planks getting wet. In those shaded areas the problem is also the mildew/green goo that grows on the wooden planks. With no sun to dry the boards out it just grows and creates the slime that helps make the boards slick. I doubt there is an easy solution to this problem, especially once the anti-rot chemicals contained in the pressure treated lumber fades away. Pressure washing the boards and then sealing with something like Thomson’s Water Seal will help lessen the growth of the algae like stuff. You might need to use a bleach on the boards as well, but NPS will never go for that.

Any use of paints will only make things slicker. It is doubtful that grip tape like that used on skateboards and boats will adhere to these old and already messy boards. Were they clean it might last for awhile.

My $.02 worth.

[Dirt]

I posted up last week about the paint on the path to help give traction. At first it appeared to be the stuff that was slippery as heck, but I found that they added texture to the paint to help make it sticky. It also will help peel your skin off if you still get it strong.

I’ve crashed there in the past. Having runners behave unpredictably can really cause problems. I’ve witnessed dozens of people crash there. Being extremely cautious is the only real way to stay upright there. You can be in a hurry some places on the trail. That’s not one that I suggest.

Happy humpday y’all.

Pete

[KLizotte]

I’m certainly not a civil engineer but it does make one wonder if NPS couldn’t replace the boards with those new plastic (fiberglass?) boards that they use to make benches, picnic tables, etc that are guaranteed for life (see LL Bean). They could be manufacturered with striations built right into the boards (to provide texture) and/or have grip tape applied (like those strips applied to public stairways).

The walkways on fiberglass boats have coatings to make them less slippery and keeping a boat “sticky” seems a lot harder than the kind of bridges we are talking about.

[baiskeli]

@KLizotte 7840 wrote:

I’m certainly not a civil engineer but it does make one wonder if NPS couldn’t replace the boards with those new plastic (fiberglass?) boards that they use to make benches, picnic tables, etc that are guaranteed for life (see LL Bean). They could be manufacturered with striations built right into the boards (to provide texture) and/or have grip tape applied (like those strips applied to public stairways).

The walkways on fiberglass boats have coatings to make them less slippery and keeping a boat “sticky” seems a lot harder than the kind of bridges we are talking about.

Those are composite boards made of plastic and sawdust. They tend to be slippery and the striations tend to wear down to a smooth surface. They’re low-maintenance, don’t grow much slime on them, and don’t buckle or split or splinter, but they’d probably be slippery without grip tape or paint. I think the ultimate solution is paint with grit in it – lots and lots of grit.

[Dirt]

Yup. The plastic boards are seriously slippery… especially when mold and mildew set in.

[KLizotte]

A friend of mine painted the hallway and spare bedroom in his home with paint mixed with copious amounts of common sand. He did it because the original walls were in very rough shape and this was an easy cosmetic fix (though I warned him that future homeowners may not appreciate having to scrape it off should they decide to change the color or wallpaper).

Yup, they are very sandpapery walls. Perhaps NPS should mix the paint they are using with good old fashioned sand?

[5555624]

@KLizotte 7851 wrote:

Perhaps NPS should mix the paint they are using with good old fashioned sand?

Or just buy non-skid paint. Much of it is designed for maraine environments, so water is not a problem.

[jpaulwhite]

@5555624 7860 wrote:

Or just buy non-skid paint. Much of it is designed for maraine environments, so water is not a problem.

Buy that stuff they sell to paint garage floors. It has little specks in it to help make the surface rough. It can be applied to almost anything and I bet it would work here. They should just paint a sample area and see how that works.

[Author]

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