Trollheim strikes again (not me)

[trailrunner]

A guy who works with me moved to the area in the spring. He lives in Del Rey, and would often go cycling after work on the MVT. I warned him about the trail being crowded and the bridges being slippery, but it was convenient for him. About a month ago, he had an accident, broke three ribs badly, separated his shoulder, and hit his head pretty hard. I’m not sure where he was, and he doesn’t know how it happened – he just woke up on the ground.

Back in the old days (20 years ago), two other experienced cyclist friends of mine had accidents on the MVT.

[KLizotte]

I rarely ride the MVT any more because of the crowds and boardwalks. I now take the back roads to Ft. Hunt (and pick up the MVT from there if I really want to go to Mt. Vernon). I’ve found a really, really nice route that takes me through architecturally different neighborhoods and up a bunch of hills. I usually only do it on weekends and have consistently found virtually no cars, peds and few cyclists on my route. There are a couple of busy road segments but overall I feel far safer taking this route than the MVT. There is also more visually to look at. Here are the routes:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/3624847
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/8018774

[ursus]

As to dangerous places along the MVT, don’t forget that when you enter Alexandria’s streets going south, you cross a railroad track at a 45 degree angle. I have seen several crashes by cyclists who instead of turning so they are perpendicular to the tracks, get their front wheel caught. I did that once many years ago.

[creadinger]

@MFC 145632 wrote:

You also need to be careful coming down the hill from Mt. Vernon (headed northe) even before you get to the wooden bridge. It is heavily shaded and takes for ever to dry out, and I’ve known two people who have wrecked there.

Absolutely true. The boardwalk is awful, but as you come down the hill from Mt. Vernon itself you’ll see that the edges of the asphalt are covered in moss, and extending inward from that is green algae, biofilm stuff. Add in the steep hill and twisty curves and you’re asking for some bad wrecks. There’s also the hard right turn before the bridge that is oppositely cambered from what it should be, and covered in algae. It’s AWFUL trail design, or 100% neglectful maintenance, as routine pressure washing would solve most of the issues on the asphalt.

What’s so bad is that even when these long boardwalks like Trollheim aren’t slippery death traps, they’re awful to ride on anyway because of the rotting, bendy boards. Being a heavy guy I probably experience more bumps than the rest of you, but the experience is jarring to say the last. I hate them.

A database would be great, but c’est la vie… we’ve already seen how NPS is willing to sacrifice safety for aesthetics for other issues (high speed cross-walks). They want to keep the park “feel”, rather than install safe, functional things people actually like.

[KLizotte]

@creadinger 145665 wrote:

A database would be great, but c’est la vie… we’ve already seen how NPS is willing to sacrifice safety for aesthetics for other issues (high speed cross-walks). They want to keep the park “feel”, rather than install safe, functional things people actually like.

Yes, but if the data were made available to news outlets it might gain some legs via negative coverage. OTOH, WABA’s crash reporting site might work too if properly filled in.

[huskerdont]

From what I’ve seen recently, news outsets might well blame the cyclists–for riding too fast, riding recklessly, not wearing a helmet, whatever else they can think of.

Not that I disagree with a database being a good idea.

[huskerdont]

@Rootchopper 145635 wrote:

dislocated my knee cap.

Save me jeebus, that’s a thing?!? I can’t (don’t want to) think of an injury more ickyish. Sounds absolutely devastating. Glad you can still ride.

[jsperson]

I sure wish that we could ride on the parkway – either with the cars or even better in a dedicated lane. For years while it either was legal or I and my mates were ignorant of the law. We never had an incident. Several of us have hit the deck on that darn downhill bridge since we were booted to the path for our safety.

It’s terribly ironic that we can ride Route 1 – I’ve done it and it sucked, but we can’t ride on a PARKway. I think that the NPS would rather be part of DOT than Interior.

[Rootchopper]

It was kinda over there when it should be over here. Had to wear a splint and it fell back into place after the swelling went down.

[NickBull]

@KLizotte 145667 wrote:

Yes, but if the data were made available to news outlets it might gain some legs via negative coverage. OTOH, WABA’s crash reporting site might work too if properly filled in.

I’ve just started a thread to report your wooden-bridge MVT accidents, here:
http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?11054-Report-your-MVT-wooden-bridge-accident-here-Date-location-circumstances

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