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@PotomacCyclist 116405 wrote:

There is no good solution here, other than to move the bike station completely…

That’s why I’m not inclined to make too big of a fuss over this particular issue. We’ve seen local NIMBYs cite the rebalancing vans when pushing back against new stations. I’d hate to lose out on prime station locations because good loading zones aren’t immediately adjacent.

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@PotomacCyclist 116034 wrote:

Cargo bike bear

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Out of town cops just parking wherever they want during National Police Week!

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Well, the people watching is quite good. And you can heckle AAA Mid-Atlantic at their table!

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Poor Hassan has this look on his face like, “I can totally still ride this out…”

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@mstone 115244 wrote:

Have you considered that you might need a V8?

The refreshing fruity beverage or a large-block engine in an American-made automobile?

In terms of beverages, I am now fully caffeinated and far less cranky than earlier this AM. In terms of automobiles, I don’t always drive, but when I do, I drive a marginally-emasculating soccer mom car.

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I have once again found the outer limits of my patience. Happily it seems to be greater than last year; unhappily DC’s bike community doesn’t seem to be getting any less dickish as it grows in size.

I lost count at 40 today for times shoaled/passed with no warning, which I think is a new record. Including this entire batch of 8 by Freedom Plaza. What’s worse is that these folks, plus a few more who shoaled me at 15th, refused to yield to a pedestrian crossing the cycletrack with the light. When I stopped so she could cross (which she did while waving her hands above her head in exasperation yelling that we all had red lights) I heard skidding behind me, swearing, and two more people whipped around me and almost hit her again.

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One thing to consider is that a fixed route puts the inconvenience on the same people every week. Varying the route might diffuse the dissatisfaction and help limit organized opposition.

I used to live on Crystal Drive in Crystal City and it got pretty old having to deal with the constant street closures and associated impacts. For example, there is a Twilight 5K series that cuts off access to our garage every Friday night for a month during rush hour. And there was a semi-annual antiwar protest where masked idiots repeatedly broke our lobby’s windows (the police were positioned to protect the actual defense contractor buildings, so we were the target that was left).

While it wasn’t a huge number of buildings that were impacted by the closures (which is why they were so frequent!) there were a number of residents who started to agitate to limit such events.

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You: Dude on a CaBi with his week’s drycleaning slung over his shoulder.
Me: The guy whose wheel you chopped trying to zip by me as the light turned on Penn Ave.

How are you the one who almost went down?!?! That bike is built and rides like a Sherman tank!

I confess the fair-weather crowd is severely straining my patience, as this was in addition to a slew of highly questionable passes this week. I can’t imagine what the narrow MVT has been like!

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I’ll have to try that!

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Going 15th to the Capitol Building yesterday evening on Penn Ave I got stopped at 14th, 13th, 12th, 10th, 9th, 7th, 4th, and 3rd. There were a lot of riders out and they weren’t all making great time, but I’m not sure going faster would have made much of a difference. I’m not one to ever run reds, but this sure had me thinking about it.

This morning’s inbound commute was a bit wonky since the Capital grounds were closed. So still TBD whether that’s as big of a pain.

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@dasgeh 114628 wrote:

Was there a city-wide retiming? Virginia Ave near State has new light timing as well. And it sucks for my commute.

Seems to be just about everything in the major commuter corridors in NW. My East Capitol timing didn’t seem to change noticeably.

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@DCLiz 114618 wrote:

UPDATE: No gridlock last night!

Agree, but the new timing for bikes down Penn Ave from 15th to the Capitol is just brutal. I didn’t count yesterday, but I know I stopped at least 5 times for full light cycles and had a long line of cyclists built up by the time we all split up at the Grant memorial.

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I wonder if they’ll be at Freedom Plaza for Bike to Work Day again this year? It might be worth dropping by to let them know (again!) that so long as they maintain lobbying efforts that run so completely counter to my interests (and continue to employ John Townsend!), I wouldn’t sign back up even if they offered to follow me around in a race support vehicle!

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Those all seem like great options for bikes! In terms of storage capacity, if you do decide to go with a saddlebag, I use one of Rivendell’s Nitto saddlebag mounts to make it easy to detach and carry with me. It’s really convenient.

Rivendell also carries saddlebags that are similar in design to Carradice, but also has a few in significantly larger sizes, which could be nice for a car-replacement bike. I’ve been riding with 11 liter saddlebags for a few years and have generally found that size to be great for my daily stuff, but not big enough for a week’s groceries. If decide you wanted something a little schmancier, Swift Industries lets you design your own bag. I got some for Christmas and have been extremely pleased with their quality so far.

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@dasgeh 114158 wrote:

I’ve been stuck in this country for the past month. UGH.

Being there might actually be better than dealing with the 12 hour time difference! Dirty negotiating tactics plus 9PM-4AM teleconferences push people’s patience and civility past the breaking point even more quickly.

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