[acorn]

@dasgeh 111380 wrote:

Thanks for the update. Any chance you could take a picture of the sign and post? Thanks

I think they might shoot me if I start taking pictures- it is right by the guard booth.

[acorn]

I have been going through with my plain old federal hspd-12 compliant non-DOD id now for the last week, same as I have for years. On Friday afternoon, when I went through Wright gate, there was a sign (and maybe it had been there for a while) saying that if you are a non-fed visitor you need to go through Hatfield.

[acorn]

Any updates? I have been wimping out of biking lately due to cold but maybe some of you tougher folks know what is going on. I wouldn’t mind going through some registration process to get a pass to bike through the base, if it didn’t have to be renewed frequently. (and what are they going to do about the visitors to the bowling alley and pool?)

[acorn]

I am wondering- why do we think that there are a lot of drivers who hold negative atttitudes towards cyclists? I ride every day and very rarely encounter a driver who is deliberately rude. In fact, I have found that drivers tend to be careful and polite around me. When a driver does something that might be dangerous to me, I can almost always tell that the driver was being inattentive (texting, talking on phone) rather than deliberate.

I think that our perception of this issue is strongly influenced by the small minority of people who are hostile to cyclists and make a lot of noise about it- ill-tempered newspaper columnists, people who write angry letters to the editor and leave comments on online articles, people who say anti-cycle things at public forums, etc. I think that this is a small minority, but since they make so much noise and are often so over-the-top with their rhetoric, they get a lot of attention.

[acorn]

Update: I went through this morning (Monday) by “flashing” my fed ID, as usual. So maybe they either decided not to do the rule change, or the guard this morning wasn’t aware, or she just didn’t notice that I didn’t have a DoD ID.
I guess I will just make sure to keep my drivers’ license easily accessible, just in case.

[acorn]

My impression has been that the only difference in process for bicyclists with fed ids vs drivers licenses is that, for drivers licenses, they write down all your info on a clipboard. I’ve never seen a bicyclist being searched etc. I’m not sure how writing drivers license info on a clipboard is going to make the base safer.

[acorn]

Ugh, I keep discovering slow leaks at the office too. It looks like every time it’s a small sharp thing that has become embedded in the tire (which I remove). I wish I could figure out where it is happening so I could avoid it.

[acorn]

Ugh, this situation really sucks.
I agree it would be really nice for there to be an option for regular riders to get a special pass- even if they have to charge a registration fee. Arlington County, can you open up a dialogue here?

[acorn]

For me, 8 miles each way. It takes me about 50 minutes in the morning (downhill), 1 hour in the evening (uphill). I’m slow, I know! I mostly ride on streets and I’m conservative about stopping at signs and lights.

On nice days I often take a 10-mile route home.

I agree with what many others have said- bike commuters are usually the only people who don’t mind when their commutes lengthen!

[acorn]

It’s actually pretty easy to go through Fort Myer and the cemetery, I do it every day. Just show the guard an ID. If you have a federal ID they wave you though, otherwise they will log you in. One of the main entrances is on South 2nd St.

The cemetery gates inside Fort Myer don’t open until 8 am but then you can just sail through. If you come before 8, you can just go down McNair Drive (I think that is the name) and out Wright Gate.

You can’t go through the cemetery going back up, but you can go back up through Wright Gate.

[acorn]

I was on the MVT near the airport south parking lot from 4-6 pm Thursday. Here are my totals:

Pedestrians
Men-north: 32
Men-south: 36
Women-north: 9
Women-south: 14

Bicyclists

Men-north-wearing helmets: 93
Men-north-no helmet: 20
Men-south-wearing helmets: 277 (!)
Men-south-no helmet: 41

Women-north-wearing helmets: 20
Women-north-no helmet: 4
Women-south-wearing helmets: 69
Women-south-no helmet: 2

Uncertain gender-north: 5
Uncertain gender-south: 4

Nice showing, men-heading south-wearing helmets!
Ladies, our numbers are terrible! Let’s get out there more.

[acorn]

The pupuseria is great! They serve non-pupusa Mexican food too.

[acorn]

@eminva 28614 wrote:

acorn, thank you so much for the excellent review.

A question: I am loathe to admit it, but as a cyclist I must buy jeans by how they fit my leg rather than how they fit my waist. The photos make these look like narrow leg pants, but not too narrow. How is the fit in the leg? Thanks.

Liz

I have big calves myself and these pants are just fine. The legs are not wide, but not close-fitting either. If I didn’t roll them up while riding, I would have to put a rubber band or velcro strap around them. (They are easy to roll up, and they stay rolled up.)

[acorn]

When I hear a complaint from a driver about rude bicyclist behavior, I always try to defend my “team,” but it is getting harder and harder since I have been witnessing so much of it myself. Please everybody, remember that just because you are on a trail doesn’t mean you can just let go and forget about safety. The trail is not your personal race training track…

[acorn]

I will let other members respond to your main questions- I will just address the Arlington Cemetery portion since I ride through all the time. Although you can ride a bike through Arlington Cemetery (and it is a great ride), you can only enter on a bike through the Fort Myer entrance, not the Memorial Bridge entrance. Fort Myer is nice to ride in, you just have to check in with the guards and show ID. (And wear a helmet- it is required on base.)

[Author]

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