Alcova cyclist

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 205 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • in reply to: Routing assistance – Adams Morgan to Ballston #1126848
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    I’ve moved and have now done this commute a few times. I’ll resurrect my own dormant thread to pass along my thanks and share what I have learned and what works for me:

    Short version is that I come close to the route suggested by viennabiker, but with some differences east of Rock Creek depending which direction I am going.

    I didn’t find that taking Rock Creek park down to the I-66/TR bridge is worth it – it’s a longer trip, and I find the TR bridge to be the worst of all of the downtown river crossings (it’s the narrowest, traffic moves faster than other bridges, and the “barrier” is so laughably low that it would only serve to launch a rider who hits it into the middle of the travel lane). Also, I didn’t find the sometimes crowded Rock Creek Park MUP all that much preferable to staying on surface roads.

    From Adams Morgan to Ballston, I take Florida down the hill to P street. It sucks that there’s no bike lane, but the downhill means you can generally stay at traffic speed, and in the mornings traffic is not crazy; I’ve never felt uncomfortable on that stretch. I cross Rock Creek on P, then follow the trail for a couple of blocks through Rose park to “O” street and then pick my way sort of at random along the neighborhood streets north of “M” until I pick up Prospect St at Wisconsin. This takes me to 34th ST and down to “M” just a half block east of the Key bridge — then Custis Trail to Ballston.

    Ballston to Adams Morgan: Custis to Key Bridge (upstream side) and then walk or ride the sidewalk (depending on pedestrian traffic) on the north side of M to “Bank Alley” up to Prospect to Wisconsin. A half-block on Wisconsin to “N” and then pick my way back to Rose Park to P and across Rock Creek. This time I stay on P a couple of blocks almost to Dupont Circle — taking 20th to Q -it’s all bike lanes from here- and then New Hampshire to 17th into Adams Morgan. Sometimes I skip New Hampshire and just take Q all the way to 17th. Of note, the bike lane on 17th is designated as an “upstream” corridor opposite to the one-way car traffic, so you have to be careful and assume neither drivers nor pedestrians are expecting you to come from that direction. But it’s a quiet enough street that it feels fine.

    Thanks again for the advice. I may start a separate thread looking for some good, low-stress leisure rides that pass through this part of DC.

    in reply to: Routing assistance – Adams Morgan to Ballston #1126606
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    Thanks – I was hoping something like that might work. I’ve ridden TR past Watergate onto Rock Creek before, but it was a while ago.

    Agree that Memorial Bridge is a nice crossing (used to do that on commute with two completely different end-points that finished its DC leg down near the Wharf after cruising down the national mall), but would be a bit out of the way – and then I’d have to decide whether to stick to trails and go MVT to Custis or cut through Rosslyn on streets and come up into Ballston via Fairfax Dr.

    Are the exit/entrance ramp crossings on Rock Creek trail crazy during rush hours?

    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    I plan to come (Chris A on strava). Thanks to whoever arranged it!

    in reply to: May 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1121667
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    W&OD pretty muddy and lots of debris/sticks on trail from Columbia Pike to the Custis junction. I assume lots of flooding from the big storms last weekend. Nothing terribly hazardous, depending on your tires I guess

    in reply to: January 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1118124
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    Rode W&OD from Columbia Pike to Rte 7 bridge in Falls Church Saturday 1/29 just at sunset.

    From CP to Custis – some bare pavement, but long stretches of frozen edge to edge including all the bridges. The good news is that is was mostly a thin layer of crunchy snow and relatively little smooth ice. Not really enough snow to refreeze into ruts. A few patches of refrozen melt that were a little slick, but overall probably comfortable on anything other than skinny slicks.

    From Custis to Banneker a bit better, except for the last hill just south of Banneker Park – it seems like the snow sweeper didn’t handle the hill too well, and left a series of icy 2″ moguls. Use caution here.

    W&OD through Falls Church was similar to CP to Custis. Some bare pavement, but mostly a thin layer of crunchy snow. Bridge over 29 was crunchy snow 80% edge to edge. Bridge over 7 looked the same, but I turned back south at that point.

    in reply to: January 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1117006
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    (as of 4pm Monday afternoon)

    W&OD in good shape from Columbia Pike to Benjamin Banneker park. A little icy on some of the bridges, but all had at least a narrow ice-free path through. Otherwise mostly clear edge-to-edge.

    I started to cross the new W&OD bridge over 29, but decided it was too icy for my taste and turned back around. (I didn’t take the W&OD from Banneker to the 29 bridge, I took Van Buren to 19th… so no idea if that stretch of the W&OD right along 66 that gets little/no sun is bad or not.)

    in reply to: Dumb question – how do you know your team? #1116705
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    I am all set with the mighty Five Frozen Fingers – thanks all!

    in reply to: Name Game Pointless Prize #1116699
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    Do I get bonus points for having bike infrastructure named after me? (or perfectly lining up my selfie so there’s an arrow that says “Anderson” pointing to my head (which was actually just blind luck)?)
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]26065[/ATTACH]

    in reply to: January 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1116368
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    As of sunset on Wednesday, south end of the W&OD south is mostly ok, but with a couple of still very dangerous stretches.

    It starts well, with clear, dry pavement from MM0 to the the “Sparrow Pond” (about MM 2.5 or 3). At the pond, there’s still a very nasty stretch of smooth, solid ice for 50 or maybe 100 yards – not quite edge-to-edge, but without any contiguous path through it. The good news (ha ha) is there are quite steep 15-20′ drops on either side only a foot or two off the trail. North of the ice sheet, there are still a few icy stretches with paths you can pick through, but the bridges are still bad (one bridge had a 18″ path someone had carved through the ice and another had someone with tools trying to clear a similar path).

    in reply to: January 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1116180
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    W&OD between Columbia Pike and 50 is still very dicey. There actually are long stretches of edge-to-edge dry pavement, but also plenty of 100′ long sections that are edge to edge smooth and very slick ice. (I think I’d actually welcome some ruts TBH). Unsurprisingly, the bridges are all especially bad.

    in reply to: January 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1116028
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    I already got a reply from NOVA Parks: “It is NOVA Parks responsibility and our policy to clear snow from the W&OD. It is our procedure to begin on the east end of the trail and work west after measurable snow.”

    They added that the most recent storm presented unique challenges due to the amount/weight of the snow and the consistently low temperatures that followed. They also noted (as Judd highlighted above) that there were many downed trees along the trail that took considerable time to clear. Once the wet snow became packed on the trail with walkers, skiers and sledders, that further slowed the removal process.

    in reply to: January 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1116022
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    @chris_s 212943 wrote:

    Arlington County isn’t allowed to plow the W&OD, your beef is with NOVAParks.

    I have reached out to NOVA parks to tilt at this windmill again.

    As I understand it, the County clears the W&OD between Custis and FC by claiming this is part of the Custis Trail that is co-located with the W&OD up to Falls Church (although the county’s own trail map shows Custis terminating where it intersects the W&OD). Seems like the county could use the exact same logic since the 4MR trail system is co-located with W&OD from mile 0 to the Custis… that is, if the county really wanted it to. But I guess some things are worth fighting NOVAParks over and some things aren’t.

    in reply to: January 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1115979
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    Custis from Ballston to W&OD was almost entirely clear, mostly dry pavement

    W&OD west from Custis to the Rte 29 overpass mostly dry pavement edge-to-edge (Rte 29 bridge was bad enough that I went no further)

    W&OD east from Custis marginal until the Dominion substation (just before Carlin Springs), (Does Dominion clear the trail between Wilson and the substation to ensure access?)

    Further east from the substation, it is then mostly rutted, packed ice and IMO very dangerous.

    Honestly, how can the county possibly justify just telling south Arlingtonians to suck it and they’re not going to clear the trail??? My unscientific eyeball poll said there was actually more traffic on the W&OD east of Custis than either Custis itself or W&OD west to Falls Church… yet no attention from the county. WHY?

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]25776[/ATTACH]
    Pick which section of the W&OD is in north or south Arlington…

    in reply to: January 2022 Road and Trail Conditions #1115541
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    Neighborhood streets in Arlington very much a mixed bag, but mostly quite bad. Even in the built-up orange line corridor commercial areas, many streets are solid sheets of packed snow/ice. Even roads that are cleared are not cleared edge to edge – maybe 1.5 lanes wide. And don’t even think about bike lanes.

    I did happen across a snow plow/sweeper on the 4MR trail the morning of the big snow just as accumulation started… maybe 7:45am. (I gave the driver a big smile and two thumbs up!) No idea if they made more passes later in the day or after the snow finished up, but that seemed like a good sign. It seemed like a purpose-built machine for clearing trails/sidewalks.

    in reply to: How to get this *$^%^*-ing e-bike out of my front yard #1114612
    Alcova cyclist
    Participant

    I wound up renting the bike myself and riding to the nearest CaBi station & walked back home.

    I also sent Lyft an invoice for storage fees, a relocation fee, and reimbursement for the cost of the rental itself. Not that I think I’ll see a dime, but it would seem fair to me that at a minimum they charge the original renter their prescribed $25 fee for parking the bike on private property and pass that to me, along with a waiver of my trip cost to relocate the bike off my property. I ain’t holding my breath on even the “reasonable” approach. If I get the $3 back for the ride I’ll be amazed.

    I still don’t understand how the county allows a company to operate with a business model that is basically, “we will have our customers abandon our equipment on private property or blocking public rights-of-way all the time and not do anything about it.”

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 205 total)