[birddog]

I met up with a guy from my church there last week. Their seating over at the Carlyle is nice – or outside there is even better.

[birddog]

Best Buns have the best breakfast sandwiches in Arlington! We should have an FCC meetup there…

[birddog]

Custis trail at the Oak st crossing: https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N+Oak+St+and+highway+29+arlington+va&aq=t&sll=38.898644,-77.076275&sspn=0.003941,0.006518&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=N+Oak+St+%26+U.S.+29,+Arlington,+Virginia+22209&ll=38.899107,-77.075411&spn=0.007882,0.013036&z=17

After passing a bunch of folks on the rolling hills of the custis trail, I stopped at the bike stoplight here and leaned against the wall before the intersection because I saw cars stacked up there. Then I got passed by at least 8 people who proceeded through the light.

SHOAL ALERT – stop at those lights. OR at least look before crossing AFTER shoaling me. OR you could do the right thing and wait behind the person in front of you for 15 seconds. The person in front of you might know something about what’s ahead – crossing traffic. The next bicyclist death will occur on this trail either at one of these intersections or the lynn st death crossing.

[birddog]

Funny weather affect this morning coming across the Key bridge. I was dry in VA, but as I looked out over the mist of the potomac, I was hit in the face with torrential rain. Maybe it was a few degrees warmer on the other side and that made it rain while it was dry in Rosslyn…

[birddog]

4MRT technically goes under the columbia pike bridge right there – only to meet up with the W&OD later on. But the trail is not kept up as nice and has more elevation changes and turns.

JUST BE SURE NOT TO SHOAL RIGHT THERE. If you’re the second or seventh person to arrive at that intersection, just wait behind the person in front of you. You can ELITE yourself AFTER going through the intersection.

[birddog]

This entire week has been a shoal-a-thon. Bikes and cars both think they’ll win the race against me by zooming past at a stop light or passing only to immediately turn right. I just had to get this off my chest. It’s so stupid and dangerous and impossible to defend against. What will make these shoalers stop?

[birddog]

Well it is a four-way stop so everyone needs to stop and look. If you’re on a bike and the other sections are empty, you could roll through. But every car has to stop, then look, then proceed. This lady just pumped the brakes behind someone who rightfully stopped.

She was a nice lady who exchanged phone numbers with me and was very apologetic. She was scared enough for me to feel comfortable that she’ll be more careful. If I filed a police report, that would just be worse for her and I wouldn’t gain anything. She called me later in the evening to check on me and apologized profusely.

[birddog]

You could say that I kept calm and biked on. Probably should have called the cops – but I kept my cool and was as nice as I could be.

[birddog]

@baiskeli 54906 wrote:

Well, the difference is that you know where those pockets of rough areas are, and probably avoid them yourself. Those who don’t know them will need to avoid a larger area, perhaps an entire quadrant, in order not to stumble into them. And when you’re on a bike trail, it’s hard to avoid the pockets of rough areas if the trail leads you through them, even if you did know where they are.

Let’s all remember that bike trails can attract predators anywhere. There was a woman stabbed just a week or two ago on the Four Mile Run trail in a very low-crime area, and cyclists attacked at gunpoint on the Custis. I’d be more concerned about the MBT, but still, we should always be on the lookout wherever we are.

The rule of thumb applies dude – your little gentrification dream on one block is walkable and drivable and therefore safe to ride your bike. Other parts of NE where you wouldn’t walk or drive – don’t bike.

I lived in near NE on Capitol Hill and now work in NoMA – and I’m always cautious. Don’t pretend you don’t know about the flood of violence coming from that part of the city – and don’t make me quote crime numbers haha…

[birddog]

Good rule of thumb – if you wouldn’t drive or walk through a neighborhood, don’t pedal through it.

Seriously – NE DC is one of the most dangerous places in the mid-atlantic. Don’t be surprised if you get mugged.

[birddog]

He really should have parked in the lot on the north side of the trail. It’s a short walk from there…

[birddog]

Haha – I saw you taking this picture…and then I almost got run over by the motorcade he was protecting while crossing the next intersection.

If he had either stopped the us (to protect us from the motorcade), or parked in the car lanes his purpose would have been served. I thought about photo-bombing you – maybe next time!

[birddog]

Thanks to Dave who helped me with a broken chain on the Key bridge this morning. I really appreciate the master link!

[birddog]

To the lady sweeping broken glass off of the 14th street bridge trail this morning: Thank you.

[birddog]

Shame I missed this – I should have taken the long way to work and come over the custis .

[Author]

Posts