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Tunes Can’t bike without them. Still use an old dedicated mp3 player that goes for hours on a charge.

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@Tania 167113 wrote:

Two or three weeks ago I gave the finger to three Marine One-ilk helicopters who were flying low and in formation towards the White House over TR Bridge. It felt glorious. There have also been a few times where I’ve been help up on Penna Ave and lots of us waiting flipped the bird.

Yep, know the feeling well. Obama used to screw up Fort Belvoir’s golf course access and already over-taxed roads and I wished I had done the same. Just didn’t have the nerve.

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@ShawnoftheDread 117445 wrote:

Boundary Channel is fine during both rush hours in either direction. Very little traffic and people tend to behave well on the Pentagon property in my experience.

Yeah, the 25 mph speed limit is usually vigorously enforced on BCD. I can verify from experience…

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Some nice looking community gardening going on too..

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Braced for the Lynn/Lee crossing eastbound yesterday while descending the Custis, saw an Arlington motorcycle cop parked on the sidewalk adjacent Lynn St just observing things. Never saw such well-mannered drivers in all my life, especially the ones coming off I-66W waiting to make that right turn. I even started my crossing with the red countdown showing, only about :07 left, but was able to take my time, driver just sat there and waited on me, wasn’t even creeping forward with their usual irritated impatience. Ah, if only every day could be like that…

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@kwarkentien 112224 wrote:

I’m a firm believer in taking the lane and I do it early and often…[/quote] @kwarkentien 112224 wrote:

I don’t give a flying f*@% what other people think anyway…[/quote] @kwarkentien 112224 wrote:

I still managed to get hit by a car last May…[/quote]

Exactly.

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@Tania 112192 wrote:

Really? I take the entire lane when I WANT to feel safer (as in, I ride right down the middle of the lane). I get on Gallows in Merrifield about a half mile before the start of the bike lane. I usually ride slowly on the sidewalk for that half mile (I know, I know but I yield to pedestrians) however this winter with all the snow, the side walk was impassible so I had to no choice but to ride in the (busy) road where I didn’t have a bike lane. I took the lane and pedaled hard. Granted, Gallows is two lanes each way.

I hope I gain your courage with more experience. Seems like when I have taken the lane, I’m too preoccupied with the car way too close behind me, need to be able to block that out and act/ride like I know what I’m doing. I’m working on it, smaller roads first then building up.

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@lordofthemark 112140 wrote:

Maybe someone here knows great routes from the WW bridge to JBAB, but my gut is that the best idea would be to ride to work in Crystal City (from your friend’s house) and not bother with riding to JBAB till you are more experienced…

Doc, I’ve been riding from Fort Belvoir and the Pentagon to JBAB for years as part of a rec loop ride from Virginia to DC and back into Virginia. It’s a very scenic route. Once you cross the Wilson Bridge eastbound, wind down to river level and you’ll come to a path fork. Bear left via the ped/bike tunnel (bearing right takes you to National Harbor). Proceed uphill, northeast, on a paved trail parallel to the road to reach Bald Eagle Rd at the hilltop. It’s a decent climb! Turn left at Bald Eagle, follow the sidewalk, overtop I-495 bridge heading west towards Oxen Hill Park. After less than a mile turn left into Oxen Hill Park and pick up the bike trail or the service road, both head soutwest and rejoin at the bottom of the hill onto a single paved path. Becomes the Oxen Hill farm trail, follow through the woods, water stays on your left. At the fork, bear left crossing Oxen Hill creek over a bridge. Then you’ll emerge from the park onto DC Village Lane SW, an industrial area. Take that to Shepherd Parkway SW and turn right, now heading north, past the DC Fire Academy training grounds. At the stop sign, turn left proceed under the I-295 overpass and then take an immediate right onto Overlook Ave. Stay on that past the Research Lab and you’ll come to the first Bolling gate on the left and you’re there. Ride north within Bolling to reach Anacostia, either via the base roads or follow a trail along the east bank of the Potomac. It’s all on google maps. Later you can complete the loop by proceeding north on Overlook to the Douglas Bridge and cross into DC and follow the SW waterfront roads to the paths that take you across the 14th Street or Memorial Bridge to the GW trail south. You may not want to tackle this daily but I ride it at least once a week, it’s about a 25 mile loop to and from the Pentagon.

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@Tim Kelley 112147 wrote:

So you’re saying you want protected facilities?

If they build them, we will come. Probably come anyway, look at what we’re riding on now.

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article wrote:

…54 percent of respondents said fear of getting hit by a car or truck is what holds them back…

Yep, that’s up there. One part of my brain is always saying, “Take the lane, you have every right!” but then the other side responds, “But I want to live!” and reminds me that I have every disadvantage against dysfunctional motorists. So I’m wary and torn, I want to ride more but…

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@DismalScientist 111445 wrote:

I think that there are a lot of old guys on old Treks on this forum. I will not comment on anyone’s fatness but my own.

Yep, a 7300 to be exact. Love that steel and those bontrager widebody tires for all the sand, glass, and body parts to be avoided in DC. My wife says I’m only fat in the head, though.

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@Arlingtonrider 101587 wrote:

Peds do not hate Dickie. He is as considerate a cyclist as anyone can be, not one of the people you are thinking of.

Added later: If you knew Dickie at all, you would be very embarrassed by that post. He is one of the best, and was trying to say something nice, but you totally missed the point. Knowing that you don’t know him at all, or the vast majority of us, i’ll try not to judge. We all know about the type of folks you were talking about. The people who are active on this forum are not that group of people. Also, not all peds hate us. If we weren’t out there with our watchful eyes, they could be a lot less safe. Cyclists are often the first ones to offer help when someone has a problem.

I don’t know Dickie, no disrespect meant, but anyone making the comment, “…so as not to slow me down…” referring to their usage of a multi-use trail might indicate a problem in our thinking is all I’m saying.

We should be willing to be ‘slowed down’ and to slow down when peds are sharing the trail with us. It’s easy to get into that “I don’t want to have to slow down for anyone” mode and, while we may not think it’s a problem, I guarantee you it’s a problem as far as walkers’ perspectives who share the trails with us. They are constantly concerned about being plowed into by a cyclist who is trying to avoid slowing down when doing so would clearly be in the best interests of safety. It’s no fun seeing a mass of steel, arms, and legs bearing down on you when you have as much right to be on the trail as the biker does.

Step back, take a breath and think about it. “Not to slow me down” is going to get somebody hurt some day. We should all slow down when we’re around peds on these narrow DC metro trails.

Dickie too.

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@Dickie 101549 wrote:

To the teenager walking in the rain on the WOD this morning around Ohio Street: Thank you for looking back before crossing the trail, and then signaling your intentions before running to the walk bridge so as to not slow me down….

That’s why peds hate us.

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Now about that MVT crossing near the Pentagon…

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Agree with lordofthemark’s comment – ‘bicycle improvements’ seems like happy verbage thrown in to get the money by using politcally correct language. I got a mailer on the projects yesterday and there were only 2-3 bike improvements listed and they seemed very minor compared to what’s needed. Still, it’s a step in the right direction I guess and better than a stick in the eye.

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