[bobco85]

Come to think of it, it’d be great to be able to test lights/reflectors in a setting where one could see their bicycle/clothing from a variety of distances and angles. My post was originally based on the argument in the Missed Connection thread about flashing/strobe/steady lights and how they actually look to others, so that should explain the smaller scale, the idea being to be able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes in looking at “you” at night.

That said, I don’t see anyone actually doing this exercise. Get out there ya lazy bums!

[bobco85]

I thought about posting something witty/snarky/etc., but I figured I’d get people to do something more constructive. It’s over on this thread: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?p=179903#post179903

I have done this before, and I recommend folks try it out. We might all learn something.

[bobco85]

Good news update: I heard back from the driver’s insurance company yesterday. They are covering the full amount of the repairs and are throwing in some extra $$ to cover any potential health expenses! There were no arguments or objections over liability and fault. The repairs should be complete by Friday afternoon, and I expect to be able to ride my bike by this weekend.

@Lt. Dan 179743 wrote:

Are you including shifter replacement or depreciation in what you submit to insurance? Handlebar tape? If someone drives through your fence, they replace anything that was damaged. Why should your bike be different?

For the shifters, I don’t see a need to replace them. As I had discussed with the bike shop mechanic, they do have some scratches but are fully functional. I could have had them replaced probably without any objection from insurance, but really I am concerned about getting the bicycle back to being rideable. At the worst, the scratches look ugly; at the best, my bike’s got some cool battle scars 😎

[bobco85]

@Lt. Dan 179609 wrote:

Any updates from the insurance company? Get the bike checked out?

I was able to take the bike in last Wednesday for an insurance assessment (the Trek Bicycles in Southcenter near me has a designated mechanic for this), and I heard from the mechanic on Saturday (randomly got cell phone reception and got a call while hiking with my sister in the middle of the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park, craziness!). All I need to do is go in and pick a replacement helmet, and he’ll add that to the list of repairs/replacements being sent to the insurance company. It’s been absolutely hectic since last Tuesday evening for me having the crash and family being in town, but things are getting done.

Side note: I was able to get the footage from my rear-facing camera, but my front-facing camera was out of battery at the time, so it doesn’t show much. That said, it’s very strange to see a video from my bike’s perspective of me laying on the ground (just my legs from the knee down), and I didn’t realize that I ended up about 10 feet away from my bike. My bike was turned almost 180 degrees after the impact, and the camera had recorded about 15-20 minutes of my post-crash interaction with the driver.

Update on bicycle injuries: Bike shop assessed the damage. Front wheel bent (cracked rim), front rotor (for disc brake) bent, replacement order for both has been placed. Handlebar shifters have a few minor scratches but are fully operational. Bike rack had some screws that came loose during the crash and have been tightened. Everything else (frame, rear wheel, derailleur, chain, cassette, cables, seatpost, seat, etc.) is good. I expect to be able to ride it in a week once the replacement parts have arrived and are installed.

Update on my injuries: swelling is almost completely gone from my right knee/thigh, no pain walking, hiking, doing stairs, riding my other bike. Scabs are on my right knee and elbow, but those will heal in time. Tension in left neck muscles is almost completely gone after taking it easy and sleeping with one of those neck pillows for flying in planes for the past week.

[bobco85]

@creadinger 179487 wrote:

Something like this came up recently with Bobco, so I wanted to get it on here as a PSA as well.

I had posted it originally on Facebook/Twitter/Strava, but I wrote a more detailed story of what happened on this thread: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?p=179516#post179516

[bobco85]

And, here are pics of my injuries taken about an hour after the crash:

Right elbow injury
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18128[/ATTACH]

Leg injuries (after icing it the past 2 days, the swelling has gone down a lot)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18129[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]18130[/ATTACH]

[bobco85]

Back with the fourth video in my series on Seattle’s neighborhood greenways featuring the Ballard 58th Greenway.

This greenway is pretty straightforward and provides a really nice east-west connection through the Ballard neighborhood in northwest Seattle. It ends at the popular Burke-Gilman Trail and intersects the Ballard 17th Greenway.

Again, I want to stress the awesomeness of having streetside crossing signal buttons as they are very convenient when trying to cross busier intersections. They eliminate the problems of detectors ignoring cyclists, cyclists needing to go onto the sidewalk, and cyclists then losing their place in traffic and having to merge with cars.

[video=youtube_share;c54WOM2zOyA]https://youtu.be/c54WOM2zOyA[/video]

In the video, there’s something neat if you pause around 1:17. You might recognize a certain red house for a familiar comic/cartoon 😎

[bobco85]

The third video in my series on Seattle’s neighborhood greenways, the Wedgwood Greenway is a shorter but direct connection between parts of northeast Seattle with the popular Burke-Gilman Trail.

There isn’t a whole lot more to say about the Wedgwood Greenway other than it’s a pretty straightforward route on calm neighborhood streets, really nice for cyclists of all abilities.

I plan to do 2 more videos in the series before taking a break to do some different projects, but I feel like I’m on a roll here for Seattle-area videos!

[video=youtube_share;Rum3pLez9Uw]https://youtu.be/Rum3pLez9Uw[/video]

[bobco85]

I had some visitors from Virginia this past weekend that y’all might know. Since they were in town, I took Zach and Elena on a quick bike ride along the Burke-Gilman Trail, on and across the new SR 520 Bridge, and to Gas Works Park on Lake Union before heading back. We encountered some rain near the start, but it luckily subsided by the time we were halfway back across the 520 Bridge (the Seattle area is full of microclimates, and we were just on the edge of a rainstorm). I also took them to the Cascade Bicycle Club headquarters in Magnuson Park.

(left) Selfie on the Bellevue (east) end of the 520 Bridge while sheltered from the rain; (right) at the midpoint of the bridge just past the edge of the rain
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18026[/ATTACH]

While on the bridge, we encountered a few folks I know from the Cascade Bicycle Club who were out on a ride with the club’s executive director on the right!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18027[/ATTACH]

After riding on the Burke-Gilman Trail through the University of Washington campus, I took them to Gas Works Park which sits on the north side of Lake Union. (left) Lake Union with choppy water due to the wind with a view of the Seattle skyline; (right) a boat plane as it was landing on the lake
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18028[/ATTACH]

Pano of Lake Washington from Magnuson Park, close to the Cascade Bicycle Club headquarters
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18029[/ATTACH]

(left) stopping at Ivar’s, a local seafood chain, for some freshly caught halibut and chips; (right) the dockless bikeshare couple who tried both manual and electric LimeBikes and ofo on the ride
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18030[/ATTACH]

[bobco85]

The second video in my series about Seattle’s neighborhood greenways, the Central District N-S Greenway features a couple of tools not found in the DC area. One of these is the installation of curb-adjacent crosswalk buttons that cyclists can use without needing to get onto the sidewalk. They can either activate crosswalk signals like a HAWK signal or flashing beacons to which drivers around here tend to actually respond, and the road markings have cyclists riding in or adjacent to the crosswalks where they might be most likely to be seen. There are a couple of them in this video, and I have found them to be a cool addition.

I was able to do a bit better with minimization of the camera shake (I filmed the same day as for the Beacon Hill Greenway video, so there were similar issues), but future videos should be far less shaky (fingers crossed) as I have been filming with a more stable setup and more attention paid to taking things slowly.

[video=youtube_share;uGG5U5oswE4]https://youtu.be/uGG5U5oswE4[/video]

[bobco85]

I started a new series of videos for biking around Seattle, this time I’m focusing on Seattle’s neighborhood greenways. Basically, these are pedestrian/bicycle routes connecting neighborhoods that incorporate wayfinding signage, road markings (sharrows with the arrows pointing to the next turn), road diets, slower speed limits (usually 20 mph), improved right-of-way (cross traffic gets stop signs more often at intersections), traffic diverters, and the newest ones have curb-adjacent buttons to activate flashing beacons or a pedestrian signal. They are meant to be more comfortable for newer/slower/tired/etc. cyclists.

The Beacon Hill Greenway seems to be one of the older greenways (doesn’t have a lot of the newer bells and whistles but is a solid route), but it’s one of my favorites, so I made a video for it.

[video=youtube_share;as9dRV4_N6w]https://youtu.be/as9dRV4_N6w[/video]

[bobco85]

@KWL 178689 wrote:

Nice. I’m glad you did not become a truck hood ornament.

Yeah, that happened at a corner of Safeco Field. Traffic was blocking the box, so as I was making my way through on a walk signal (you couldn’t see it or much else due to the truck), another truck came up to make a right turn and stopped when she saw me in the crosswalk. That bit of footage was being played at 300% speed, so it looked worse than it really was. Seattle has its fair share of box blocker intersections, and people don’t seem to understand how much blocking the box can really screw up the flow of traffic (but, but, but it’s the bike lanes that are causing congestion, of course /s).

[bobco85]

While Bike to Work Day was occurring for most of the country, the state of Washington was celebrating Bike Everywhere Day. Same concept, except it is meant to celebrate more than just bike commuting trips by including errands, taking kids to/from school, and recreationally riding around town.

Just like I did for previous BTWD’s, I planned a route to visit multiple celebration stations (same thing as pit stops) before arriving at work (I fulfilled the “Bike to Work” portion of BTWD). I was happily surprised to see that my building management company held its own celebration station in our parking garage right next to our bike cage and bike lockers. They also had mechanics on-site for folks later that morning.

Here’s my video of riding around parts of Tukwila before entering Seattle and heading downtown:
[video=youtube_share;oDwUrEc8lXE]https://youtu.be/oDwUrEc8lXE[/video]

[bobco85]

In case 1, it’s possible that had you collided, the police would have given you a ticket (see the Columbia Pike/sidewalk cyclist/driver crash aftermath thread here: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?12470-Hit-by-car-on-Columbia-Pike-driver-at-fault-ticketed-Officer-changed-fault-on-report). The driver is supposed to yield right of way to users in the crosswalk, but at that time, you weren’t in the crosswalk. It’s possible, probably likely, that you would be ticketed for entering without regards to traffic.

In case 2, you had already established yourself in the crosswalk after waiting for a clearing in traffic. The driver does not have right of way over someone who is in the crosswalk and has to yield to them. The driver has no case for his road rage.

[bobco85]

It’s been only a few weeks since I got to see a lot of y’all, but I did finally finish a video I made of the highlights biking around VA/DC/MD. The footage includes a lot of trails that I consider my old favorites along with some newer infrastructure that’s been installed since last September when I left.

I didn’t take pictures at every event/encounter, but I did put in a lot of what I did attend. I’ve got more than a few of ya in the footage, too! Enjoy 😎

[video=youtube_share;HvvWTtaDKX4]https://youtu.be/HvvWTtaDKX4[/video]

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