[Brendan von Buckingham]

This post is not an endorsement or acceptance of any individual church action, just context and strategic opinion.

There were at least 3 different churches in the article and there are dozens more in the neighborhood. I’d be able to follow this thread more precisely if we started specifying which churches we’re talking about. Having worked with many of these churches as a community historian we should understand (at least a little) where they’re coming from. Some have been in Shaw 150 years. Some have chosen their Shaw location as their world headquarters (lots of denominations have headquarter churches in DC). While some small churches might move out of the city or die away, the bigger ones, the ones with political muscle, won’t.

Playing the RLUIPA card is community planning theater 101, they just jumped their cue early. RLUIPA claims are easy to make, almost never have merit the way they’re used, but sometimes are sufficient to cow a board or agency that doesn’t want the headache.

Strategically I’m a fan of “hit the enemy where they ain’t.” If you do that you have easier fights and eventually surround the enemy for the grand finale. There are lots of other streets that need bike lanes. Better to spend time and resources putting lanes there and come back to these lanes later. It’s just not worth the fight. Unless DDOT has already given WABA a double-secret handshake guarantee that these bike lanes are going in no matter what happens in the public meetings, churches beat bikes. That’s just the pecking order right now (see Metropolitan AME on M Street). This pecking order could eventually change, but not at this moment.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@dasgeh 126736 wrote:

I think it’s a good point, and I think your efforts would be most effective if the people who show up are diverse.

Another tact is to worship at the church, if you’re so inclined to worship. I’m trying to find a weekend when I will work for our family.

Don’t have to go to services. United House of Prayer has a soul food cafeteria called Saints Paradise. Big portions, cheap prices. Create a bike commuter lunch club there once a week.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

After 25 years of bike commuting to 7 different DC locations, Key Bridge/M Street is still my favorite entry route. I miss it since it’s not my regular crossing anymore. When the weather’s nice and I feel like taking the scenic route home, I go back to Key. I like it better than Memorial and better than George Mason. I agree with Subby that inbound M Street gives you a traffic density, speed and downhill that favors taking the right or center lane without much trouble. P.M. M Street gives me the satisfaction of passing so many cars stuck in traffic.

To each his own, so Key isn’t for everybody, but since to each his own, Key is worth a try at least once to see if it’s your each? Your own? Whatever.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Schizo Memorial Bridge. Rode home early today (10/21) and south side was open again. Don’t know if that’s a work-crew change of heart or disgruntled users throwing the signs to the side. It looked like the latter, but who knows.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@Choiboy525 126531 wrote:

Is this new? I biked across it on Monday and it seemed that everything was still open.

It’s my daily commute. It was open yesterday afternoon. Closed this morning.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

South side (down river side) sidewalk closed at both ends. Since they’re still not working on the sidewalk, rather than double back to a safe crossing point and use the north sidewalk, I just pushed through the signs and rode the sidewalk anyway. But it’s time for me to reconsider Memorial Bridge entirely for who knows how long.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Well that wasn’t fun. Flat at Big Chair in Anacostia. Patching in the rain just didn’t work. Pumped again at Malcolm X. Tried to patch again on Mississippi. Got a spare tube from an Angel on Alabama. Ride sorted itself out until the Takoma pit stop where for the 2nd year in a row the rain got me in sheets. Headed off alone into RCP with mushy cue sheets, GPS at 0%, and every way a raging tributary of Rock Creek. I think I went back and forth on Beach Drive 4 or 5 times trying to find the unsigned road up to Oregon. I would have quit if I knew how to get out of RCP. But I finally found Bingham and then other cyclists on Western.

After a day of shredded, mushy impossible cue sheets no matter how many baggies you had, I had to tip my hat to the joker who printed the cue sheet on the t-shirt. Well played. I’ll get you next time.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I’m riding. Fourth time. Zip lock bags for sure for cue sheets and phones. If anyone already has the cue sheet, I’d really appreciate an advance one tonight If you could (alsatian.felix@gmail.com). I’ll trade you the 2012 50 states cue sheet.

Be prepared in the last half of the ride through upper NE and NW for the Courtesy Paradox: you will approach a 4-way stop and yield to a car so as to take your proper turn. The car will not move and insist you go first anyway. There are worse things I suppose.

Arizona is a wonderful hill, but it’s also horrible because it just means you have to climb right back up to the Cathedral and Cleveland Park. That’s just cruel.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@Crickey7 123818 wrote:

This is really one of the few remnants of the once vibrant messenger scene here in DC. Those who cut their teeth commuting 15-25 years ago when our numbers were small and theirs were much larger remember that it was really them, and not us, who set the tone for cycling in the City. They were the public face, and frankly, it was a pretty raw face.

Count me in that 15-25 years ago club. I’ve never been a messenger. Then, and now, I kind of get a kick out of someone asking me in the elevator up to my office if I like being a messenger. I assume it’s because I look the part. Not that I smell the part.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

It’s a big ride with people all over the city all day. Individual results may vary. Trust me. It was torrential for me and my group right before the Takoma DC pit stop around 1:00-1:30. Like, “couldn’t see” torrential.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

That’s my civic association, Arlington Forest. The neighbors there are very sensitive to cut through traffic to 50. They’d be on board with increased enforcement on stop sign and speed limit violations.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@dasgeh 122436 wrote:

Where do you get that 15mph is an average bike speed? I have a speedometer and on the Custis (the east side, before all the blind curves), I regularly ride 16-18mph and I’m around average. And as to your last point, have you ridden a fully loaded cargo bike? It’s a HTFU argument, and those really need to stop when talking about transportational riding.

Moreover, just because there’s a motor doesn’t mean you can’t go slower. Too unsafe to go fast? Brake. The stories of newbies getting ebikes and riding slowly at first support this point: there’s no need to design for the new cyclist — that person can easily feel the dangers of speed and just brake. Unlike in a car, where you’re surrounded by a bubble, you’re completely aware of your speed (even without a speedometer) on an ebike.

I’m curious: have you ever ridden an ebike? What type (Stromer-esque/hybrid bike with motor or cargo bike or something else)?

I don’t really care that much about this topic, but…

15, 16, 17, 18; yes they’re all about average.
I’ve not ridden a cargo bike or ebike. Most haven’t.
A fully loaded cargo bike sounds like it weighs a lot. Heavy, fast things can often be more dangerous than light, slow things. It’s worth considering how to control or limit dangerous things. Very dangerous? Lots of control. A little dangrous? Some control. I don’t know how dangerous a motor-driven or motor-assisted cargo bike might be, but it sounds heavier and faster than a regular bicycle.
No one without a speedometer can be completely aware of their speed. I simply believe that the heavier and faster a vehicle is, the more reasonable it is that the operator be equipped with a speedometer.

Didn’t mean to make you defensive.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

What do you all mean, “There’s been 18 pages of comments since my last visit”?

Oh. I see.

To gain currency, I’ll add: anything with a motor should have a speedometer. Cars, motorcycles, moped, ebikes, etc. That’s the more important requirement in my mind. If you have a motor you need a number to tell you how fast you are going. If you are the motor you have an intuitive sense of how fast you are going, meaning a regular bike doesn’t need a speedometer. On a regular bike you are more intimate to the physics of the situation. If you have an ebike, not putting power into your 15 or whatever mph, you might tend to space out like I do when I drive my car. I never space out when I’m riding because I’m paying attention to lots of things, but primarily what my speed is.

I still think 15 mph is a good limit for a governor. It’s an average bike speed, safe for trails, safe in a group of cyclists, and let’s you keep up with traffic on any “comfortable” on-road bike route. Just because there’s a governor doesn’t mean you can’t go faster. Want faster than 15? Pedal.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@Brendan von Buckingham 122227 wrote:

If it looks like a bicycle and sounds like a bicycle, then it’s a bicycle. The more the better. However, due to the fundamental difference of an e-bike (they have an artificial power source) they should have governors or speedometers so that the rider, who’s one-step removed from being intimate with the speed, has certainty about their speed.

Don’t know. Let’s start the bidding at 15 mph. That sounds like a safe bike trail speed. Over 15 needs to be all you.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Don’t know. Let’s start the bidding at 15 mph. That sounds like a safe bike trail speed. Over 15 needs to be all you.

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