[Brendan von Buckingham]

From the Bluemont vicinity, take Edison south from Carlin Spring (lots of hills), at 50 cross to Columbus. Columbus south to trail entrance and cut back north. Then kill yourself on the climb out of the trail up to Harrison Street in Glen Carlin.

If you survive then go have fun around Lake Barcroft.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

When I overtake a cyclist in a roadway, I act the way I think a car should: I give a three-foot buffer and don’t announce the pass, just like I don’t want a car to honk at me as they pass. Not helpful. I’ll announce every pass on a trail because it’s not wide enough to give three feet.

Other important factor that you would think doesn’t need mentioning is speed. If I’m going 28 mph down the Courthouse hill, please don’t ride my fender or hip, and then pass me on the right as I maneuver through traffic. I might need to swerve right at any second (pothole, unsignaled lane change by car, etc.). Just stay in line for 2 or 3 more blocks.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I second Clarendon Blvd eastbound, from Highland all the way thru Lynn.

+ it’s mostly downhill, especially starting at Courthouse Road allowing most cyclists to ride over 20 mph and close to the speed limit at Rhodes Street (30 mph)

+ bike lane is too close to parked cars and bikes need the full lane to avoid the door zone.

+ high concentration of driveways and parking lot curb cuts (esp. Starbucks b/t Edgewood and Danville) result in too many right-hook encounters

+ entering traffic from south (Quinn, Queen, Pierce, etc.) pokes into bike lane to see past parked cars. And they poorly judge speed of cyclists coming out of the Courthouse downhill

+ with two traffic lanes, cars can use left lane to pass bikes using center of right lane

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Ft. Myer gate to Memorial Bridge. My first winter on this route and not good. The big bend on the steep slope where Marshall hits 110 was completely ice-packed. So were long stretches of trail up against the cemetery wall where the sun never hits. Memorial Drive and Memorial Bridge were fine once I got there this morning. I’m guessing it will stay ice covered until we hit 40 degrees for a day or two. I’m switching to my long route on Key Bridge/Virginia Ave until then.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

The markings aren’t official yet. They’re just “penciled” in with white spray paint. “SH” with a chevron on top has to mean Sharrow.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Kerosene is my chain cleaner. Lickety-split.

They replaced your rear cassette after only 2 years instead of cleaning it? You need a new bike shop. Cleaning your rear cassette couldn’t be easier. Buy that special nut for like $4 so you can get the rear cassette off the wheel. Take each ring of the casette off the pins, clean with kerosene, reassemble. Takes 20 minutes and saves you from having to buy a rear cassette every two years.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I practice Idaho Stops. I treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs. Yet most of the red lights on my commute don’t lend themselves to being Idahoed. Most go green before I get a break in the traffic.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Two years ago I received a ticket for “Failure to stay to the right.” I was westbound on Wilson between 10th and Virginia Square Metro. I was taking the center of the righthand lane going between 20-25 MPH, and most importantly keeping up with the car in front of me. An Arlington police car pulled into my left shoulder blind spot, tweaked their horn (scaring the heck out of me) then proceeded to lecture me over her intercom that I had to travel against the curb. I ignored her very unsafe advice. Three block later she pulled me over. She said I had to stay to the right. I used my copy of the code to point out to her that that requirement has several exceptions, including the sub-standard width of the lane. She gave me a ticket anyway.

I went to court. I made my case to the judge. I pointed out the several exceptions to the regulation to “stay as far right as possible,” AASHTO and Arlington’s guidance to take the lane if the lane is not wide enough to accommodate bikes/cars riding abreast. I provided dimensions of the lane. The judge asked if there was a bike lane on the road (no) and flipped through his regulations (don’t know what he was looking up).

Judge found in my favor and dismissed the ticket.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I’ve done both Key-Georgetown-Pennsylvania Ave and Marshall-Memorial-Independence. I find the Key Bridge option far safer. The NPS must not care about bike people because their are plenty of death-spots between the Cemetery and Independence.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

In our household budget I have a column called Metro/Bike. That column gets enough money to pay for a month’s worth of commuting to work by Metro: $110.50 ($5.10/day). But I rarely ride Metro to work. So most of the expenses out of that column go towards bike costs like equipment, wardrobe, tools, shop maintenance. After expenses I have a surplus every month and after 5 years the balance is large enough to buy a new commuter bike.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

So you’re saying I need to take personal responsibility, and you’re implying my mental state is not sufficient to the task. So help me out. Exactly what should I have done in addition to riding according to the regulations and AASHTO recommendations. Tell me.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Don’t know why you’re saying that here. No one in this conversation or the original article is advocating such cycling behavior. Furthermore, I did not commit any of those lawless maneuvers this morning in my incident. Which, really, just shows that cyclists can follow the letter of the regulations precisely and STILL be harassed and endangered by drivers who are ignorant of the rules of the road.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

That was my thought. I tried the license plate (too many characters) then looked for a vehicle number like buses have but couldn’t find one. But I only had split seconds. I was still in traffic and didn’t need to be distracted. It wasn’t a horrible incident and I’ve been in more dangerous encounters. It’s just the whole “Get in the bike lane” thing that annoys me despite how common that reaction is from drivers. I get it about once a month between Rhodes and Rosslyn.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Ha. Good one. I was claiming the lane this morning and someone driving an Arlington County government car came up behind me, honked, passed me on the left and yelled, “That’s what bike lanes are for,” then cut in front of me dangerously close. I passed him two light later as he waited to make a right turn for the Courhouse.

For context, I was eastbound on Clarendon Boulevard between Highland (Clarendon M) and Veitch (Courthouse M). There is a bike lane there, but it’s filled with a temporary covered pedestrian walkway, construction debris, severe potholes at Fillmore, double parkers at Clarendon Common, and backed up parking lot traffic at Starbucks. Not to mention it’s downhill and my speed was 25-30. Not only was I claiming the whole right lane to the left of the unsafe bike lane, but I even passed a car in the left lane immediately after the incident. So I was keeping up with traffic fine.

I’ll still claim the lane on that part of my commute because it’s safer than the bike lane. I’ll just keep hoping Arlington continues to make progress educating its employees. The police have gotten a lot better in the last 2 years, so someone on the inside is helping cyclists out.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I’ve discovered that orange oil furniture oil works fantastic as a degreaser for general frame and wheel cleaning. It’s advantage is that it’s not water based. It’s also great at degreasing a chain, but you have to use something else to take off the orange oil. Orange oil on the chain might look like a great lubricant at first, but it’s a magnet for accumulating road grit in a chain. I went through a chain pretty fast before I figured that one out.

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