[chris_s]

Anyone can clearly see that http://bikearlingtonforum.com/ and http://washingtonareabikeforum.com/ are wildly different. :p

[chris_s]

Thanks Robert, here’s the permalink for the blog post in case somebody comes across this thread months from now.

[chris_s]

Hurray!!!!

[chris_s]

I half expect the courts to find some way to make this the cyclist’s fault.

[chris_s]

I was flipping through the County’s Capital Improvement Plan looking for something else and ran across a section on the Ballston Beaver Pond. The description there makes it sounds like only the storm water parts of the project are being done now and the “boardwalks, trails and interpretation” will be done Fiscal Year 2021 since the funding they are using for construction right now can only be used to improve storm water runoff. I’ll quote the project description here:

13 Ballston Pond
Project Description
The Ballston Pond was originally designed and constructed as a stormwater detention facility when the I-66 highway was built, to collect and slow down the stormwater runoff from I-66. Over the years, the pond has been filling up with sediments deposited by the stormwater runoff, which slows down when it reaches the pond. Retrofitting the Ballston Beaver Pond is a high priority project in the County’s stormwater management program. The plan that has been designed incorporates features such as boardwalks, trails and interpretation which are unable to be funded through the County’s watershed funds. This project is for the final design and implementation of the trails and boardwalks.

[chris_s]

Steve, this looks awesome – thanks for organizing.

Alexandria Bike-Ped Advisory Committee just put out a tentative group ride schedule for the next 6 months and it looks fun as well:

(rough draft) BPAC Ride Schedule

Friday November 23, 10 am – 1pm, 18 miles, Escape From Black Friday
While everyone else is shopping, we will ride directly south on the Mt Vernon Trail. This trail is nice in the winter because, with less leaves on the trees, there are some nice river views. This ride will turn around when we hit the halfway point in terms of time, so we won’t necessarily cover the entire 18 miles to Mt Vernon and back.
Meet at Firehook Bakery, 430 S Washington St, 22314

Thursday December 20, 7-8 pm, 5 miles, Family Ride: Del Ray Lights
We will ride around the Del Ray neighborhood and admire holiday-light
displays, some quite elaborate, on neighborhood houses.
We did this last year and it was a lot of fun.
Meet at St Elmo’s Coffee Pub (outside), 2300 Mt Vernon Ave, 22301

Saturday January 12, 10 am – 1pm, 12 miles, East End Bicycle network
This ride shows off the connections (and disconnections) in the bicycle network in Del Ray, Arlandria, Potomac Yard and Old Town. We will highlight little-known trails, shortcuts (that should be official trails), and visit the “trail to nowhere”.
Meet at St Elmo’s Coffee Pub (outside), 2300 Mt Vernon Ave, 22301

Saturday February 16, 10 am – 1pm, 8 miles, Alexandria Inner Loop
A hilly ride, featuring an off-road trail in Chinquapin Park and visit to a pastry shop near the end of the ride.
Meet at St Elmo’s Coffee Pub (outside), 2300 Mt Vernon Ave, 22301

Saturday March 16, 10am – noon, 8 miles, Family Ride: Holmes Run
This low-speed ride will follow the Eisenhower ave bike path to the Holmes Run Trail, rolling by the Beatly Central Library and stopping briefly in Cameron Station.
Meet: Eisenhower metro Station (outside), near Eisenhower Ave and Swamp Fox Rd

Saturday April 13, 10 am – 1pm, 10 miles, East End Destinations
We will loop around the east end of Alexandria, showing how
to get to popular eating, shopping and entertainment
destinations (Potomac yard, Del Ray, Hoffman Center, Old Town, Potomac Greens).
Meet at Dunkin Donuts, Potomac Yard center, 3325 Jefferson Davis Highway

[chris_s]

Scroll down – the revised concept plan is basically what is going forward. A bunch of us weighed in on the concept plans back in 2011 because it was looking like the “interpretive features” were going to cause pedestrians to congregate on the trail.

[chris_s]

I find myself trying to glance in my bike’s rear-view mirror when pushing our stroller. I think since gripping the stroller feels a lot like gripping my handlebars the muscle memory kicks in.

[chris_s]

Beats the initial placement.

[chris_s]

Is your Garmin in like…car mode or something? Looks like it wanted you to take the beltway.

[chris_s]

NPS refuses to cooperate with any changes in that area because their parkland in that section is a potential future monument site and they don’t want to make any changes now that might end up being detrimental to how the future monument might interact with the site. Because of this all of the upcoming improvements (The Esplanade Project) are squeezed into a tiny strip of land on the north side of the intersection.

SO…here’s my crazy-ass-theory-of-the-day:

One of the best things we could do to help bring about improvements to that area is to get a monument assigned to that site ASAP. Then additional improvements to the intersection along that NPS land could get rolled into the monument construction & landscaping.

Makes a twisted kind of sense to me at least.

But it’s probably crazy.

[chris_s]

Who takes way too long to dump photos from his camera? <<< this guy. Here are a couple I couldn’t resist sharing.

[chris_s]

So sad I’m going to be out of town for a wedding that weekend. Would have been the ultimate venue to try out the glow-in-the-dark bubbles.

[chris_s]

@Arlingtonrider 33060 wrote:

Walmart sells a bubblemaker set that makes glow in the dark bubbles, and according to the internets, you can also make your own at home. Add to Chris Ss’ bubble machine for evening commuting fun.

I’m seriously considering taking a stab at this – I’m thinking I’ll need to mount a couple of LEDs inside the bubble maker to “charge up” the bubble solution. Otherwise should be pretty straightforward.

[chris_s]

Many thanks to Certifried for getting a couple shots of my bubble bike in motion – a view I of course don’t generally get to see!

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