[CPTJohnC]

@lordofthemark 181076 wrote:

Gallows lanes are a good example of a place where the geography should mean more biking (W&OD to Tysons) and the lanes/street are bad (narrow bike lanes on a high speed road) That said, these lanes have been around a while, right? I recall seeing them in 2012 at the latest? I don’t know if there would be consensus for a further lane or road diet on Gallows though. Gallows should probably eventually get bus lanes.

I think the gallows lanes are even older than that – I think they were already well established when I started commuting regularly in 2010. I use them with some regularity and I see them getting a fair amount of use. But it is true that Gallows is NOT an ideal road for most cyclists. Then again, any alternatives for traversing the stretch from, say, Tysons to Dunn Loring are, I think, even worse or non-existent?

[CPTJohnC]

@trailrunner 180993 wrote:

I live in southern Fairfax County, and have commuted to various jobs in northern VA. It’s not easy, and I’m a hearty cyclist. I’d really like some of our city planners and leaders to join me on a commute one morning.

Sorry to be negative, but the bike lanes in Fairfax County are poor (and that’s being kind). The bike paths and lanes are disconnected, don’t go anywhere useful, and do crazy things like flip back and forth with no signage. I’ve lived here over 25 years, and have seen hardly an improvement, even when there were golden opportunities when a new road was built. Yes, I have noticed new lanes, but for the most part they are still disconnected segments that don’t facilitate biking.

I’m tired of blaming someone else (e.g., VDOT), because “someone else” is always the problem, whether it is bike paths or general traffic in northern VA. You can spin it any way you like, but Fairfax County just isn’t committed.

I think LOTM said much of what I would say to reply to this, but to maybe say it a different way: Fairfax county isn’t exactly “one entity” – it’s a massive jurisdiction with a population, an elected part of its government, a bureaucracy and some externalities that impact it. The staff at FCDOT working on bike/ped is 6 people when it is fully staffed… which it rarely is. (Maybe even more interesting to me was finding out that the total portion of the FCPD devoted to “traffic safety” full time is about 5). Do they go for low hanging fruit? Absolutely because there’s still plenty of it, and because it can be done. Fighting some of those battles – worth it? Maybe. But at what cost? Is the system perfect? Far from. But I think the improvements are notable. I’ve lived in fairfax county for over 40 years, on and off. I spent much of my childhood in McLean, and I’ve lived in (the county portion) of Fairfax for 20. Are the bike lanes great? No. But if they help people bike to metro instead of drive, or bike to a bus route in 15 minutes instead of a 40 minute walk? I think that’s probably worth it. When it comes right down to it, I bitch about even the “premiere” bike infrastructure in DC – the 1st PBLs? great, except for all the cars/trucks stopped/parked in them, and the drivers turning through them without acknowledging the bike traffic that has right of way, and the other obstructions that make them less than perfect. Trails? great except every time I have to cross a street, or deal with branches not being trimmed or poor trail etiquette… There is no perfect infrastructure. There is better. Fairfax county’s is NOT in the “better” category. No denying that. But if we won’t use at least the “decent” parts of what is built, we’ll likely lose even that.

Sure – you can say “give up – there isn’t enough commitment.” But then we’ll just be going for the same low hanging fruit in 10, or 20 or 50 years. Incremental change is better, in my view, than no change at all.

[CPTJohnC]

@lordofthemark 180973 wrote:

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?12124-In-the-beginning-was-the-deed!

1. Not sure if this will be possible, given the changes with Freezing saddles IT support. Plus I would need to know about specific segments that they want ridden, and fairly soon.

2. I would also be up for a group ride to see FFX bike lanes. But please, not an attempt to do them all in one day

LOTM: 1) I can get the info as to what lanes are most important, I think, and pretty quickly. And I’m happy to help if I can with the BAFS side competition, though I am NOT a data guy. (Just as John or Hans. I rely on them every year.)

2) What if it included beer and donuts? No – I’m not up for what would almost certainly be a double century plus…

[CPTJohnC]

All true. And we can, obviously, debate the merits for the rest of the year. My position would be if you wait for perfection you often get nothing.

Most of the bike lanes in FX County are “aimed toward” destinations like transit, other bike infrastructure, or other “high density” destinations, in my experience. They’re far from perfect, but they’re (usually) better than the nothing they are replacing? I understand why many might not choose to use them (preferring to drive in cars, or use transit, instead). I certainly favor trails when they’re available. But I appreciate that there’s an effort to make some progress?

Fairfax County’s approach has largely been to use “target of opportunity” for essentially “free” bike lanes when repaving is done. Fairfax is also hampered because the state owns almost all of the roads, and won’t approve most of the “better” solutions (because the state refuses to maintain). I don’t know that I’d agree that FCDOT caves at the slightest challenge, but they certainly don’t win every battle they fight. And that’s largely because the citizenry is NOT supportive. Which means it is up to cyclists to demonstrate that the facilities are useful and not just a nuisance. The battles are similar to DC, but the cycling community has far less of a voice, I think?

The approach has led to a fragmented (but ever improving? at least growing?) network. I believe the early pilots in terms of protected bike lanes are coming, but they’re nascent at best for now.

[CPTJohnC]

I will be there, with prizes to give out

[CPTJohnC]

What is the deal with pulling data for Pointless Prizes this year? Is there someone in a position to assist with light (and hopefully simple) data manipulation tasks for the purpose of awarding prizes?

[CPTJohnC]

I expect to make an appearance on my folding bike because… that’s how I started this year, and that’s how I’ll end it.

[CPTJohnC]

I plan to be there.

[CPTJohnC]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 174219 wrote:

You can download a gpx file of a ride the same milage as the one you need to replace or make up for, and then open it in notepad. Then use the notepad edit menu to find all instances of the date the ride was recorded [xx/xx/xx], and replace those with the desired new date. Then upload the edited gpx through the Strava desktop sites manual ride upload menu.

This is the method I’ve used in the past and it isn’t too difficult. I’m definitely non-technical.

(Note to self – need to replace a manual place holder entry… Cyclopaths need those points!)

[CPTJohnC]

@scorchedearth 172026 wrote:

Hello fellow teammates,

I’m Jake and I didn’t make it to the happy hour due to a deathly cold that I developed this week. Once I fully recover, I’ll be back in the saddle more often. My name preference is Zehn and the Art of Bicycle Riding.

Sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well. Thanks for joining and hope you’re back in the saddle soon!

[CPTJohnC]

Cross posted from Strava:

This is your captain speaking…
Welcome all to Team 10. Our first priority needs to be getting the rest of our members to join the club so our team points all get added. Also, so I can ensure that all registered players are actually playing.

The list of team members is:

benihana*
BTC_DC
*CPTJohnC
Fast Friendly Guy*
gotmonads
jebski1956
rachelwright
run/bike
scorchedearth
slowtriguy
Wolf Larsen

If there is a star next to your name, I know you’re already in this club. If not, it means I can’t correlate your forum name with your strava name for certain. I can guess, but I’d rather be safe.

By the way – you’ll notice that my real name is Chris, despite my forum name appearing to be John. It’s a long story, and dates back to a prior century, but I’ll answer to John if necessary

I will give everyone one more day to join, then I’ll start pinging people. If we haven’t got the full team by this weekend, I may start requesting alternates, but we’ll see.

I’m happy to help folks who are having problems as best I can. This is not my first freezing saddles, so I’m pretty good at knowing how to solve the easy problems, and I know who to call for the harder ones.

Again, welcome, and hopefully you’re all out riding every darned day!!

[CPTJohnC]

Thanks for letting me know, Sunyata – I didn’t see anything indicating I was captain on the team post, so I didn’t want to assume.

TEAM: My apologies for missing the happy hour. Work kept me late, and I wasn’t able to make it over to Bier Baron at a reasonable time. Hopefully we’re all riding every day or almost every day. Big miles count for a lot, but consistency is essentially ‘free points’ — the 10 point bonus for a daily 1 mile ride is very significant in terms of keeping us in contention.

I am not a huge miles guy, but I am committed to biking every day.

Hopefully everyone is in for a meetup soon. I probably can’t do anything before next Wednesday or Thursday due to litigation deadlines, but I’m hopeful we can get something on the calendar soon. I find strava better for organizing, so I will start a thread there too.

And anyone who has some team name ideas… go for it!

[CPTJohnC]

Just finished work — anyone still there?

[CPTJohnC]

Okay – I have my first entry for this year and it’s a dumb one. Taking the second curve on the MBT heading towards the 1st. st NE PBL from Brookland. I’d become over confident because all the other slick looking spots had been fine. Shade. Shade will get you every time. I know this. I know because shade gets me every year. Low speed tumble with no injury to me or to my Tern folding bike. My speaker popped out of its bracket, but kept rocking the tunes (Daft Punk at that point, I believe).

[CPTJohnC]

I plan to reprise my “rock steady” Pointless prize (or whatever I called it) from years past (though not the past two years…) but with a new name that’s more… oh, I don’t know… puerile.

I won’t reveal all the rules but: It is designed to reward those who do very regular riding, and aren’t prone to taking too many extra or off route rides. So this is not a prize for folks who, say, decide to ride from DC to Pittsburgh and back for the weekend… unless maybe they do it EVERY weekend.

Think of this as kind of a bike commuter’s prize, but you need not be a commuter to win.

I can assure you that 1) it rewards regularity and 2) it need not be too hard on the butt.

[Author]

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