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Maybe we can start another thread on “The most tricked out vehicle that could possibly be a bike” and keep this thread to the question “should e-bikes that meet the definition in federal law be allowed in Arlington Trails” subtitled “There are people on the forum who ride ebikes”

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file under pipe dream:

What if we could build a ped/bike bridge from the CCT to the Kay Bridge Marriott… (West side of the bridge, lower than the bridge on the DC side, rising up to street level on the Arlington side)…

I know, I know, as likely as changing M Street to one-way eastbound with a cycletrack and N Street one-way westbound, but a gal can dream…

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Welcome!

I was going to say that I don’t love the connection between the end of the CCT (K St under the Whitehurst) and the Key Bridge — you either end walking over a ped bridge or going all the way to Wisconsin and back down M — and therefore suggest you head straight on K to the Foggy Bottom Metro. But if you’re headed West, Rosslyn is probably the way to go (and probably safer for your bike).

So I’ll throw another question to the group — what do you think the best way to get from the CCT/K Street “Downunder” to the Key Bridge. My commute is going to change this summer, and I’ll likely end up needing to make that trip…

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We bought a Kilowatt ebike during theclymb’s sale last Fall. The “e” part of the bike is very LOW power — it claims to be 250W, but I doubt it’s that much. The customer service side of the transaction was a disaster, but I won’t get into that. At the end of the day, we ended up with a working ebike, though one with very low power. It’s also a “pedal assist” type, meaning that the motor comes on when you’re pedaling, there’s no other throttle. It fits the federal law definition (Public Law 107-319).

And we love it. I use it to commute on days when I’m whiny about going to work. My husband uses it to tote our daughter around to places further away than he was comfortable going on our dutch-style bike — Gravely Point is now a favorite afternoon trip. Luckily, I’m usually whiny about going to work on days when the weather is icky, which happen to be days husband & daughter wouldn’t want to do long bike rides.

The motor is not powerful, as mentioned. I doubt it can get one of us going much faster than 15 MPH. But, it is hugely helpful starting from a stop, and going up hill. Basically, once you get the pedals around one full rotation, the motor kicks in and gets the bike “going” to where it’s easy to pedal. Going uphill we can’t maintain anything near top speed, but the motor will keep the bike upright and moving, making pedaling to give it a little more speed easy.

By way of comparison, my commute to work is mostly downhill, with very few stops. The ebike takes about the same as my road bike. I’m not sweaty getting to work on either. My commute home is the reverse, with an extra uphill thrown in, and the ebike is about 2 minutes faster than my roadbike, and I rarely arrive home sweaty, while I always do on my road bike.

I’m happy to answer any more questions or even show off the ebike, if anyone wants to meet up. In fact, I’m meeting husband and daughter on VA side of the Memorial Bridge (south side) a little after 5:30pm today, and they’ll be on the ebike. Another perk: family rides home!

Back to the original question of the thread: the federal law –Public Law 107-319 — was enacted in 2002. The Arlington memo was in 1999. I haven’t read it closely or done any other research, but I do support allowing ebikes that fit the federal law definition on the trails, subject to the same speed limit. Maybe the legal analysis would change in the context of current law. If not, I support discussing a change in the Arlington Code.

Oh, and I seriously doubt that many ebike riders are newbies — ebikes are MUCH more expensive than regular bikes, and I know many people are loath to invest in them before they’re sure they’re going to stick with bike commuting.

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Congrats on landing a job and welcome.

I know nothing about Takoma Park, but I’ve heard it’s very bike friendly. I have some friends in a group house in the District who are looking to fill an opening. They are super-duper bikey (I know them through my husband’s cycling team). I’ll see if the place is still open and PM you.

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@Tim Kelley 15892 wrote:

I’m lucky enough to have Capital Bikeshare in my neighborhood and near the bike shop!

It’s a good point when thinking about CaBi expansion — place stations in front of bike shops or even better, car repair shops!

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@jrenaut 15879 wrote:

The Arlington Multi-Modal Transportation and Recreation Corridor – TAMTARC for short.

I guess AMTARC was too close to trains…

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@americancyclo 15717 wrote:

Do we have donut shops here?

ok, here we go:

Toby’s Homemade Ice Cream & Coffee
Northside Social Coffee & Wine
Migue’s Magnificent Mini Donuts
Heller’s Bakery
Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe

[/url]

Unacceptable for not including the Krispy Kreme on Route 1. In college I knew the late-night (early morning?) schedule for hot donuts sign. Whenever I was DD, my charges were required to take a trip down for hot donuts at the end of the night.

@creadinger 15861 wrote:

This story from the WaPo got me thinking that a race to visit 5-10 food trucks in the area would be a cool idea too.

In the District, they usually bunch up. But there are lots of people who CaBi over to their favorite food truck. Or maybe just me. But it makes for a happy lunch break.

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Or, if we’re just trying to appease the League: LAB — Loop of Arlington by Bike

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Or BLA – Bike Loop of Arlington.

No, I’m not serious.

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I, too, have a little one, so I haven’t biked with the true “kid” set. That being said, I would DEFINITELY rent the bikes for touring around the Mall.

The blocks in DC are long, and walking even a few blocks takes longer than it does in most cities. Many tourists — in fact, even many locals — don’t realize how long the blocks are near the Mall, and think that it will be a quick trip between points A & B. It’s generally not. I have walked around the Mall with kids that age, and it easily takes 10 minutes to get from one museum to the other on foot. Ten “are we there yet/I’m hungry/I really want to go to Air and Space” minutes. The advantage of being on a bike is that those 10 minutes turn into 3-5, and that’s going very slowly, on the sidewalks, avoiding tourists. Pre-kids, my husband and I would often hop around to the various museums via bike, and it was great. You can get around quickly. Bike parking is pretty easy and relatively safe during the day (Bike and Roll will give you a run down of best practices and I think provide U-locks). I’d even say it’s the only way to comfortably get around the Mall.

On the Mall, you’re allowed to ride on the sidewalks. The sidewalks are wide, but there are a number of tourists (this time of year it’s not too bad — if someone is coming in the summer, my advice would be different). As long as your kids are responsible (i.e. you can trust them to pay attention and not run into pedestrians or out into the street), they should be fine on their own bikes. If you have any doubt, the trailabike option is probably best.

In other places in “downtown” DC, you’re not supposed to ride on the sidewalk (I think the rule is if you’re over 18). You could get a ticket. But I’ve never seen anyone get a ticket, and if you’re riding slowly and being respectful of pedestrians, you should be fine. There are also enough small streets between Union Station and the Mall that you should be fine on the street for those few blocks. There are a few museums off the Mall (National Building Museum is a must in my book, though they’re now charging for the exhibits). You can talk through the exact routes you want to take with someone at the hotel or bike shop — I think you can get to all of them on less-busy streets, but ask.

You could get to the Zoo via only the Mall and the trail through Rock Creek. That trail gets narrow and doesn’t have the best pavement, so it depends on how comfortable your kids are on bikes. You could also ride to the Zoo, visit the Zoo, push your bikes up the hill (no riding in the Zoo) and Metro back to Union Station. Bikes are allowed on Metro during non-rush hour times.

A better use of a day on bikes might be to take Memorial Bridge (behind the Lincoln Memorial) to the Mount Vernon Trail (be VERY careful at the street crossings — never assume cars will stop just because they are supposed to). Take the MVT south, you’ll bike along Gravely Point which is just under the flight path for National Airport. It is awesome. Continuing on you can come back along the 14th Street Bridge, which will put you right by the Jefferson Memorial. You could bike around the loop at Haines Point — it’s on road but there are very few cars on that road — the views are great, but it’s a 5km loop, and adding that onto the rest might be too much for kids.

So short answer: I’d definitely rent bikes for enough days to (1) do the tour described above and (2) cover the museums you want to cover. Oh, and drivers are ok, but I’d always assume that bikes are invisible to them, and drivers will not follow the law. When they do see you and follow the law, you will be pleasantly surprised!

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@consularrider 15705 wrote:

On those occassions I find them wandering across or just standing there, I slow down (just as when I appoach them close to the edge of the trail), ring my bell obnoxiously, and shout goose, goose, goose several times. So far I haven’t been attacked or run into one.

The similarities between geese and tourists are striking.

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@Tim Kelley 15597 wrote:

It’s “one size fits most” but feel free to break out the sewing machine. Just be sure to include pictures of your final product!

I’m expecting rhinestones, acc!

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@rcannon100 15419 wrote:

We do not make cars comply with truck laws. We do not make trucks comply with train laws. We do not make trains comply with plain laws.

I think this gets closer to the point here, but doesn’t quite get it — the LAWS aren’t written with bikes in mind. There are laws generally applicable to all vehicles on the road, including cars, trucks and bikes. There are sometimes differences in those laws for different classes of vehicles — e.g. speeds limits on certain highways, licenses, passing laws that apply only to bikes (i.e, DC allowing bikes to ride on the left of stopped cars up to a red light). Personally, I think we should continue to look for ways to change the laws to make everyone safer. I think having an Idaho stop and a reasonable go-on-red-if-you’ve-stopped-and-waited-for-a-minute-and-it’s-safe law would make things more safe, primarily because it would make the sensible and efficient way of cycling legal. If you look at the NBC coverage of the accident at U & 11, you see that cyclists basically saying they do the Idaho stop. It’s a short hop from “this makes sense but I have to break the law to do it” to “why not break all the laws that inconvenience me, since they’re not written for me in mind”. Write laws with cyclists in mind, and you take away that excuse.

BTW, I love the Freudian slip at the end — I agree that we don’t enforce PLAIN laws, like obeying speed limits, stopping at stops, yielding at crosswalks. But I think we should.

@MCL1981 15413 wrote:

You’re not worth it. You aren’t looking for a solution to the problems. You are the problems. And nothing I or anyone else says on the internet will change the mind of someone so thickheaded.

MCL1981, more importantly, you seem to be personally attacking those who disagree with you. How is Washcycle “the problem”? I’ve pleaded with you before and I’ll plead with you again, please be civil on this forum. I like this forum. I hope we can continue to realize that we’re all people, and while we may not always agree with one another, we all deserve respect.

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THANK YOU

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