DCAKen
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DCAKenParticipant@mstone 97997 wrote:
The worst thing about the software behind this forum is that it doesn’t remember what you’ve actually read. You can get a “what’s new” list, but that’s measured from the last time you visited, not what’s unread. So it’s really hard to just read a couple of things and then go back later and read other things that haven’t been read yet.
As far as a calendar, I think it would only be a positive feature if someone were going to curate it. Otherwise it would just end up looking sad and nobody would bother checking it.
What I’ve noticed is that if I’m signed onto the forum but not active on the page for a while (15 or 20 minutes), it will mark everything as “read”, even posts I haven’t opened yet. It may be the way I have my browser set up, where I don’t reload from the cache when using the back button, but that’s the only annoyance I’ve had.
DCAKenParticipant@mstone 97839 wrote:
You seem to be having trouble reading what I actually wrote. Let’s try again. If you get into a car knowing that if someone flashes their high beams at you, you will be blind and lose control of the car, you should not be driving. This is because you know that regardless of law or convention it is not particularly uncommon to see bright headlights at night. Similarly if you ride a bike knowing that if you see a bright headlight you will lose control of the bike and you think that will cause you to injure someone, you shouldn’t be biking at night. None of that has anything to do with what the people with the lights should or should not do, it has to with your responsibility with regard to likely and unavoidable events which may cause you to harm others. I think that this is an exceedingly rare circumstance, that very few people become completely blind and lose control of their bike when faced with an approaching high beam, and that this a mostly theoretical response to the “well what if I’m blinded because someone else has lights that are too bright” trope.
You may have also seen that I’m in favor of bike lights with beams shaped like car headlight beams or at least aimed toward the road, so no, you’re not at all right about driving around with the high beams on.
But it’s not always about losing control of the bike. It’s more of an issue of losing the ability to see what’s in front of you…pedestrians, debris in the trail, potholes, etc.
I’m a reverse commuter and see more than my fair share of bike lights on the trail, encountering the occasional retina-burners leave me temporarily dazzled. Usually, I tip my head down so my visor blocks the worst of it. I do the same when I’m cycling up Beach Drive with the oncoming cars. Like with the cyclists with mis-aimed headlights, I’ll inwardly curse at the drivers who can’t seem to dim their high beams. But limiting my vision by the lights or my visor is the choice foisted upon me by inconsiderate others.
DCAKenParticipantThe ninja runners out there are bad enough, but I’m starting to encounter ninja moths. These are the runners who don’t wear any reflective clothes, are running side by side with someone else, and seem to be attracted to my headlight. They only jump out of the way when I yell a warning. I don’t have a dim light, so I can only think they are the human equivalent of the Bugblatter Beast, who are
so profoundly unintelligent that, if you can’t see it, it assumes it can’t see you
DCAKenParticipantDefinitely report this to the Park Police. The officer must have been thinking of the rules for the Mt Vernon Parkway. What’s even more egregious is that you were on Beach Drive, not the parkway.
DCAKenParticipant@Steve 95808 wrote:
In your situation, you were clearly right. Because almost everywhere now the entering traffic yeilds.
However……this is going to be a bit crazy, but……in some instances, it works the other way. Technically, in many “traffic circles,” the people in the circle yeild to those entering. In “roundabouts” it happens the way we handle it. Almost all current ones work the way described previously in the thread, but in much of Europe, France I think in particular, they often used to work the other way around. Sometimes this comes about by the fact that the interior, to exit, technically had to switch lanes. The oncoming cars just got to drive right on, holding an outside lane. To exit, cars technically had to switch lanes to the outside, thus yeilding to entering cars, and then exit. It’s kind of like if an oncoming highway lane keeps a lane, and it eventually becomes an exit only (think I-66W from Glebe to Sycamore). Here, the oncoming traffic gets its own lane, not needing to yeild, and exiting traffic has to get over and thus yeild. Circles used to work like that, believe it or not.
Again, not saying you were wrong in your situation, as OBVIOUSLY you weren’t, just a little background.
Like this one, for example
DCAKenParticipant@Terpfan 93157 wrote:
I guess I hadn’t noticed it as much until after rain storms. Then again, this was one of the main reasons I stopped taking this route as much to work opting for on-road Georgetown. Part of me thinks we should just bring shovels and dig a ditch running along it ourselves.
But it’s a horrible mess that I bet someone will be seriously injured on if they don’t know it’s there.
Back on a warm, rainy Saturday in January, I went for a run on the trail, encountering many pools of standing water. Later that afternoon, I climbed on my bike and did a little guerrilla civil engineering, attempting to create drainage routes for the bigger pools. I didn’t have a shovel, but improvised with tools at hand (namely, a frisbee found along the trail).
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DCAKenParticipant@Terpfan 92833 wrote:
You give a good reminder about trails with sand and debris. I always have to remind myself following any big rain that sand accumulates in a few spots. Eg, if I ride down the Calvert St connector to RCP, there is a horrible pile of sand at the bottom following every rain storm. It would not be fun to wipe out on at a high rate of speed.
The pile of sand just doesn’t pop up after every rainstorm, but it’s there for months at a time, growing larger after every storm.
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The real problem is there is no drainage point for all the run-off coming down the hill and it just pools at the bottom of that hill before the bridge. I’ve written to the RCP folks about this spot many times, trying to get them to fix this issue. They’ll occasionally clean the trail, but never actually improve the drainage so it doesn’t keep happening.
They cleaned the trail last Monday, the day before Tuesday’s downpour. And what do you know…it was covered in mud once again.
DCAKenParticipant@TwoWheelsDC 91954 wrote:
WABA emails always seem to go to my “Promotions” folder in gmail, and sometimes to my spam folder…
It was awaiting in my Promotions folder yesterday. I’m signed up and looking forward to my first time on this ride!
DCAKenParticipant@baiskeli 90009 wrote:
Bike to Rule could also complicate the debate, because some people simply think bikes shouldn’t be on roads even when they do follow the law because they (by their thinking) get in the way of the rightful users of roads.
At the gym this morning, I overhead someone complaining about the bikes on the roads. At one point, he stated that he was glad he lived in Virginia, because with its laws, “The roads belong to the cars.” Unfortunately, I was in the shower while he was espousing this nugget, or I would have reminded him of the 3 foot law that was just passed.
DCAKenParticipantMe: Cycling southbound on Beach Drive, doing about 20 mph
You: SUV who couldn’t be delayedDon’t pass when there’s oncoming traffic. I suppose I should be happy that it wasn’t me who you forced off the road.
DCAKenParticipantIt’s a bowl of cereal for me in the morning (usually at 6 am), then yogurt at 10:30 and lunch at about 12:30.
DCAKenParticipant@Starduster 87931 wrote:
New update to old thread. Why? New light!
Starting with the old light (B+M LumoTec IQ Cyo Plus) which was state of the art in 2011… And going to the B+M LumoTec IQ Cyo T Premium. Brighter emitter and revised optics. Same camera, same wide open ISO3200 exposure, same less-than-steady hand at speed. But look what is possible now! Off the same “lowly” 6v 3w side mount generator.
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This makes me want to upgrade!
DCAKenParticipant@DCLiz 87847 wrote:
No, the boxes were plywood, and still there at close to 9 am. I called 9-1-1 because, hello, crates in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue. If that’s not a suspicious package, I don’t know what is.
I was surprised that the emergency dispatchers seemed unaware of them, more than an hour after they first appeared on Twitter.
These were at the entrance to the Pride festival yesterday. Why there weren’t removed with everything else for the festival is anyone’s guess.
DCAKenParticipantMe: Cycling on North Portal Drive, approaching Tamarack Drive
You: Red SUVThanks for giving me the wide berth as you passed. However, did you think that since you’re in the wrong lane of traffic, the stop sign doesn’t apply to you?
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