[DCAKen]

@DCAKen 84331 wrote:

At Pierce Mill, the Rock Creek Trail is now an obstacle course.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5456[/ATTACH]

Sometime on Thursday, between my morning and evening commute, the washout was repaired.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5788[/ATTACH]

[DCAKen]

@cwescott 86236 wrote:

Does anyone know when Pierce mill section of bike trail will be fixed? It washed away in flood a few weeks ago. Tried emailing at http://www.nps.gov/rocr/contacts.htm but just got an error message.

When I get that error message, I send it directly to the superintendent at rocr_superintendent@nps.gov. I also note in the message that I get an error when attempting to submit through their web site.

[DCAKen]

@GTownBiker 84459 wrote:

Great!

Where exactly is the entrance on Wisconsin Avenue to the towpath?

Many thanks.

Wisconsin Avenue crosses the towpath, but there’s not a connection to it. Instead, you should take 33rd Street (Potomac Street is another alternative) up from Water Street as shown here. It is a short, steep climb.

[DCAKen]

At Pierce Mill, the Rock Creek Trail is now an obstacle course.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5456[/ATTACH]

[DCAKen]

@sethpo 84118 wrote:

Maybe it will force them to rebuild some of that trail that they’ve been dragging their feet on.

Hahahaha….that’s a good one!

[DCAKen]

One point not discussed is why there is a “Walk your bike” sign on the trail here to begin with. That location wider than several other sections of the trail, like here or here.

[DCAKen]

DCist has an article on the latest on the lack of progress on the rehabilitation of the Rock Creek Park trail.

“Construction could begin on the project as early as Fiscal Year 2015,” the letter states.

But I won’t be holding my breath.

[DCAKen]

A good way to end my ride to work

[DCAKen]

@GB 81385 wrote:

Does anyone else call/ring bell when going around a blind turn? I do ~30% of the time, I can’t say it has caused me to avoid a collision yet, but I imagine it will one day.

I do this at two locations going southbound on the Rock Creek trail. The first is at the Park Road underpass at Peirce Mill and the other is at the P Street Bridge.

[DCAKen]

One of my fellow bike commuters in my agency sent out an email yesterday detailing his un-missed connection.

Since I realized you may not have heard about Monday’s events, I was the one WAMU reported as Car-Bike Collision on Eastbound Randolph Road at Serpentine Avenue.

While bike commuting to the office Monday morning, an idiot rear ended me at full speed, launching me into the air, and then apparently ran over my bike while I was busy flying up the road. I landed on my back ending up smashing my left shoulder down onto the curb. I was given a neck brace and strapped to a backboard and rushed to the trauma center at Suburban Hospital. There I got a chest/back x-ray, 3 views of my right ankle, 3 of my left shoulder, 3 of my left hand, and two types of CT scans of my pelvis, abdomen, torso, and neck/head. After these and blood work had all been run, they finally took the neck brace.

I’m very sore, bandages on various parts of my body, and have a sausage for a left pinky finger. I’m great compared to the condition of the bike (probably totaled) and my now dead laptop. In looking at how badly the bike fared, I feel quite lucky to be in as good a shape as I am.

The other good news is that the driver stuck around and there was another witness. The Police supposedly have all his information, etc. but I have yet to hear from the officer.

I’m in the office today for the first day this week and doing pretty well, all things considered.

As the weather warms and days get longer — be careful out there!

[DCAKen]

M Street will take you over to Rock Creek at 28th Street, where you can access the Rock Creek trail. From here, take the C&O towpath trail or go down to K Street (below the elevated Whitehurst freeway) to get to the Capital Crescent trail.

The M Street bike lane is under construction from 14th to 28th Street, but I haven’t been on it recently to see how far it’s gotten west of Connecticut Avenue. However, even without a separate lane, M Street isn’t a bad way to go west.

[DCAKen]

I’ll be there!

[DCAKen]

We don’t need no stinkin’ air conditioning! A few more granny gear would have helped as I climbed this segment on a rented mountain bike.

[DCAKen]

@Terpfan 78904 wrote:

Anyone have any updates on MVT south of airport toward Belle Haven? And lower section of RCP? I’m guessing nothing has melted on the stupid RCP, but this one I can avoid by taking roads in Georgetown, the MVT part I really can’t, at least until OT heading north.

As of this morning (3/6), there are still long stretches of the Rock Creek Park that are still ice/snow covered and the Zoo gates were closed. I stayed on Beach Drive from the Conn Ave bridge up to Broad Branch, glancing over to the trail every so often to see how much snow remained on it. Fortunately, I timed my ride so I got on the road after the Parkway goes one-way, so I only had two cars pass me on that section.

[DCAKen]

I recent wrote to the Rock Creek Park superintendent to ask that they plow the main trail after a snowfall and I got this reply on Friday

Thank you for your interest. The Rock Creek Park multi-use trail is open to all forms of non-motorized recreation in the park. Removing snow and ice from trails including the multi-use asphalt trail, bridle trails, and foot trails throughout the park is not a part of the Rock Creek Park Snow Management Plan. Additionally, the park does not have the resources to remove snow and ice from the multi-use trail. Clearing this trail would also require the use of snow melting products which would add to the environmental impact to the park. As temperatures warm and the snow and ice melts, the park does generally remove the remaining snow or ice patches to make the trail safe for all users.

Unfortunately, they seem to think that if the main trail is cleared, all trails must be cleared (even the unpaved ones!). And I don’t know why they think that plowing also means using “snow melting” products.

[Author]

Posts