[dplasters]

@peterw_diy 91899 wrote:

Your bike has handlebars so far back that you put no weight on the front wheel, and a double thickness mattress shaped vaguely like a saddle to compensate for the bad weight distribution? Sorry to hear that!

touché

i’ll pretend like the word “ugly” contains those slight differences.

[dplasters]

Its an ugly version of my bike.

My father emailed me about the bike in question. I don’t know how you can create a bike that has only one way to stop. That seems like a really bad idea.

[dplasters]

@dasgeh 91736 wrote:

No. Someone riding a bike on a sidewalk, even a crowded one, is not a reason to hate them. Someone may be riding like a jerk, and that’s a reason to be annoyed that they’re acting like a jerk, but not hate.

Moreover, someone riding safely and lawfully on a sidewalk does not give anyone a reason to even be annoyed. I write this because we shouldn’t give peds a pass here. I ride on the sidewalk/path along Virginia Ave/bending onto 25th to get to the Kennedy Center daily. It’s a bike route on the DC bike map, but not signed on the street. I ride slowly, safely and lawfully (it’s West of 23rd). At least once a week – one ride out of five – I get berated by a pedestrian for being there. I’ve tried the alternative, and it is markedly less safe. I will ride behind peds until it is completely safe to pass, often for hundreds of feet. I don’t bother to ding or call out unless there’s room for them to be right. It doesn’t matter. They “hate” me for riding safely and lawfully where I am allowed to be and where it is safest for me to be, because they think that’s the right thing to do. It is not.

I believe we might have different definitions of crowded sidewalk. There is a point where you have to get off and walk your bike to be safe. One wobble and you’re crushing someones foot or hitting them in the side with a handlebar. Perhaps if you are a very skilled rider, walking your bike is unnecessary, but you better believe all the walkers around you are nervous as hell that you are going to hit them. Which creates fear.. and then… The cyclists doesn’t get to decided when the walker is afraid for their safety. Same as a car doesn’t get to decide how far right is safe when on the road. I consider all sidewalks a walk first and ride if possible thing. If that was my 95 year old grandma, would I be happy seeing a cyclist riding how I’m riding?

I’d go with angry (if we are being specific about this) over annoyed. Annoyed doesn’t get you to the point of the consistent physical violence we see directed at cyclists.

I am familiar with the area as a pedestrian on the sidewalk. It is very wide with vendor trucks. Lots of pedestrian chaos (particularly during summer I would guess). There is no flow of the foot traffic, but that is on weekends.. I don’t know what it is like during the weekday/commute. It looks like an extremely challenging area. I hope everyone stays safe. But I can see why people would be annoyed, angry or upset given the type of foot traffic that area has. I haven’t ridden it as a cyclist. The humps in the pavement caused by the buses would indeed be extremely dangerous. I don’t think there is an answer. I’m just saying you aren’t glued to your seat and that sometimes, you just have to walk it to keep everyone safe.

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@Geoff 91713 wrote:

I don’t think you and I have a quarrel. If we rode together you might well think me too faint of heart. I see people filter thru traffic when I would bail and going lickety-split on sidewalks where I’m flintstoning it. On the other hand I’ve been taken to task in situations where I really couldn’t see what the concern was. We all have to make judgement calls, do what we have to do, and try not to be a jerk in the process.

I believe we are likely in agreement. It can be very difficult when riding. Every situation really is different.

I really just wanted to point out that the mindset we have when we get on a bike can lead to very different outcomes. I have found myself riding too aggressively when I get in that “I shouldn’t have to wait in this” mindset. I simply wanted to share my own experience with having a better outlook on the road.

Racing cars* can be “fun” but it is not a great mindset for safe and courteous riding.

*Lets all be honest, we know drivers talk about how we slow down traffic, so when you know you are moving faster (or have the chance to) than they are it brings about a small ( or an impossibly large) amount of joy. But winning at the cost of lowered safety/courtesy to other road/path users should never be an option. But it is an easy trap to fall in to. It is similar to the driver who yearns for the moment to pass the cyclist on the one lane road even if there really isn’t room. Patience is important for everyone.

[dplasters]

If I know the pace of the traffic due to lights will be 30 or less, I’ll filter all day. I know that I can generally keep up with the flow and not be constantly going back and forth with cars passing me and then me passing them. Which is just asking for trouble. Every situation is different.. despite having zero knowledge about the intersection/right hand turn in question I will go out and say…

I think the mindset of “I’ll bike because it is faster” isn’t necessarily a good one to have. In city traffic it can cause you to assume you deserve to be moving past idling cars through filtering or on sidewalks and putting yourself in needlessly risky situations (and looking like an ass). Just because something is legal, doesn’t make it a good idea. When you ride on crowded sidewalks, they hate you for a reason. You’re on a sidewalk and you yield to them. If its not safe to filter and the sidewalk is crowded you have two safe options: Walk your bike on the sidewalk, wait in traffic. Its not absurd. Its the reality of the situation. Frustrating? Sure. But I always read on these forums how ever time you’re on a bike you’re a spokesperson for the cycling community and there is doing what is right and doing what you think you should be able to do. Life sucks, we frequently don’t get what we think we should.

Again, I don’t know the exact setup of the intersection or the traffic pattern around it. What I’m hearing is “filtering isn’t safe” and “the sidewalk is filled with people” but “I can’t be bothered to wait in traffic” so i’ll filter through people on a busy sidewalk.

I think the better mindset is “I will enjoy getting from A to B way more and when I get there I’ll also know I got some good exercise in. If I can do it in the same time or faster than a car check me out!“

[dplasters]

You: Blue SUV at the intersection of Virginia Center Blvd and Nutley St.

Me: The cyclist behind you at the red light

You seriously have a mount for your phone that attaches to the inside of your steering wheel so you can watch music videos as you drive????:confused::confused::confused: I appreciate that I was able to watch the new Ariana Grande video.. but that doesn’t exactly seem safe.

[dplasters]

@Greenbelt 91327 wrote:

Excellent commute etiquette this morning…

What magical intersection is this?? I dream of being in a place with this many people commuting by bike at once. I see like 3-5 folks a day, max. I’m always the salmon going the other way.

Come on Fairfax/Vienna/Merriefield/West Falls Church… we can do it! .. install bike lanes on Lee highway? #pipedreams

[dplasters]

@Crickey7 91281 wrote:

So that I can go home in the other direction.

NNW … On what tiny planet do you get to choose which direction to go??? Gusts around 20ish?

[dplasters]

Holy headwind Batman!

[dplasters]

I just recently started commuting to work almost 2 months ago based on the advice I got on this forum. Things that I learned from that process:

This forum is super helfupul. I received a half dozen different route options and ideas on where to start looking for bikes and what to ride etc. I clearly ignored most of them.. but what can I say?

What the bike looked like mattered to me (I’m a young male and I’m clearly shallow.. I needed to want to ride it otherwise I knew I wouldn’t. Just because it isn’t a carbon road bike doesn’t mean it can’t look good. There are lots of very good options to be had. I choose a bit of an oddball path but it makes me love riding. The bike still had to be wife approved though.

The road is full of crap and is not nearly as smooth as I perceived it to be. I’m very happy I got a steel frame bike and not anything made of carbon. This is particularly useful when you need to use the sidewalks for a bit (escape bumper to bumper traffic or in a pinch at certain intersections etc. And when i show how little experience I have locking it up when I go shopping and drop and bang my bike against the post/pole all the time.

The route is really important to your selection. Get an idea of how you are going to get there. Drive it early on a weekend (if you have nothing to ride) and do it slowly.. pay attention to the little details (google maps street view can be helpful as well). How narrow is it, are there sidewalks etc. If you are using any of the paths in the area go walk the paths. Tree roots, bridges, lack of maintenance will dictate what you’d really want to be riding on them.

Budget was super important to me. I kept it cheap by: Using a backpack, riding on platforms, using my golf shorts to ride in, using my gore-tex from golf as a rain buddy. My ride is shorter than yours (about 6.5 miles each way but I experience no discomfort at all with this setup). You can get a good headlight for $50-75 and a good taillight for less than $20. Strap some sub $10 LEDs to your pack/backpack as well. Bike Nashbar and Amazon.com are your friend and sheldonbrown.com is your reference manual.

I love riding to work. It has been great mentally and physically. Goodluck!

[dplasters]

@Emm 90963 wrote:

If it werent orange, I’d have gone for it. For the moment I have a lightweight northface pack which is doing well. The only downside is its not at all waterproof…I’ll be keeping an eye out for a waterproof pack for a decent price.

I may send that link to the fiancee though who loves orange .

Water proof bags for bikes? I go amazon.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lomo-High-Visibility-Cycling-Rucksack/dp/B00E4PNV2G

[dplasters]

@mstone 90466 wrote:

In my experience those signs are completely ignored.

Agreed. But it can’t hurt and if it helps even slightly all the better.

[dplasters]

@TwoWheelsDC 90482 wrote:

§ 46.2-924. Drivers to stop for pedestrians; installation of certain signs; penalty.

A. The driver of any vehicle on a highway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian crossing such highway:

1. At any clearly marked crosswalk, whether at mid-block or at the end of any block;

2. At any regular pedestrian crossing included in the prolongation of the lateral boundary lines of the adjacent sidewalk at the end of a block;

3. At any intersection when the driver is approaching on a highway or street where the legal maximum speed does not exceed 35 miles per hour.

That is an interesting little bit of info. I wonder how long you’d have to stand at the crosswalk at the intersection of the FCPkwy and Modisto lane before anyone actually yielded to you. It makes me wonder why they would even put crosswalks mid-block on high speed roads like the FCPkwy.

[dplasters]

@eminva 90432 wrote:

I spoke with an officer who was canvassing about a week before this initiative started. He was at the intersection on the north side of the station (Virginia Center Lane) so I think they are focusing on a number of areas around the station which might account for the high statistics. He said at that intersection, they were focusing on drivers who turn right out of the metro kiss and ride without yielding to pedestrians.

Liz

Would love to see a no turn on red when pedestrians present sign there too…. Just to make the drivers that much more aware of them. They creep out into the walkway to try and see around the corner, and when a metro bus is there trying to turn left it gets bad. I would think that intersection is worse in terms of accidents vs south of the metro.

[dplasters]

I ride through there every day. Its the south side of the Vienna Metro. Let me know when they start ticketing all the cars that drop people off there/wait despite all the signs telling them not to :rolleyes: Its a brand new section seeing large amounts of growth. Its a shame they don’t lower the speed limit to an appropriate level given the amount of pedestrian traffic.

I’ll have to test their 13 second light report… It takes way longer than that in my personal experience.

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