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@DrP 192015 wrote:

Anyone know what MVT between Rosslyn and 14th bridge is like? Wondering for morning commute.

Answering my own question – MVT is just fine. I guess it was a good thing that this all happened near low tide. There is a big streak of flotsam in the river not far off the VA shore, but it isn’t all over the trail like the flooding last year was.
There still seems to be a porta-potty in the river just north of Memorial Bridge (I kind of thought that would have moved south of the bridge, but maybe it is stuck on something).

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Well, the routes through the middle of Arlington are okay. Pentagon City to Ballston via Joyce to Columbia Pike to Washington Blvd Trail (between Towers Park and rt50) to the little trails in Lyon Park to the neighborhood between Pershing and Wilson were all clear, except for minor debris (all flotsam since it is unlikely people jettisoned the material to reduce their weight in the water (to answer the flotsam vs jetsam question too)). On Custis there was debris under George Mason, but very passable.

Anyone know what MVT between Rosslyn and 14th bridge is like? Wondering for morning commute.

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The new Custis Trail in Rosslyn was open this morning (closing the sidewalk) between Oak and Lynn. I must say, that for brand new asphalt, it was very bumpy. I fear it will quickly get worse and be filled with puddles on days like today. Also, at all the road vehicle crossings (entrances to the Marriott and streets) the eastbound side dips into the “ramp” (Curb cut? I am sure there is a better name for this) and often not smoothly. I expect many wheeled vehicles to swerve to avoid those. It didn’t look completely finished, so maybe it will be improved?

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@lordofthemark 190920 wrote:

ISTR a car bike split sign at the entrance to the SB PBL on Hayes (though I can’t find it on google street view) I am pretty sure that sign did not indicate taking the lane was banned, and even if it did, I don’t think that would be enforceable in Virginia.

Yes, it looks like the one on Hayes. I think it is there to let the cars know that it is not a car lane. It hasn’t stopped the gardeners from blocking the lane on Hayes. If they get one north of Quincy, I doubt it will stop the folks running in and out of subway and the ABC store, but at least I can point to it when I yell at them for blocking the bike lane. There is nothing about the sign that indicates to me that bikes are banned from the roadway.

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@creadinger 190877 wrote:

Speaking of weird stuff that happens – Not my feet this time but just on Saturday night outside of Thurmont, a freaking bat flew right into my chest! WTF

Just be thankful it didn’t bite you. A cycling friend in Ohio was bitten by a bat on his commute home one day (late fall, I think, dark in any event). Had to go for the rabies shots. He was not amused.

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The VRE does allow bikes on some of the trains (last three of the morning and last three of the evening), although there are limits in the number of bikes allowed. You would need to talk to folks who do that to see how truly viable it is. You can then VRE to Crystal City or Union Station and bike from those locations (or find somewhere near those places with bike parking you can use? Not sure how possible that is).
There is a parking lot in Reston along the W&OD for commuters. A former coworker drives there and either takes the bus to Crystal City or bikes (frequently it is bike one way and bus the other). That lot expects you to be there all day (and he has returned after the metro closed too). Reston Station, I think. That is a long ride to Bethesda, however. Depending on how multimodal you want, you could drive there, bus to Pentagon, Crystal City or wherever else they have the buses go to (Rossyln?) and then bike – they allow the bikes on the buses in some manner (it might be underneath). The metro is near there too and that is now an option. There are other lots too for metro, so perhaps drive to one and take your bike.

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@Emm 189765 wrote:

I spoke to another commuter at work who commented about the “light drizzle” he encountered this morning, as I was emptying the puddle of water out of my shoes in the garage…

I’m not sure how prepared everyone else was this morning, but I was NOT expecting the blinding torrential rain I encountered 5 minutes into my ride. The weather app only mentioned light rain, not 10-15 minutes of the sky turning into a waterfall. Luckily it was relatively short-lived.

By the time I got to a point where I could hide under a bridge, I was already drenched, so I waved to the 10 or so cyclists hiding out under the Route 1/GW Parkway/Metro underpasses on 4mrt, and kept on going. It was comforting to see them though, since it meant I wasn’t the only person who totally missed the insane rain in the forecast.

Luckily I was nearly at work, but I was still nearly soaked by the time I got there 5 min later. I had checked three different weather applications (weather.gov, wunderground, dark skies) at 6:40 am, plus listened to WAMU announcers and NONE showed rain in the morning nor anything on the radar. Upon logging on in the office, I checked the radar with a loop and that storm popped up out of nowhere and was quite large, quite quickly.

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Thank you all. Sounds like I should not have been surprised by it and the fact that it got better with time is appropriate. I will look into the correct procedure for my brakes when righting them and line bleeding.

I think the replacement was also because the brake had been soft for a while, which I mentioned at that time, thus likely a leak somewhere, and I am not sure that they understood that I had not used the brake with the wheel out (“So how did you get it open?” was one question I got, to which I answered that I never used the brake without the wheel in place, but he still seemed confused). Also, since it was still on their protection plan it was far easier to replace it. Now, they should have known that it was normal and told me because I did ask about that at the time. Some of the mechanics there are really good, but know many are in training (one told me so in the past).

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@Kbikeva 189539 wrote:

Not sure if this is the best thread to get the word out

This works for me! Thank you! I frequently end up choosing routes that have races on them because I do not know where to check for all the races (nor remember!). (Somehow my cycling buddy and I time a Mt Vernon trip every year during the Parkway Classic. At least we know the possible routes through Old Town now.)

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Yesterday morning there were at least four scooters on Trollheim. At least the wood was dry so any need to swerve was less likely to cause a slip and fall. I was very pleased to see that there were none there this morning, when it would have been dangerous. Instead there were four between Memorial Bridge and the Merchant Marine Memorial, three of which were nicely parked next to benches and one tossed to the side.

Actually, on my commute yesterday, before seeing this thread, but after seeing all the ones on Trollheim, I was thinking that NPS should just start fining the companies a few hundred per day for hazardous littering – those batteries being hazardous to the environment. And this would be for ones that are not located within50ft of a parking lot or some such accessible point for juicers. This time of year it would be worth it to the NPS to have someone go collect them and send notices to the companies for fines and then charge them each day they do not come and pick them up at some obscure NPS location that is only open some limited number of hours. If the companies wish to bill back to the last user, that is up to them. They could have their software warn the user that the location they just left it will cause them to be charged a fee and thus recommend that they move it. There could be a time limit, like if they or someone else moves it in an hour, then there is no fee. But something like this could be done.

Can those things move when not powered? Meaning if the battery died can someone ride it like a regular, albeit heavy, scooter (like the electric CABIs)?

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Well, today I was glad that I commute via bicycle. Rode out of the parking garage and saw that Army-Navy drive was completely backed-up heading towards the highways and the air smelled smoky or something. Then noticed that Washington Blvd was all backed up heading into the city, Rt 50 was all backed up both directions, I-66 all backed up heading into DC. I had a fast, lovely commute home.
Upon return I heard about the overturned tanker on 495 and several other accidents. Wow.

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@semperiden 189213 wrote:

FYI. At the construction site near the Memorial Bridge on the MVT, they placed jersey barriers that effectively create blind corners.

They were also placing 4 inch high speed bumps after such blind corners this morning.

As of about 7:30am today there were no speed bumps. The barriers were still there and a sign warning of bumps, but no bumps. Are they only in during the day or when they are doing something in particular, I wonder? Did they take them down after a few falls occurred? Curious to know.

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Tuesday night I noticed that the PBL north on Quincy at Wilson was now painted green where the right turn lane comes in. I was very happy to see that. I think the cars would see that better.

I would love to see the green paint on the next block where the cars all park to run into the ABC store and Subway.

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@lordofthemark 188709 wrote:

In the NL, IIUC, peds respect the bike lanes. Because there are so many bike riders in them, it would be hard to confuse them with a sidewalk – and because since so many peds also ride, they are more aware.

In northern Germany (Kiel in particular) they had sidewalk level bike lanes. The sidewalks were wide, the bike lanes were wide. The bike lanes were a very different color from the sidewalks and no physical separation (it was a while ago, so I might be wrong on that count). I am thinking something like one was red and the other blue or green. Yes, it was Germany and they tend to follow rules like these more than people here (yes, I can give examples for the opposite for each, but that is the local norm I saw) and there were lots of cyclists, but there just wasn’t too much crossing into the other lanes.

Are the sidewalk level lanes here you mention like that? If I recall, the Maine Ave ones are the same color as the road, with a median between the bike and ped lanes. That might just not clue peds in as much. From my experience, all the bike lanes that are colored green in Arlington seem to have fewer car incursions – perhaps because they are seen so clearly. Might it make sense to color the bike lanes at sidewalk level to be something that peds do not normally walk on?

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@mstone 188568 wrote:

The only solution is an end to right turn on red but that won’t happen until self driving cars make it unnecessary.

Because you think no one will vote for it? When turn on red became allowable (1970s? Or was it 80s?), New York City (all 5 boroughs) did not allow it and still don’t. The city hasn’t stalled (despite all the traffic, and it does have other issues). People drive in and out of the city all the time and somehow manage to not be turning on red all the time in the city and remember they can when they leave. I am not sure what their pedestrian and bicycle accident rate is (although I know that pedestrians will cross roads with cars coming – a large enough mass on Manhattan streets will just cross even without right of way and cars coming). Perhaps we can get DC and surrounding counties to remove turn on red.

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