[DrP]

@TwoWheelsDC 125979 wrote:

In the future, I think Lacey Woods park would be a good infill location, as well as VHC.

I completely agree with this! If CaBis were there, I would join CaBi. Otherwise I am walking nearly to the Metro station to get one and why not just take metro at that point (yes, slow sometimes, but not always).

[DrP]

There has been a goose carcass on the MVT northbound lane south of the Memorial Bridge and north of the GWP crossing since yesterday morning. It appears to have moved since yesterday to be more centered in the lane (unless we have a serial goose killer around. Perhaps a buddy of the CCT Barred owl?). I have reported it to NPS.

[DrP]

So, this church is near the convention center. Thus near a metro stop. Shouldn’t all those folks coming in from the suburbs be parking at a suburban metro stop and coming into church via metro? Those more local can probably also metro and bus, walk or, shock, bike using the new bike lanes. If taking the metro (bus or trains), they can spend that much more time praying (which is needed at times on the metro – perhaps they could help Metro solve its problems).

[DrP]

Beautiful day, if a little chilly. Fewer people out too since yesterday (40 fewer on the monolith and less than half on the MVT). I think yesterday was an anomaly. (and continuing yesterday’s conversation – DC and MD use a different schedule for buses and trains on holidays, not stop them entirely. VA really assumes no one would ride a train if they weren’t going into their gov’t office for work)

Passed one cyclist who had a propeller on his handle bars, along with several action figures. Passed too quickly to be sure who the figures were but I had the sense (felt the force?) of Star Wars figures.

[DrP]

@bentbike33 126090 wrote:

Yes, Columbus Day. I was riding west on the W&OD for fun, not east on the Custis to work.

Some of us don’t get all those days off (and many coworkers could not get into the office because they do not run the trains or buses in VA – something that makes no sense to me as a New Yorker, but that is a different soapbox). It was nice having no one there. Tuesday was pretty empty too – and I do not believe that was a holiday…

[DrP]

Where did all the people come form? Monday had almost no one and today was crazy-busy on the trails. I was something like 45 on the monlith on Monday and 120-something today. I swear at least 1/4 of those passed me on the Custis (and I am not that slow!) and another 20-30 rider (in the other direction, at least) between the 14th street bridge and Crystal City. What a difference 10deg seems to make. I will be curious to see what tomorrow is like if it is indeed in the 40s in the morning.

(and thank you Steve O for posting the VA code on the unresponsive red)

[DrP]

@dasgeh 126034 wrote:

What you did is also completely legal in Virginia. In fact, you only need to wait through 2 light cycles (or 2 minutes).

Do you know where in the code this is? What if you know that the light won’t change? Do you have to wait the two cycles anyway? On Sunday mornings at least, George Mason and Lee Highway often have this and Williamsburg at Dominion and at Glebe won’t change with a bicycle. Among the few times I hope for cars.

[DrP]

Between the cool weather and the holiday the trails were nearly devoid of people on bikes or foot. Which made the ride triply wonderful – cool temps, empty trails, and beautiful weather. The river was clearly warmer than the air and the fog/mists rising from it were beautiful. Even the lone swan was out today swimming majestically just south of trollheim.

[DrP]

@mstone 125572 wrote:

I used to routinely take metro on the weekends to avoid driving downtown on a Saturday night. I stopped about 5 years ago, when it was clear that it was far quicker and more reliable to drive because of all the single track stupidity and long headways. I’m told it’s gotten worse. Maybe my kids will give weekend metro a chance some day, they’ve pretty much lost me.

I agree with the “getting worse” statement. I took metro from 1997-1999 red line to the outer green line (when there was a stretch from Fort Totten to Greenbelt, but not connecting to the rest). And that was a pain, but doable. Then again from 2007-2009 from MD to VA and that wasn’t bad. Sure, there were bad days from time to time, but generally for commuting times, it was mostly reliable. Weekends were generally pretty good, but Sundays were bad just because of so few trains. From 2009-now, I only rarely commute via metro because it takes so long with the transfers and I keep hearing about all the delays in the morning (and it takes about the same time as it does for me to bike. I admit I had been driving it mostly until this March. That was MUCH quicker, but less satisfying than biking). I still would like it for weekends, but they are doing so much track work that it is becoming impractical. I tend to just not go where I feel I should only go via metro (meaning, I do not hit the museums on the mall because I should metro there and metro is unreliable. So, I go elsewhere that a car, walking or bike make more sense). The single tracking is ridiculous. It would appear that they only have cross-over tracks once every several stops. They should be before and after every station. Then they can work small areas with minor delays – especially on off-peak hours when they run fewer trains.

I was hearing about the problems the NY subways had in the 70s and 80s, which were similar to metro’s and those got turned around. Perhaps there is hope.

[DrP]

Where did all the people go?
Normally I am about 150-170 on the monolith in the morning. Today number 25! Only about a dozen pedestrians and about that many cyclists – mostly by Gravelly Point (few (two? three?) on Custis).
It really wasn’t raining any harder than the past two mornings.

[DrP]

Good commute home.
On Four Mile Run between Walter Reed and George Mason, there were three Arlington Police cars (well, two cars and one SUV) on the trail. All moved to the side well in advance of me to let me pass, but I have no idea why they were even there. That is not really a shortcut to anywhere. Hopefully nothing bad had happened.

[DrP]

Another nice commute. Even fewer people on the trails. Although, at Gravelly Point, a Park Police car decided it couldn’t wait the minute or two to make it to the actual entrance from the parkway to the parking lot and just drove up the curb, across the grass, across the trail and into the parking lot at the south end of the lot (i.e., about as early as it could do so). Not sure what it then did once there. How odd.

[DrP]

Great Commute! First in almost a week due to work travel and there were very few cyclists or pedestrians out there. It was wonderful being out there. Sure it was a little damp and humid, but much better than yet another 4hour drive in a car (I hope this project finishes up soon). About 10degrees cooler would have been welcomed since the rain jacket can get warm, but it was okay as is.

[DrP]

I am curious. With all the questions and comments on comfort, kids, and others, when did you start riding bicycles and where was that? Perhaps others, not on this forum, are comfortable on these roads based on their prior riding experience. Perhaps some are uncomfortable because, while similar to the roads they grew up riding, they are different roads and thus “scary.” Does that change the approach of education and lane marking? Does it change how we get messages out to drivers? While not all kids learned to ride, many kids did learn to ride bikes as kids and then stopped for some reason. They are now driving. Can we take advantage of that.

So, I started as a kid in a suburb of NYC. Road-wise, definitely not dissimilar from Arlington or Falls Church City or even parts of Alexandria. There were no bike lanes anywhere. Helmets were not the thing (and no, I am not starting a helmet vs not discussion – I like helmets and point out to my mom regularly that when she was a kid, the cars were not going >=35mph next to her). Once I knew how to ride easily (6 yr old, maybe?), I was all over the place riding. Sometimes to school, but usually all over my town and the next town over. There were lots of “neighborhood” streets, but several with cars going 30-40 mph and lanes much narrower than many of the major streets here. The worst of those I typically crossed rather than rode along, but there was definitely a stretch of US1 that I rode – I would liken it to Lee Hwy in Arlington or Route 7 in Falls Church. I still go back to that town regularly. I see more people biking on these roads and kids on many of them. There still aren’t bike lanes, although there are bike route signs. Some I would be more comfortable on than others, just as here.
While I am definitely for more cycling structure, are there places that we should focus more on and others, well, it isn’t worth the potential backlash?

[DrP]

Thank you. Some of those I think I am already trying – the new bike came with ergonomic grips (they are not just round grips on the bar, but have a place for the heel of your hand) and I have padded gloves of varying amounts (so far, no difference). I can try the bending elbows more and thus be bent over more (only way to have bent elbows on this bike), but that puts more strain on the upper back, so I need to figure out how not to add strain. With the biking, weightlifting, and stretching/exercises I already do, I am not sure I have time to add more core work to my mix (3-5hr a day seems to be spent on exercising, so I do not have time for much more until I get to retire in too many years from now. Maybe it is too much exercise). I think I will actively try to not tighten my upper back as I ride for a couple of more weeks before I change a few things on the bike itself (with or without the fitter).

[Author]

Posts