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There’s certainly nothing to stop anyone from taking over and running the leaderboards this year.

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@ginacico 180923 wrote:

Sigh. By implying that we don’t employ mirrors and similar habits, you’re beating a dead horse and missing the point entirely.

The point is, defensive behavior won’t keep you from a wreck or near miss when people behave like asshats.

LOTM and I are bitching about idiots who don’t follow conventional rules of the road. I’ve concluded there is no productive advice on how to avoid or stop them, which is why this thread sounds like a broken record. A broken record. A broken record.

I don’t think Steve was implying that. LOTM was the one who says he doesn’t look behind him (and I understand believes that this shouldn’t be required if you signal). I’d agree with Steve on this one, that checking before you change lanes is just safe practice. I’m sure that 90% of the folks here are doing this. But, yeah, that horse is dead and I feel bad about the way it died. I’ll stop beating it.

Completely agree that you can’t stop people from being asshats. Ideally there’d be consequences for people behaving like that on the trail besides just the ire of their fellow MUP users. Sadly relying on peoples’ better nature and common consideration is a sort of 80/20 rule around here. I’m sure for some of you it feels less positive than that. I will say that every time I ride the MVT in traffic, I am amazed at the difference in behavior. On the W&OD most people cover lights, etc. On the MVT basically no one does. And obviously the trail is narrow and busier and people are speeding around peds or shooting the way-too-narrow-on-that-trail gap. It’s ridiculous. And not even all of them are e-bike riders! The non-e-bike riders must be from Maryland.

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I have a registration. Will sell for a hoppy 6-pack. (Plus there’s a $10 transfer fee.)

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Honestly, I think the games are what make it fun. The leaderboards maybe get people to go out when they “shouldn’t” (or maybe really shouldn’t) but the games are great. Even from the sidelines.

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Thanks, guys. Yeah, FS has been very positive, which is why I’ve kept doing it even though I haven’t really played myself since burning out year 1 . I do really want to see it keep on, so I hope that someone takes over. The volunteer idea seemed like a good one, but no one actually did anything — so it actually was a net loss of productivity on the website . But it did make me take some time to clean up and document some of the interworkings.

Jon, you could definitely take it over from technical perspective, but obviously I understand if you don’t have time. I also can spend some time providing additional documentation before it is launch time, should that be needed. This is why I am mentioning this now. The running has gotten easier, though there are always a bunch of leaderboards etc. that need to be created. At this time that does not require any code changes — just need someone to write the SQL and then put it in a yaml file to make the custom scoreboard.

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@UnknownCyclist 180858 wrote:

Fenders…
Not only do they make you look like a complete dork

Dont worry, only fair-weather cyclists would think that.

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Glade is a wonderful road, yes.

I’ve ridden Lawyers. It isn’t great to the east, but I rode it a couple times when the trail was snowed under and it didn’t feel unsafe.

Stuart Mill is an alternative to Lawyers, but I don’t think it’s a better option. Hunter Station to Twin Branches to Glade is a great way to get to FFX County Pkwy.

The Fairfax County Pkwy trail is terrible, especially the intersections, but ultimately that is how I also go to Chantilly (I think also via Franklin Farm).

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@Tania, let us know how the CCT trail (Purple Trail) was between W&OD and Twin Branches (wet/dry). I’d like to ride it tomorrow up to LFX if it hasn’t started raining, yet, so that might be a good indication on how that’ll go.

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@mstone 180688 wrote:

If the bike lane is ending, it’s usually because either the road is getting too narrow for a bike lane, or there’s some kind of complicated conflict point up ahead and they couldn’t figure out a reasonable place to put the lines. In either case, I don’t understand why you’d advocate for cyclists to take a less visible position, or one which would encourage drivers to pass in-lane where there isn’t enough room to do so safely.

Yeah, that’s certainly not my intention, but I’m not really sure I had a very coherent intention. Clearly, I’m not familiar with the streets in question; the idea of changing course suddenly because bike lane ends sounds unsafe/unpredictable to me, but obviously if the only alternative is riding off the road, then it’s what one has to do. Hopefully carefully and with some looking behind you for the cars in the lane.

I think the other part I was suggesting was that the center of the lane doesn’t always feel safer to me. E.g. you’re going to cause an accident (or be the victim of a rage-driven accident) if you take the lane on Georgetown Pike.

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@lordofthemark 180675 wrote:

To the extent that riders ignore sharrows in deciding where to ride, and ride on the gutter pan even though the sharrows is in center of the lane, the sharrows has certainly failed in one of its purposes, and arguably is problematic in telling drivers where in the road to expect riders.

There’s a big difference between the center of the lane and the gutter. I don’t ridenin the gutter, but I also don’t ride in the center of the lane unless there are cars parked in the lane and I’m avoiding doors. (But most bike lanes are right in the door zone.)

Anyway, noted that the intent is also to communicate where to ride. But if a bike lane ending causes cyclists to alter course and move into the center of the lane, this doesn’t seem ideal from a vehicle predictability perspective.

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Good point on the course being in better shape on Saturday. They do have that off-camber hairpin turn that gets pretty sloppy after a few races have gone through.

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@Crickey7 180650 wrote:

If a few people actually chased you down to complain, that means in all likelihood, many more did not hear you but chose not to make a stink about it. I’d suggest that your pass-calling isn’t nearly as audible as you think it is. At least on the CCT, the posted requirement isn’t simply signaling your pass. It’s signaling your pass audibly.

Most people acknowledge my calls by waving, so I’m pretty confident the problem here isn’t me. And that’s 2 people in 13 years of commuting, so not too bad. Given the ingrained cyclist expectation here to be treated like unpredictabld children on the trail, I’m pretty sure the ratio would be a lot higher if I were actually inaudible. And if someone can’t hear me because they’re chatting next to a friend, I don’t feel obligated to scream at them. For the last few year I do just use a bell.

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(In Switzerland bike infra is also shared with peds (and low-power motorcycles, etc.).)

I think in Europe cyclists are also used to being passed very closely by cars. The roads are narrow and speed limits generous. But, at least in my experience, this is done much more skillfully than in this country; it’s not scary once you get used to it. So I expect cyclists are pretty good at holding their line and not being spooked by being passed by another cyclist.

Around here, I’ve had a couple people chase me down to yell at me that I didn’t call a pass. Only I did, but apparently not loud enough. And the most recent time was on the bridge over 495 on the W&OD and I was probably 5 or 6 feet away from the person as I passed (maybe that is why they didn’t hear me). The entitlement is ridiculous. I wanted to ask them if they were a small child or intoxicated or otherwise couldn’t be counted on to not veer across the yellow line without checking first; instead, I just told them that I had announced my pass and I was sorry that they hadn’t heard it.

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DCCX is an amazing event and you’ll have fun, I am sure. I don’t know if it matters which day. I’ve raced once on Saturday and gone a few times as a spectator. I guess, I would recommend racing Sunday if you are riding your bike over there as that should be the quieter day to ride through DC.

I plan to be there one of those days with my son who is racing the 9-10 junior field. I don’t know what size bike you ride, but you are welcome to borrow mine if 59cm fits. Ideally you’d have a bike you could practice on too, though, as the barriers and remount benefits from practice. I am terrible at it, but get some free practice opportunities now that my kid will be doing cx practices a couple times a week. Also, given my poor form in jumping back on the bike, it is lucky that I didn’t want to have any more kids.

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I’ve always viewed sharrows as helping increase awareness for cycling presence, not as an indicator of where to ride. I believe in VA the law is to ride as far to the right as reasonable/safe regardless of sharrows, right?

I will take the lane if that feels safest, certainly. But with driver rage and passing in lane of oncoming traffic that doesn’t always feel safest. (I’ve been witness and indirect, if faultless, cause of two car-on-car accidents from aggressive and unsafe passing.)

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