[JeffC]

Minimalist shoes are all the rage. I own a pair of Vibram Five Fingers, three pairs of Merril Glove shoes, and a pair of Terra Planna Vivo Barefoots. I will wear these sometimes on a short trip to the subway (1.5 miles) but not on longer rides all the way to work (11 miles), for that I use my Adiadas Sambas or Keen sandals, no strapless bikes for me.

Last week at the beach I saw several people biking barefoot or with just flipflops. I suppose for short distances it is ok but barefoot strikes me as rather silly, especially given how easy it is is to injure one’s hands and arms when biking, the feet are even more vulnerable.

[JeffC]

Just watched that video. What an annoying commentator. It’s all gotcha fist pumping journalism. I used to subscribe to Reason magazine a few years ago but got tired of it for the type of product this video represents. In fairness to them, their magazine is better but that video was a joke.

I generally agree with the tenor of others’ comments that the price of electricity does not represent the true costs. We don’t pay up front in dollar amounts for the environmental harm, the wasted productivity from gridlock, the obesity from lack of exercise, and ignore that we have sent the US military around the world to secure world energy supplies. Factor that in and ask how much energy should cost.

[JeffC]

All this back and forth just makes me realize how wonderful a bikes only path would be in the afternoon.

I left work Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 pm and because it was a bit early, the Custis Trail had a detour, and (mainly) it was 99F, I passed about 3 die hard joggers the whole time who understood the importance of sticking farther right than Rick Santorum. I actually got to day dream a bit, let my mind wander, and not obsess about passing speeds and be constantly scanning for peds. Ahh the way biking could be (and one would expect it to be in a Bicyclying Magazine Gold Star City or whaterver Arlington is supposedly).

In contrast the morning was packed with joggers and walkers trying to take advantage of the cool temps knowing it was going to be a scorcher in the afternoon. Unforutnatly the way it was last morning was the way it usually is in the afternoon when temps are below 90F.

[JeffC]

@MCL1981 22451 wrote:

I would love if everyone on two wheels would read and understand this portion of Mark’s column

Cyclists, understand this: You are to pedestrians on the trail as cars are to you on the road. This means that you have the responsibility – as the ones who can do the most damage – to not only observe the pedestrian’s right of way on the trail, but to anticipate and avoid dangerous situations. If that means slowing to a crawl for a few moments because you think that couple ahead of you might take the left turn without looking — do it. You know how motorists can wait for a few seconds when you need to take the lane? Same thing here.

Cyclists are also in the driver’s seat when it comes to signaling a pass. My recommendation from last year remains the same – get and use a bell. They’re cheap, they’re easier to hear than voice warnings, and they’re not subject to misinterpretation.

Although I agree with this, it just supports in my mind the need for bikes only trails like in some more advanced US cities. A major cause of vehicle accidents is cars at vastly different speeds on the freeways, e.g., the person trying to weave in traffic going 70 mph when a slower person is doing 50 mph. This is why many freeways have minimum speeds of at least 40 mph.

Now go to the MUPs, a bike can easily (based on my bike getting flagged by some radar cameras by Arlington Hospital) go 20 mph. On a flat MUP. 15 mph is very easy to do. Good joggers are maybe going 6 mph, walkers half that. So you have bikers going roughly 3 times as fast as many joggers/walkers. Imagine on a road you suddenly said ok some cars are going 60 mph while others are going 20 mph on a freeway, it would be a recipe for disaster. Is it any wonder that a crowded MUP has disasters too?

[JeffC]

I never even heard of Strava until this thread. The last few posts bring out the tension within the biking crowd between the commuters, slow rec users, and racing crowd. As a commuter, I want things uncluttered, I move at a good pace, faster than the occasional rec crowd but slower than the racing crowd who would shudder in horror at adding 30 grams of weight with a bell or heaven forbid a pannier.

I actually get offended by the racing crowd much more so than the slower rec users. I certainly don’t want to indict them all, that would be unfair, but I have seen some really obnoxious behaviour that endangers others.

Along the lines of making certain sections of trails bike only at certain heavy commute times, why not one Sunday a month devote a stretch of a trail to bike racing, maybe that would appease the racing crowd. Then the next Sunday make it walkers/joggers only. I think we need more restrictions like this even though overall it would still be a MUP.

[JeffC]

Unfortunately, although unlikely, this could happen to a regular commuter, something similar could happen while driving too. A few random thoughts in no particular order.

1) I find it unlikely the cyclist will be sued. At least with motor vehicle accidents my understand is that Virginia has a contributory negligence standard which means that so long as one party is even a bit at fault, the other party cannot recover. It sure seems like the pedestrian was partly at fault and that would bar recovery.

2) I have noticed the trails get worse over the past five years of bike commuting, more crowded, especially in the afternoons. It’s exhausting in the afternoon, always trying to time passes, scanning for other users, it can be as stressful as driving. I’ve started riding the streets home in the afternoon once I get up the hill in Rosslyn (mornings are never so crowded). As soon as I get off the trail, it’s like the stress is removed. No more road bikers trailing me, no more peds two abreast. It’s like going from driving on a crowded interstate to a quiet country road.

3) Arlington likes to think it is bike friendly but I cringe when I hear somebody call MUPs a “bike path”. It’s anything but. That term would suggest bikes alone had the sole use of it. I have seen much better bike facilities in college towns in California and Colorado and of course Western Europe.

4) Speaking of which, I doubt we’ll get a bikes only path anytime soon but given the restrictions on I66 use, one would think we could have something similar on many stretches of the Custis and W&OD, especially when there are sidewalks a block away that pedestrians and joggers could easily use. Would it be so unreasonable to make the Custis bikes only from 4 to 7 pm on weekdays from say April through October? And since Artlington has specific dog parks, would it be too much to ban dogs altogether from MUPs, given the narrow lanes and length of leashes? I’m not anti-dog, I have one and love dogs but would never take him to walk on a MUP, especially in the afternoon.

5) Still I am perplexed, what is so fun about walking/jogging on Custis and W&OD? Somedays I walk to the EFC Metro to/from my house and purposely avoid the W&OD because let’s see how many ways it is unpleasant: no shade, no scenery, powerlines over head, bikes roaring past, in places next to loud roads or freeways. I undesrsatnd why people would want to walk on the MVT and see the monuments across the river and I am unfamiliar with trails in Maryland so cannot comment. The Custis and stretches of W&OD I use have to the be the least scenic, almost ugly stretches of trail I have seen. At least biking on the Custis I can quickly pass riding next to I66 but I could not imagine walking next to I66 is pleasurable. In most places of the world, walking next to a freeway has a pejorative connotation, in North Arlington, it becomes a parody of nature in a “Stuff White People Like” kind of way. I’m trully baffled.

[JeffC]

@TwoWheelsDC 22147 wrote:

Hope she’s okay…I hate that intersection. While it is important for cyclists to pay very close attention there, I’ve found that many drivers don’t look to the right at all because Lee Hwy is one way. So many cyclists see the car stopped and go ahead and go (the trail users should have the right of way and the “stop” sign there is dubious), but the drivers don’t have a clue that someone is riding in front of their car. If I’m coming down that hill and there’s a car pulling up to exit, I usually stop and wait until I can make eye contact with the driver, then I proceed cautiously. Probably annoys the people behind me, but whatevs, I don’t want to get hit.

This is especailly true at the Quinn Street crossing where bikes are racing downhill thanks to gravity and cars are looking left at other cars approaching on the 1 way street. I’ve seen my life flash in front of my eyes a few times there.

[JeffC]

@mstone 22020 wrote:

My daughter was a bit quicker than my son, so YMMV–kids are individuals. How did you try taking the training wheels off? I pull them off, then start by running around holding the seat and move to running around holding their shoulder. I also adjust the seat relatively low to lower the center of gravity and make it a bit less scary. The running around is just a few minutes at a time until they’re ready for longer. With #2, he just wasn’t ready so we gave it a break for a month at a time and would give it another shot. One day, he just did it. Note: running around bent over holding onto a bike is much harder on the dad than the kid, and my back is usually the limiting factor for session length.

I could pull off the cranks but I would like to have a balance bike anyway for my youngest daughter (now 2 1/2) so thought I might as well get one that my oldest could use now and my yougest could use in a few months rather than take apart my older daughter’s bike.

I just took the wheels off and held the seat as I pushed her. It is a pain in the back for the dad for sure, I can’t stand doing that. When I sensed it was not working, I put the training wheels back on.

One thing I thought about was trying it out on a grassy, sloped area. The slope would help with pedaling so they could coast and the grass would help against any falls. We actually have a perfect spot in our backyard. My daughter is extra stubborn and still cannot get over the fact that you cannot just stop pedaling and moving on a bike without training wheels. I think it is going to take a friend of equal or slightly older age that can bike and wants to go with her to be a motivating factor.

[JeffC]

If anybody has a Skuut type bike suitable for a 6 year old (that I could also use by the time my younger daughter turns 3 or so) let me know. I started my oldest daughter, now 6, on the more traditional training wheel bike. She is very good at handling and turning on our concrete patio or on a quiet street but way too absent minded for longer rides. I tried to get her to go without training wheels once and she got very panicky so back on with the training wheels. My youngest is still on a trike.

From what I have read recently, I think it is better to teach balance first on a skuut and then pedaling on a regular bike but I cannot go back now. Unfortunately, my wife puts this all on me and does nothing to teack biking skills.

I’m pondering buying a kids razor type scooter hoping that might teach balance as well. Anybody have experiece with that teaching balance to kids and crossing over to bikes?

A friend of mine with kids hypothesized that boys take more readily to biking as a daredevelish type thing whereas girls tend to learn when there is some peer pressure involved.

[JeffC]

This thread is like part 2 of the earlier one “Tales of Woe, Passing on your Left” (title was something like that). I agree that Dirt’s philosophy is generally best.

A couple very practical things: 1) having a mirror can make you feel more in control, no need to constantly turn around to monitor your rear.

2) I will frequently tell people to “say you are passing next time”. Some ignore it, some probably don’t hear it if they are wearing headphones or it is loud, but a few get pangs of guilt as if they got their hand caught in the cookie jar. I even had one guy try to justify it by saying that I had a mirror so I should have known he was going to pass, as if it was my fault he did not announce he was passing! All in all, a non snarky way to do it probably helps.

On to tales of wackos and our necessary venting of frustrations: so this Monday morning crazy dude on orange road bike who looked like John Denver/Theodore Roosevelt combo tries to pass me (UNANNOUNCED of F$%^&* course) on the Custis headed eastbound right before the drive way entrance to the hotel near Fort Meyer Drive. This was extremely dumb for so many reasons it is hard to know where to start. For one, it is a blind line of sight into the hotel parking lot, for another it is the busiest stretch of the trail, and for another the stop light was red 20 yards ahead, who passes to get ahead to a red light? As soon as he pulls to the left side of me, as if on cue another biker comes around the corner from the hotel parking lot and almost crashes into crazy John Denver/Roosevelt guy who then nearly veers into me. So I slow down and pull as far to the right as possible. I had some choice words for John Denver/TR crazy guy road biker who was so embarassed by his dumb move, he crossed to the other side of Lee Hwy as soon as he could to avoid me.

[JeffC]

It was funny that the WaPo author Ashley Halsey specifically asked for comments on this forum BEFORE he wrote an article. His article appeared a few weeks ago and had little to do with biking but more with the declining interest in cars.

Now Lenny Bernstein wrote his article with no comments from us first, might have been more relevant or interesting if he got some perspective first.

I admit there is a big learning curve, from routes, to shortcuts, to gear, lights, etc. etc. as well as a process where your body acclimates to the additional physical stres.. You also most assuredly do not have to go every day a week. I live in Falls Church and commute to downtown DC (about 11 miles one way) and have managed to do nearly 2000 miles a year for the past five years going a couple days a week. I’m a desk jockey with two young kids in his 40s so if I can do it, most anybody else can.

[JeffC]

No I don’t do it. I do wear them when I walk though but I don’t walk on the MUPs, just regular city sidewalks, and at normal volume levels.

While it is not illegal to drive/bike with headphones, if you got in an accident, I certainly think it would be a contributing factor that would show you are negligent and if you are negligent you may be civilly liable.

Biking or walking on trails while listening to music is kind of like texting and walking. It sends a message that everybody else is less important than the user and others need to take special heed of the privileged person. I constantly find myself having to move to the side because some texter is not watching where they are walkiing. Same thing with a headphone wearer, it forces everybody else to compensate for their lack of attention.

[JeffC]

This particular thread was mentioned in today’s Metro section of the Washington Post, looks like we are gaining notoriety.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/bike-lover-bike-hater-depends-on-whether-youre-on-four-wheels-or-two/2012/05/17/gIQARP6VWU_story.html

[JeffC]

Yes the article was in the print version of today’s Metro section, it actually mentioned the passing on the left thread so I cross posted there.

[JeffC]

It is a bit farther away than you listed but my wife and I have been taking our two Hondas to Tysons Auto Specialties for several years now. They get great reviews on Google and Yelp.

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1152&bih=712&wrapid=tlif133725916449310&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=tysons+automotive+specialties&fb=1&gl=us&hq=tysons+automotive+specialties&cid=11461793132211398385&ei=pfS0T9ePMYym8gTE1JD7Dw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&ved=0CGMQ4gkwAA

Wow, how can a 2001 car have 170000 miles. How much biking do you really do? My 1999 Honda has 82000 miles. Last year we put 3000 miles on it while doing 2100 on my two bikes.

[Author]

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