[mstone]

@zsionakides 199825 wrote:

The problem is that large swaths of NOVA are not easily accessible to parks except by going on a major highway (e.g. 29, 123, 50, etc.). They have no choice but to drive to parks to go walking, biking, hiking, etc. Advising them to ride on those roads either involves riding on a sidewalk or a poorly maintained sidepath. I’d rather they just keep the parks open and break up any group gatherings.

Which swaths? IME it’s the very rare area which has no neighborhood walking or biking at all. It’s a pandemic, yeah, people might have to make some adjustments and settle for something less than they want or go in a boring loop instead of doing something epic.

[mstone]

@zsionakides 199819 wrote:

The problem with closing some of the parks is it crowds the ones that stay open – e.g. everyone that can no longer hike on the Bull Run trail because they can’t use the parking lot are crowding other trails. It’s much better to discourage the dangerous behaviors such as soccer and basketball matches or large picnics, vice closing the parks wholesale. In places that are highly desirable such as the Tidal Basin, shutting down parking lots makes sense to limit the crowds, but most all NOVA Parks aren’t anywhere near that busy.

In most of NOVA there are stream valley trails and neighborhood trails all over the place which are basically empty. Yeah, they’re not as exciting as the regional parks, but they’re a better option these days than driving across the region. And for those whose neighborhoods back up to Lake Fairfax or somesuch, they just luck out. Except that they’re still stuck with all the knuckleheads who can’t take a hint and are parking up and down the road because they can’t possibly go somewhere other than a regional park. (I saw this Sunday on 123, a good half mile of parking on the shoulder to access Burke Lake. )

[mstone]

@zsionakides 199819 wrote:

The problem with closing some of the parks is it crowds the ones that stay open – e.g. everyone that can no longer hike on the Bull Run trail because they can’t use the parking lot are crowding other trails. It’s much better to discourage the dangerous behaviors such as soccer and basketball matches or large picnics, vice closing the parks wholesale. In places that are highly desirable such as the Tidal Basin, shutting down parking lots makes sense to limit the crowds, but most all NOVA Parks aren’t anywhere near that busy.

What they really want is for people to just use parks that they can easily walk or bike to. If people are going somewhere that the need to drive and it’s going to a whole day trip, then you run into a bunch of other problems like the fact that there are no bathrooms, etc. Also, in practice, a lot of parks have had the problem that most of the park is empty but a couple of popular spots are tremendously overcrowded. Yeah, it’s been possible to just avoid the crowded parts, but a lot of clueless people are messing things up for everyone else.

[mstone]

@n18 199817 wrote:

Sunday/Monday the W&OD in Vienna was busy with walkers and cyclists, almost to the same level in this time of the year.

I peeked my head out on the W&OD a week or two ago and just decided “nope” given how crowded it was.

[mstone]

@Char Miller 199615 wrote:

That is what I was wondering — if the Cross Country Trail part was too rough for a road bike. I take it that it is too difficult to ride with a road bike. That is a shame.

This part, yeah. But lest we scare people off the GCCCT completely, it’s worth noting that other parts are well graded and crushed stone or even paved. It just depends which specific stretch you’re looking at.

[mstone]

@n18 199617 wrote:

Here is another alternative on the west side. You just use Fairfax Country Parkway Trail, which was repaved in the last year or two. It’s flat or downhill mostly.

except for that one spot

but in general, yeah, I’d recommend that route. My personal preference would be to not turn onto west ox road from fair lakes parkway. Instead, turn right on monument, then left onto gov’t center parkway. There’s a little sidewalk that will take you through to james stewart circle and let you avoid the mess that’s the mall and the intersection of random hills and waples mill. Although they’re all probably pretty empty these days.

[mstone]

@n18 199552 wrote:

Did you do the Difficult Run part of the cross county trail before? It’s the NW portion of the loop. If not, you will know why it’s called Difficult Run. MTB only. A new person could average 5 MPH or less easily.

This. The GCCCT is a collection of existing stream valley trails of varying quality. If you’ve ridden one of them, you’ve ridden one of them. If you’ve done this one before, then carry on–but if not, don’t expect it to be a “bike trail” and if you’re on a road bike do expect to be walking while pushing the bike up a steep slope.

[mstone]

@Hancockbs 199561 wrote:

Perhaps there is a definition issue. To me, 1 bike length back is still drafting

not drafting, just creepy close over a long distance

[mstone]

@zsionakides 199207 wrote:

In the police department’s defense, they probably don’t have much to go on at this point, but do need to write a report that is factually accurate at the point in time and not speculative reasoning that’s construed as bias in the investigation. Upon further investigation, hopefully they will be able to get enough evidence together to appropriately determine cause and provide the prosecutors office with necessary evidence to criminally charge the driver.

you must be new to how the police investigate cyclist and pedestrian deaths

[mstone]

@Relwal Noj 199061 wrote:

The project looks redundant from a ped/bike standpoint

Having more options is better. We didn’t stop at just one road, did we?

[mstone]

“The primary cause of the crash appears to be Behler failing to remain in a single lane, police said.” I have no words.

[mstone]

@cvcalhoun 198964 wrote:

But some of us will never be covered in door-of-home-to destination way by docks. If you’re going from one place in downtown DC to another, there is probably a dock somewhere close to your home and to your destination, because of high home/office density in that area. But in my suburban neighborhood in Bethesda, we’re not going to have enough density to justify a dock.

well, if you’re dropping a bike somewhere that you’re the only person likely to use it you’ve gone from “bikeshare” to “personal bike”.

[mstone]

The most important thing is that it feels right. If you put aesthetics above that, you get what you deserve.

[mstone]

longest seat tube that gets you to the right height plus glue (epoxy)? If there’s enough tube in the frame I’d guess the force on that little bit at the top shouldn’t matter much–it’s mostly there to be the clamp to keep the tube from sinking downward. If you clamp that tight to the seat tube, then glue it and the seat tube to the rest of the frame, you’d mostly be trying to counteract the rotational forces and I’d think there’d be enough bonded surface to do that. You’d just never be able to adjust the seat height ever again. On the up side, you could really mess with bike seat thieves.

[mstone]

@SpaceJockey 197783 wrote:

Considering drivers knock down lamp-posts on the sidewalks all the time I doubt that lamp-posts built in the middle of the road will have any chance at survival.

I wasn’t even talking about the lamp posts, though those are bad enough. Really, they could be on top of the really thick concrete wall rather than off to the side. Might need a different and less decorative base, boo hoo. If DOT prioritized sidewalk users over road users they could stick with the ridiculous lamp design and just flip the concrete bases around to stick out in the road instead of sticking out in the sidewalk. I wouldn’t worry much about whether the solid lumps of concrete could survive being sideswiped by drivers who don’t know where the right edge of their car is. Now, look at the black crash barrier at the end of the ramp to the right that blocks the sidewalk. It’s there so drivers who miss the road won’t get hurt. Then look at the big slippery (and bumpy, on the welds) metal plate and lumps of quick patch right in the path of someone approaching the narrowed sidewalk. Those are fun to ride on, especially when it’s time to stop. Of course, you might not have noticed the crosswalk since most of it is covered by a big metal plate and what’s left is mostly faded paint. That paint is the only thing in that picture that was done specifically for people not in cars. The other crash barrier with the black and yellow chevrons doesn’t actually impact use of the sidewalk (but only because the stupid lamps already narrowed the sidewalk on that side. But, that barrier costs more than DOT spent on any pedestrian facility for that stretch of road, and they probably have to replace it at least annually. (Because drivers can’t seem to avoid running into black and yellow hi-viz barriers.)

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