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I like carolina brothers, impossible to miss and they have pie. There are a lot of options though, mostly depends on what you are looking for. I personally tend to not each much during long rides as my stomach doesn’t really like it.

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@Rod Smith 218286 wrote:

Thanks, though a bench is so much better than a wall, for sitting, if providing seating is your goal.

I think they’d have had to rip out the plantings for that, if I’m understanding the location correctly–doesn’t look like enough room for a bench, so this seems like a creative approach.

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D. Someone got sign-happy after a fit of anti-cyclist pique.

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I kinda figured it would pass. That’s just how things are.

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How ’bout if we offer a counterproposal: we’ll take this bill, if it’s bundled with one that permanently revokes driving privileges for any driver who hits someone while running a stop sign or red light? Seems like a no-brainer since safety at reds is such a priority.

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@huskerdont 213182 wrote:

This is what annoys me. If we’re not going to clear our walkways, fine (although if private citizens have to do it, why don’t governments?), but it really is ridiculous to plow the snow onto the pathways and ADA ramps. I’ve written Arlington and DC 311 a coupla times, but it’s pretty clear no one wants to make an effort to fix the overall problem.

yes–if they did nothing at all the snow would be gone by now, but they deliberately create a situation that’s a problem potentially for weeks. but, VDOT isn’t accountable locally so…

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I use a garmin edge because I don’t like to run down my phone and find it annoying to wear a watch while cycling. I also find it easier to glance at all the important useless numbers on a screen in front of my face rather than one on my wrist.

FWIW, I’d always sync with strava because you’re likely to switch platforms at some point (or your platform will disappear because reasons) and strava syncs with pretty much everything and seems to be the one that one the tracking wars. If you ever want to look back on something a decade from now, your odds are better that you’d be able to do so without a lot of drama using strava than anything else.

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@lordofthemark 213087 wrote:

less pushing of people out to other areas

IMO there’s less pushing than pulling. The metropolitan areas can’t compete with exurban greenfields on price per square foot of house (given current policies, which don’t in any way build the long term costs into the price of the house or the taxes). So many entrenched interests want that “cheap exurban housing” model that there’s no possibility of changing it in the US with the political system that we have. Making relatively dense and mixed use urban areas better is great, but it’s not going to fix the mess that is suburban America, or even really slow down its expansion–starting the cycle again in a new spot in the south or southwest is just so much cheaper and easier than making significant changes to existing communities. (“Relatively dense and mixed use” in this context includes much of what was then-suburban development in the DC area prior to the 70s–the old developments tended to still have some kind of a grid, or at least multiple ways in and out, walkable schools, etc, nothing like what’s going up today in Loudoun or PWC. Fairfax & Arlington mostly “solved” the growth problem by running out of space. Fairfax is now fighting the same sort of fights about turning its streets into expressways to the new outer suburbs that Arlington was fighting two generations ago, but with even less success in today’s state politics. The net result of that is that streets that were rideable in Fairfax 20 years ago have been VDOTed to 8 lane intersections of death, chopping the county into ever smaller islands where parents insist that the only safe option is to drive their kids to school across the street, putting more cars on the road and justifying another cycle of widening.)

Definitely better with a beer.

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@chris_s 213093 wrote:

1. The Federal Highway Administration says public agencies must keep pedestrian infrastructure clear of snow, it’s an ADA issue.

2. VDOT’s stated policy is to not clear snow and ice from sidewalks or trails

When I inquired about the conflict between these two things, their Civil Rights manager informed me that “on a case by case basis, if a request is made for snow clearing/removal on sidewalks, VDOT endeavors to address those situations”

Somebody’s probably going to have to sue before there is change at VDOT.

I couldn’t even get a positive response to “could the snow plows maybe put the giant block of ice just to the side of the curb cut, instead of directly on top of it”. They really don’t think their job is anything other than moving cars around as fast as possible.

I suspect suing is hard, because the ice will melt long before your court date.

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@arlcxrider 213065 wrote:

Fort Myer trail parallel to Rt. 50 was an icy mess this morning (not that I really expected otherwise but curiosity got the better of me.) Not just sheets of black ice, but lumpy frozen slush across the entire surface. Does VDOT ever clear this trail, or do they wait on Mother Nature?

AFAIK, VDOT’s official position is that they don’t routine maintenance on trails. First you’d ask for snow removal, then you’d ask for vegetation trimming and debris cleanup, who knows where it would end?

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@lordofthemark 213062 wrote:

interested in changing our metropolitan fabric

I think there is very little, if any, correlation between the metropolitan fabric and how fast greenfield suburbs get built outside of metropolitan jurisdictions. But anyway, that’s a topic better over a beer than a forum.

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@Meh 213055 wrote:

What if the entire concept of suburbs was the real problem?

It is, for a number of reasons, but there’s zero ability to do anything about it.

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@kwarkentien 213028 wrote:

Also be sure you have the correct wheel size in the settings.

wheel size doesn’t matter if there’s no speed sensor

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depending on what the bag is made of and what was in the bag, yeah, it could affect gps reception

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@DrP 212450 wrote:

We had quite a bit of snow yesterday and there is a fair bit of melting today despite being barely above freezing. Anyone know if trails have been plowed, if there is a lot of melt that might freeze overnight or any such information to help those of us who haven’t had a chance to get out yet?

I don’t get to the lux trails in arlington much these days. I’d expect the trails in fairfax to be insanely cratered and icy every morning for a few days, and the afternoons soft, like riding through sand. Oh, and the obligatory ice boulder at every intersection where the plow “had to” put the snow. (Just a guess; I’ve pretty much given up on even trying after snow and just stick to “car roads” that VDOT actually maintains, until everything melts in a week or two.)

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