[notinthe18]

My ride home turned out to be a very pleasant ride in the rain, but I had two (!!!) close calls within about 60 seconds right at the beginning of my ride. The first was a lady who apparently believed (wrongly) that I had not pulled forward enough to let her go right on red (which she wasn’t going to be able to do anyway) and decided to give me a hornful and then a earful. Then a guy in a white sedan decided to swerve around me with almost no room at high speed going south on 21st St. I was fairly shaken but realized he didn’t even have his lights on. Hopefully he, you know, put those on and got home without further incident.

I’ve come to prepare for all sorts of crappy behavior while still hoping for the best from folks; just sort of didn’t think a well lit biker who was completely behaving himself while in very cold rain was going to be a popular target. :rolleyes:

[notinthe18]

@DrP 149270 wrote:

Conditions: kind of cold and very windy.

You: All the cyclists who had been out on the trails all summer and until Saturday.

Me: Where did you all go? I’ve been checking the piles of leaves blown into fences and shrubs, but you aren’t stuck in them. It was nice having the trail mostly to myself these past few days, but kind of bizarre too. Even the number of commuters is down. It really isn’t that bad out there and which the cold and wind, hot chocolate tastes wonderful after a ride.

It’s true, though even I yesterday was doubting my resolve and down about the long winter ahead until I got to work and actually saw how low the wind chill was. Today was much more pleasant!

[notinthe18]

@DrP 148850 wrote:

I have seen squirrels do that, a lot. Often has me worried that I might hit one. I haven’t seen a Crazy Ivan do that move. Yet. I am sure I have not seen all types of Crazy Ivans. Could be an interesting study – the different types of Crazy Ivans.

I got a squirrel like this on the MVT connector north of Old Town once! He Crazy Ivan’ed right into/under my front tire… I didn’t see the aftermath.

[notinthe18]

@ShawnoftheDread 148629 wrote:

I do the same, and for the same reason.

This has been a tremendously educational discussion. Now which one of you did I see doing this last week that inspired me to make the post in the first place…

[notinthe18]

@Judd 148587 wrote:

The sidewalk, I mean “trail” will get a bit of improvement with the bridge work that is currently in process. At least the bridge portion is going to be widened to 10 feet if I recall correctly. It’s unclear if the sidewalk all the way to paved asphalt at the Pentagon will be widened as well.

All of the guards at the little booth on the 9/11 Memorial side have always been friendly in the morning, although I now go all the way around the Pentagon to the River Entrance to get LBJ Memorial Grove now, partly because it adds another half mile to my trip, but also partly because that narrow sidewalk is no fun when there’s anyone oncoming or a group of tourists unaccustomed to trail traffic.

You’re a font of helpful knowledge, sir.

[notinthe18]

@scoot 148569 wrote:

Having ridden that “trail” a few times, it’s very understandable IMO, even though I would likely never do it. Thankfully there are other routes into DC.

Agreed. The “trail” is in real need of work, especially the bridge closest to the Pentagon. (But while I’m on the subject, I should give a ton of credit to the Pentagon Protection Force officers who man the access gate near the 9/11 memorial — they are far, far more friendly than their compatriots at the Eads exit.)

[notinthe18]

Guy salmoning* on Constitution NW west of 21st last night… who continued salmoning onto Henry Bacon .. and then continued salmoning onto the Lincoln Memorial circle… oh man.

*By salmoning here I mean hugging the shoulder of the *wrong* side of the road

And I also saw a guy take the lane on Washington Blvd north of the Pentagon heading towards Memorial Bridge, which I’ve never seen before (and frankly never even contemplated).

[notinthe18]

@EasyRider 147207 wrote:

I like to go down 21st street, past the Fed, to the light at Constitution. It’s a 2 way street but there’s hardly ever any northbound traffic so you can often take the northbound lane and, taking care, bypass the long line of cars waiting to turn right.

What up, fellow traveler.

[notinthe18]

@creadinger 145326 wrote:

Eads southbound in the bike lane.

@_FloridaMan parked in the lane. Took a photo.

Coming up to 23rd st, a Jeep right hooked me. Lady didn’t bother looking, but seeing me (6’5″, bright orange shirt) would still have been difficult because of the soccer mom ACPs parallel parked along the road. If I hadn’t been anticipating it I would have gotten clobbered.

How is this better than a regular bike lane?

Not to mention that whatever is going on around 18th with that construction, which has led to the bike lane being parking, is Not Good.

[notinthe18]

@Judd 145263 wrote:

I’d like to see more frequent enforcement at Union and King throughout the year of egregious stop sign running. I see a cyclist do a full speed speed weaving through cars and pedestrians stop sign running nearly 100% of the time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree with this. As a cyclist who respects this stop sign, I’m always astonished at how many folks blow right through it at high speed — especially in the evenings and on busy weekends. Of course, as someone else mentioned in this thread, the times I’ve seen enforcement have been in the morning when the area’s pretty empty. I’d hazard a guess that many of the folks getting popped are not the same folks being reckless on sunny weekend afternoons. Maybe I’m wrong. (Then again, as someone else also pointed out, it’s not hard to see the cops in time to stop … so maybe they are the same folks.) (Why am I saying folks so much?)

[notinthe18]

Someone at the northwest corner of Hains Point (near the stop sign near the gate) had a found connection with a large quantity of the devil’s lettuce last night. It smelled like someone was burning a dispensary. Was a pretty nice night for it, I suppose.

[notinthe18]

@Judd 144763 wrote:

Translation: every Uber driver.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do we have a name for when an Uber is cruising slowly on the right side of the road with no signal on, looking for a fare, apt to Crazy Ivan in any direction at any second? I think we need a name for that.

[notinthe18]

@Judd 144696 wrote:

Translation: a motorist not listening to the radio will not hear me calling a pass either.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What about a driver with windows closed who ALSO has earbuds in?!! 😎

[notinthe18]

@Vicegrip 144574 wrote:

Rut Rho. I sometimes circle while stopped at lights just to keep some air moving. Not out of lane or around others just drawing circles, figure eights and working on a bicycle version of a stoppie.

Going forward I’ll just tell myself circlers are living the movie “Speed” and their bikes will explode if they stop. 😎

[notinthe18]

@scorchedearth 144563 wrote:

If the lack of headgear is bothersome, then you probably wouldn’t want to ride with me.

Hopefully my follow-ups clarify that you and I are cool so long as you don’t put both buds in so we can’t chat.

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