[PotomacCyclist]

Arlington announced on Sept. 16 that the Washington Blvd. Trail Phase II is one of four priority transportation projects that will receive state and local funding. Here is the description of the project:

Washington Boulevard Trail Phase II: Construction of a trail parallel to Washington Boulevard from 2nd Street South to Columbia Pike. The County and State will each provide $170,000 toward this project. Total funding is $1.6 million.

The trail will allow users to avoid Courthouse Rd. and 6 blocks of extra travel along Columbia Pike when riding from Pentagon City to Clarendon or Court House. Just north of 2nd St. South, there is an existing trail (undergoing reconstruction) that runs along Washington Blvd. and then Arlington Blvd. That trail also branches off to Fillmore Park and Fillmore St. on the way to Clarendon.

The Pentagon City-Clarendon/Court House route still has a few difficult sections on the south end, including Joyce St. and Columbia Pike/sidewalk between Orme and Quinn St. (Between Joyce and Orme, it’s easy to use Southgate Rd. heading west. Heading east, Columbia Pike is manageable after Orme. It’s mostly downhill from there to Joyce St.)

http://news.arlingtonva.us/pr/ava/priority-transportation-projects-215516.aspx

[PotomacCyclist]

The Secret Service likes to use the lights and sirens on the SUVs. I used to think it was funny that they would make so much noise when accompanying a VIP around town. They are drawing attraction to the convoy. I guess it helps to clear the path, but it also tells everyone that the VIP is right there. Probably not as funny post-9/11. But I still wonder if that’s the best practice.

That said, I wouldn’t mind having an SUV escort too! That would be great to have a fleet of SUVs clearing the roads for me.

[PotomacCyclist]

DCCX is the only cyclocross event in DC. It’s scheduled for October 23 this year.

You can find updates on the DCMTB site and on their Facebook page:

http://dcmtb.com/?page_id=766

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DCCX/137070666858

The site of the race is the Armed Forces Retirement Home.

Last year they had several races throughout the day, from rookie races for beginners up to more advanced races. I know that they had a beginner race in the morning and another one in the late afternoon, with other races in between.

There are other races in the area. MABRA and DCMTB should have more info.

[PotomacCyclist]

Wasn’t Bike DC in late May this year?

[PotomacCyclist]

I saw someone at the Nation’s Triathlon on Sunday with a Bike Arlington jersey.

[PotomacCyclist]

Yikes!

At least the rain has finally moved off. The weather was really nice on Sunday morning.

[PotomacCyclist]

There are going to be a lot of one-day and five-day users for the Mall stations. Many of the tourists also tend to ignore the 30-min. limit so they rack up large per-trip fees. Even when reminded of this, some of them don’t seem to mind. They are on vacation so an extra $5 for the chance to ride around Washington DC isn’t a big deal.

There aren’t any downsides to having Mall stations that I can think of. I just hope that when they roll them out, they do so with a big block of them. The stations will become extremely popular, especially during the Cherry Blossom festival and over the early summer. Bike balancing might be an issue. But it’s also possible that if the stations are planned out well, then a lot of tourists will use them for short trips between the museums and monuments, and dock the bikes quickly.

[PotomacCyclist]

Perhaps out of spite over losing their exclusive contract with NPS, Tourmobile is shutting down on Oct. 31. They are supposed to provide tour services for NPS through the end of the year.

The Tourmobile contract, which was likely an illegal no-bid monopoly award, had been one of the reasons why NPS kept blocking CaBi from expanding to the Mall. After local media reported on the problem with the contract, NPS quickly announced that the contract would not be renewed for 2012. Then they announced that CaBi stations would be allowed on the Mall next year, subject to agreements over exact locations and funding.

Competitive tour companies may finally be allowed to operate on the Mall and in Arlington Cemetery. But more importantly for cyclists, the end of the Tourmobile affair opened the way for CaBi stations on the Mall. A lot of unpleasant politics, but what would you expect in DC? At least the story appears to have a happy ending.

[PotomacCyclist]

Remember that when the storm sewers get overwhelmed, untreated sewage is flowing into the Potomac and possibly some of the local creeks. It’s not just regular river and creek water on days like this. I’ve heard estimates that 250 million gallons of sewage have spilled into local waterways this week. The old storm sewer system simply isn’t capable of handling large amounts of rainfall.

Riding through flooded trail sections is dangerous enough. But you may also want to disinfect your bike after coming into contact with that water.

[PotomacCyclist]

I found this picture of the old Long Bridge from the 19th century. The original bridge was so low that it barely cleared the river. On days like yesterday, the bridge probably would have been under water. The foot path was just feet away from the railroad tracks.

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[PotomacCyclist]

That puts images of someone deep-frying Rocky Mountain oysters in my head. (Note: I’ve never had them. Probably never will.)

[PotomacCyclist]

So if the sign had been painted in Egyptian hieroglyphics, we would be expected to read that too?

[PotomacCyclist]

But the fact that Arlington and Alexandria also rank low indicates that commuters aren’t the only explanation for DC’s rank. Other cities also increase population during the day. DC probably has a higher percentage increase of people during the day than other major cities because of the lower density (no super-tall apartment buildings).

Baltimore’s low rank is also interesting.

[PotomacCyclist]

I’d guess that many of the DC and Arlington accidents are at lower speeds, except on the GW and Rock Creek Parkways, and the few highways like 395.

I think Allstate was measuring the number of years between accidents per vehicle, on average. So each city would have a number such as an accident every 8.3 years for the average vehicle. Seems like a reasonable way to measure costs in local areas, though the severity of accidents would also be important. A fender-bender isn’t going to be as expensive for Allstate as a complete destruction of the car would be.

[PotomacCyclist]

I registered for DCCX last year, even though it took place on the same day as the Army Ten-Miler (which I ran). I recovered after the ATM, cleaned up a bit, and headed over to DCCX. Then I proceeded to get lost as I tried to find my way from the Georgia Ave Metro station. I didn’t have my smartphone because I didn’t want to wreck it during the race. I asked some local residents about how to find the grounds of the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home. They pointed me in the wrong direction. By the time I finally got to the race site, it was too late. I watched some of the race from the other side (wrong side?) of the fence, and then left.

That would have been my first cyclocross race. I had signed up for the Rookie Race, designed for cyclocross newbies. I would have had some minor issues using a mountain bike, but I think I would have finished in decent shape.

I’m not sure if I’ll sign up this year. I’ll wait a few more weeks before deciding. I’ll do a cyclocross race at some point. Maybe I’ll even get a cyclocross bike someday. I did some reading up on the sport last fall. I watched some of the pro races on Universal Sports. I did some practices on my own, jumping on and off the mtn bike, and carrying the bike over simulated obstacles.

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