[Rootchopper]

I’ve been reading Bicycling to Work for years.

[Rootchopper]

I’ve got a Crazyguyonabike sticker on my bike. And some content on there too.: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/Rootchopper

I did an article on the 50 States ride, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge trail, and the VASA ride in addition to 3 tour journals. Check ’em out.

It’s a great website. Some amazing writers and photograpers.

[Rootchopper]

I moved over to WordPress a year ago. http://rootchopper.wordpress.com/
Come on over, Tim.

[Rootchopper]

If the problem occurred on Duke Street and originated in Fairfax County would they have left it alone or fixed it. Duke Street, to use a familiar word, is viewed as essential; the Holmes Run Trail isn’t. That tells you all you need to know about the attitude toward bicycling infrastructure in Alexandria. That’s a much bigger problem to remedy that the sewer line.

[Rootchopper]

But I thought Alexandria was a silver level bicycling friendly city. Fail.

[Rootchopper]

The new trail on Fort Hunt Road seems to be designed for billy goats with a granny gear. It is a vast improvement over what was there before. Better solution would be to build a shoulder into FHR on the incline instead of ditch with tree branches protruding out into the edge of the road. Of course, such a solution would pretty much requre paving the shoulder all the way down FHR to Hollin Hall, but we couldn’t do that because it would violate VDOT’s erratic shoulder policy. Gotta keep them guessing.

[Rootchopper]

Well, I agree to disagree on the bike friendliness of the roads in the west end. I do agree that most of Fairfax County (where I live) is a cyclists nightmare.

[Rootchopper]

I agree that Potomac Avenue is fine for cycling now during the off peak. I imagine that many streets are great if you only want to ride on them when most people are in bed.

Wait until Potmac Yard is fully developed and all those new residences have cars. A silver level city doesn’t shove bike traffic off to the side on a path; it encourages them to be an integral part of the flow of people. From this perspective Potomac Yard is designed to fail.

[Rootchopper]

Alexandria barely deserves a bronze but a silver is overreaching by half. Go ahead and try to ride from Old Town to Landmark. Direct routes are gawdawful and the Holmes Run Trail is a confusing mess that turns into a whitewater flood zone during moderate rainstorms. Or try to ride from Holmes Run Trail to Shirlington. I hope you have life insurance.

And don’t get me started about the fiasco that commuters dealt with near the Wilson bridge when the Jones Point Park rehab was going on. Truly unsafe detours were put in place that changed on a weekly basis, each one worse that the last. The end result was black bollards at the bottom of a hill. The notion that it was VDOT or Homeland Security or somebody else’s responsibility was no excuse for the city’s inactivity.

The development of Potomac Yard has made minimal effort to accommodate cyclists despite the fact that it is pool-table flat and ideal for everyday cycling. The transition from the US 1 bridge trail over the rail right of way into Potomac Yard looks like it was designed to impede cycling, not encourage it.

Many of the landed gentry in Old Town are openly opposed to cyclists in their midst but seem perfectly fine with a steady stream of cars and buses clogging up the streets.

Clearly, a cultural change needs to happen before Alexandria is a bicycling friendly city.

[Rootchopper]

How time flies when you’re nonessential. I do believe I will partake of a cold one or four. (Could be a rainy ride home though.)

[Rootchopper]

A co worker told me that back in the late 70s or early 80s a group of volunteers built the trail (unpaved) through Belle Haven Park.

The NPS is great but their unwillingness to make basic safety improvements and changes to the GWMP and MVT is foolish and contrary to the public interest. They need to do something about the at grade crossing of the GWMP just south of Memorial Bridge. They need to allow bike commuters to park at Belle Haven and other parks along the MVT. They need to make major safety improvements near Belle View Boulevard where crashes happen with sickening regularity.

[Rootchopper]

The MVT is open from end to end. The parking lots are closed. This has resulted in impromptu parking on the grass near Gravelly Point and Belle Haven parks. It has also resulted in cars parking partially on the MVT near DCA. This is a danger to cyclists and to the toddlers jumping out of the parked cars onto the trail.

[Rootchopper]

No RAIN!!!???

[Rootchopper]

Good advice in abundance. I once heard a local bike shop owner turn down a sale from a customer who lived far away and close to a bike shop with the same kind of inventory. If you are going to take advantage of free adjustments on a new bike, you really want to consider buying that bike close to home.

[Rootchopper]

Wait! Little Nellie will be in the trunk. How do you think I got to the dealer to pick up my car?

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