[Rootchopper]

I had exactly the same experience twice this year. I have to take that right on Lynn every morning and it’s scares me to death (forgive the expression). I am glad to hear you are okay. It is just a matter of time before somebody gets killed there. V

[Rootchopper]

As an MVT commuter I feel your pain. This aggressive riding on the MVT is dangerous as hell. I could care less if these idiots hurt themselves but I’d greatly appreciate it if they didn’t take me out with them.

I was once passed exactly as described as I cleared the ramp onto the DC-bound 14th Street bridge. When I yelled at the offender he actually screamed at me that I needed to look behind me when I was passing. (I posted the incident on this forum a couple of years back.) Now that I think about it maybe he was ELITE biker!

[Rootchopper]

It’s a great movie. The script won an Academy Award. The cycling scenes are wonderful. And who wouldn’t love a cat named Figaro.

[Rootchopper]

Since I ride pretty much the same commute that you do here’s my advice. I used to ride a Trek 1200 road bike to work with a backpack. My back suffered something terrible. Then I bought an old Specialized Sequoia (nothing like the bike currently sold under that name). It was marketed as a commuting bike with fenders, generator lights front and rear, and a rear rack. I am told it was sold as a touring bike in Europe. Long story short it was designed to carry rider and stuff in comfort. It does the job. Mine has over 30K miles on it and I sold the Trek eons ago. (My friend Paul still has it BTW).

I added a second bike, a recumbent, that is also designed for touring. It also does the job flawlessly. Then I added a third bike, a Bike Friday New World Tourist, that was custom made to mimic the geometry of the Sequoia. Another winner.

All three of these bikes share two traits: they carry the stuff (rear rack and ortleib roll top panniers) and they fit my body.

Long story short, buy a bike that’s designed to do the task it will be used for. You can always use your road bike as a back up commuter.

Also, if you take my advice, you’re gonna need a bigger shed to store them in.

[Rootchopper]

@TwoWheelsDC 25492 wrote:

Had a chance to drive the GWMP the last couple of mornings…the new speed bumpish things are a nice addition. I find that they make me more confident that I won’t get rear-ended if I stop for a ped and I think more cars are stopping now that they are there, as both yesterday and today I’ve seen cars stop, which before was incredibly rare. However, this morning I was driving in the right lane and there was only one car in front of me, which also was in the right lane. I noticed a group of folks waiting to cross, and the car in front of me did as well, as we both slowed at roughly the same time as we came over the speed bumps. There were a few cars behind me who also slowed, but for whatever reason, like 4(!!) cars decided they couldn’t wait and quickly jumped into the left lane to pass the cars stopped in the right lane, completely blowing through the crosswalk as people were starting to walk in front of the lead car….un-freaking-believable. I bet an analysis of pedestrian hits at this intersection would reveal this to be the primary cause for the incidents. So remember, don’t cross until both lanes of traffic have stopped for you!

Twice this year I have almost been picked off by a car that failed to properly stop in the next lane over situation you describe. My near misses were crossing the I66 ramp to Lynn Street in Rosslyn. Don’t assume that just because you have a green light or a walk signal that the drivers of cars will stop for their red light.

[Rootchopper]

Nothing is as pleasant as the long bumpy grind through traffic up Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Anacostia. You really need to re-do the ride.

[Rootchopper]

The barriers have returned to the end of the parking lot.

@dasgeh 24600 wrote:

Still no barriers at the end of the parking lot. Whoo-hoo!

BTW, I drove through there a few weeks ago, and realized what I HORRIBLE design that trail is (if you stay on the trail and don’t use the curb cuts to spend most of your time in the parking lot). Because the trail forms a right angle to go over the crosswalk, it’s not at all clear to a driver that the pedestrian/cyclist is going to use the crosswalk. Plus, the stop sign for drivers heading into the parking lot can’t be seen until a car is practically in the crosswalk. Does anyone know if that awesome NPS fellow made specific suggestions to change the design of that trail/parking lot?

[Rootchopper]

My wife and I did the Maui downhill from the top. Super fun.

@jrenaut 24518 wrote:

That was quick. Yes, it was. Fun ride, though the bikes we used make CaBis feel like full carbon.

[Rootchopper]

If they sold all the Jersey barriers at this location and around the Jefferson Memorial, and a few bollards from the Wilson Bridge Bollard Farm they could fund the renovation.

Seriously, the original DCA renovation plan may have kept this ramp from the Parkway open. Or maybe they just ran out of money. They had to redo the control tower because the controllers couldn’t see the runways. (No lie.) That may have used up some money meant for other things.

[Rootchopper]

Just behind the camera in the first picture is a nasty S curve caused by the orientation of the trail to avoid conflict with cars entering from the Parkway. Since this Parkway entrance has been closed off for 10 years I think it’s safe to get rid of the S. So the trail should angle to the left in the picture bypassing the S and connecting in a straight line. I don’t think Jersey barriers are needed here. A guardrail on the Parkway side should be sufficient and a sign that directs auto traffic coming from the right toward the long term parking area should work on the opposite side. It would be nice if the pavement were re-designed and some landscaping added too so this temporary and unsafe eyesore is removed for good.

[Rootchopper]

That intersection is one of the dregs of the DCA renovation. There used to be a similar at-grade intersection at the north end of the airport that was the site of crashes on a regular basis. Trail traffic now flies over that airport roadway. The remaining at-grade crossing where today’s accident happened needs to be re-worked. Anytime you have a sign saying “Dismount” you can bet there is a design flaw involved.

On a related note, farther south on the trail, just after the Metro bridge underpass, is a stop sign that serves little purpose. It is followed by a dangerous S-curve. This area is also the site of accidents and could be re-designed for very little money. Maybe they could sell some of the Jersey barriers that block the old access from the GW parkway. That access ramp hasn’t been used in a decade or more.

[Rootchopper]

@MCL1981 24304 wrote:

I suppose numbnuts could also have entered at Fletcher’s Cove. There is a vehicle access there with no bollards. You would have to drive across the canal bridge, turn left onto the C&O canal, then make a u-turn at the vehicle ramp to the CCT. It would be absolutely impossible to “accidentally” think you were just on a small road.

If you ride your bike into a bollard, that is not the bollard’s fault. I have no sympathy at all. If you are so zoned out that you don’t notice the big yellow bollard, then I’m glad you hit the bollard and not me.

Maybe you should share your lack of sympathies with the two folks who had bollard related accidents near Rosslyn last month. They weren’t zoned out. They were just riding to work or school. What a laugh riot, one of them was admitted to a hospital.

[Rootchopper]

This whole 4-way stop thread has me thinking that many of these intersections would be better served with roundabouts.

[Rootchopper]

I tip the scales at around 220 and none of my bikes are under 30 pounds (not including my commuting load) so Mini Coopers fear my physics.

Since I started this thread, I should point out a couple of things. I have never ever seen so many drivers completely ignoring the rules of the road. After an hour of this, it occured to me that there really was no reason for me to be in a hurry. After all, I was in an air conditioned car and my house was an oven. No rush to get there.
The other point I want to make is that it may be the treat the dead-light-as-a-stop-sign rule is not a law. It’s a custom. Does anybody know if this is true?

Now that everyone but me has power, people are behaving better. I. on the other hand, am so sleep deprived I almost had a head on collission on the MVT today. My appologies to the other cyclist.

[Rootchopper]

I had teh same kind of failure at the drop out on my Bike Friday. I shipped it back to the mothership in Oregon and they repaired it.

As for tales of woe, my old faithful Raleigh Grand Prix had a wobble in its front wheel. I stopped at the top of the hill that I had just climbed out of Rosslyn on the Custis Trail, bent over to see what was wrong, and the right fork blade fell off with a clang.

Need less to say, I look for cracks every now and then.

[Author]

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