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@LeprosyStudyGroup 144277 wrote:

Kudos for keeping a level head. I would flip the fuck out. I’m working on that, but thankfully I don’t get a lot of opportunities to test reacting calmly to stuff like that.

This. Bob, you are the zen rider I wish I could be. Unfortunately, my typical reaction to even a routine too-close pass is a string of profanity, so I have a very long way to go.

Glad to hear that you exited this collision with both your body and your temperament unscathed.

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Lots of extra width on that part of S Courthouse. Let’s hope they take advantage and keep this bike lane out of the door zone.

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@Steve O 143728 wrote:

The best time for Midnight Saddles is summertime. ‘Cause it’s warm out, and riding at night in the summer is just awesome.

Join us Saturday for our Summer 2016 Midnight Saddles ride. If you have something to do Sunday morning, you may want to think twice about joining. If not, though, what’s your excuse?

Date: Saturday, August 6
Time: 10:30 PM (10:45 roll out)
Location: Washington Monument
Destination: Bob & Edith’s Diner on Columbia Pike
Estimated ride length c. 20 miles. Easy, social pace.

(night riding in the summer = totally awesome) Check
(a rare Sunday that I have no commitments) Check
(final destination super close to my home) Check
(untorn left calf) Fail

Wish I could join but my recent softball injury and orthopedic boot say otherwise. I’m off the bike until I recover further and my doc/PT okay it. Hopefully I can handle a short flat ride by mid-month.

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@DrP 143374 wrote:

However, how do we get folks to signal their eastern turn so that when Dickie isn’t signally that, the western riders realize that something might be different?

Even I would say that’s never gonna happen. Dickie is smart to catch their attention by signaling his intention to go straight.

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@mello yello 143355 wrote:

I am not a supporter of the attitude that “these things happen”…

Me either. #CrashNotAccident

Doesn’t matter if it’s bikes or cars.

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@Rootchopper 143319 wrote:

I ride the sidewalk, so technically not salmoning. It’s legal (I checked). I go slowly. in four years only one pedestrian complained. She was having a bad day, I think.

Yes, sidewalk riding is legal anywhere in Arlington, and I didn’t mean to question your specific judgment on this maneuver. I was just surprised and disappointed that there doesn’t seem to exist a better way to get to the eastern part of Rosslyn from MVT without riding a sidewalk in a pedestrian-heavy area right near a Metro station.

Hopefully the eventual Rosslyn redesign will make things better. I think part of the plan was an extra bridge connecting from MVT to the new 18th St.

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A redesign would help here. Since most riders stay on the trail, it would be much more orderly if that were the straight-ahead direction and your maneuver instead required a left turn.

Also the hazard is greatly compounded by the proximity of that T intersection to the curb edge and to the Glebe Road travel lanes. Such a reconfiguration should set the intersection further back away from the road too. It might cost a tree or two though.

The 4MR trail intersection just west of the Route 1 bridge has similar challenges.

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Are you salmoning for multiple blocks on N Lynn after coming off MVT? Is that better than going one more block west to get to Fort Myer Drive? (Or dealing with the GWMP/27 crossings to get to 110 / Iwo Jima)

All the more reason we could use an extension of the south-side TR bridge path up to Iwo Jima (and a connection to that from MVT) …

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Has Ms. Beach noticed the Safeway at this address?

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@GovernorSilver 143054 wrote:

At the intersection of First and K, there are too many northbound drivers that are all too willing to turn right from First to K, cutting in front of southbound cyclists trying to cross K on that unprotected segment of the bike lane, even though in theory the cyclists have the green light and the right-turning drivers have the red light.

This is a general problem with 2-way PBLs along the edge of a street. Many drivers will never think to look for oncoming traffic when making right turns across one. It’s essentially the same hazard a cyclist would face when trying to salmon in a gutter. For this reason, I do not find riding in such lanes to be comfortable at all. In fact it requires more vigilance than usual.

@GovernorSilver 143054 wrote:

It’s kind of ironic that I feel safer riding southbound on N. Capitol St. – which has no bike lanes at all – on my evening commute.

Ironic perhaps, but not surprising. I presume you were riding on the southbound side of the street, thus you would be exactly where drivers would expect to see southbound traffic.

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@lordofthemark 143019 wrote:

Then at Eye and South Cap, not one, but TWO motor vehicles proceeded (illegally, and dangerously for a cyclist in the east bound bike lane) straight through the intersection from the right turn only lane

IIRC, you (and maybe others) have experienced that behavior frequently at that intersection. Yet Streetview shows multiple signs and pavement markings indicating a right-turn only lane. What more could be done to prevent this? Put green paint to mark the bike lane all the way through the intersection? Install a tiny traffic island that would force people to curve to the right as they enter the intersection from that lane?

Are drivers are doing this out of ignorance, or are they purposely using that lane trying to shoal other traffic (or to pass left-turning vehicles)?

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Great news. Time for Virginia and Maryland to get on this also.

BTW, the article says that the council needs to vote a second time on the bill, after summer recess, before it can become law. Why?

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@notinthe18 142509 wrote:

It boggles my mind that people out for an exercise-type ride go anywhere near the MVT on a nice afternoon/evening on a holiday weekend. And then to have the audacity to bark at people out jogging or walking? I did hill repeats on city streets yesterday for precisely that reason.

Totally agree. I headed up to 22207 for hill repeats yesterday morning before the rain. To get home, I took George Mason (from Yorktown Blvd to the small Four Mile Run Dr) and finished with one more climb up Superman Hill. You can’t get that level of workout on any of the local trails unless you’re willing to run over people.

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Question 3 is either pointless or disingenuous.

In the survey options, why is the projected regional population increase coupled to the development pattern? Is someone hoping to use the results in order to fuel opposition to smart growth? (“See, the public hates mixed-use development. Everyone agrees it will cause terrible traffic.”)

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@bobco85 142441 wrote:

Arlington, VA: The repaving on Walter Reed Dr between King St/Route 7 and Arlington Mill Dr is now complete. It is nice and smooth but lacks any markings other than small dashed lane separators. This stretch has only sharrows except for the intersection of Walter Reed Dr/Arlington Mill Dr which has bike lanes.

When the markings are repainted, I hope they move the sharrows further to the left. The sharrows were too close to the gutter, which weakened the message conveyed by the BMUFL signs.

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