[UrbanEngineer]

Me: Taking the L-Street cycletrack home from work.
Taxi: Slowly merging into the mixing zone
Me: Slowing down to give room for the taxi to come on over.
You: Impatient driver coming in from behind who gunned it through the mixing zone coming within inches of both me and the taxi at a high rate of speed.

Shocked there was enough room for your vehicle to split that gap. More shocked that you thought that it was a good idea to do that. Sorry to the pedestrians on the sidewalk who heard the foul language. I’m usually more civilized than that.

[UrbanEngineer]

Zero on most days. Office and condo building both have racks in the parking garage. The rack in my condo building is 1 spot per unit, so if I take my other bike out that is stored in my bedroom, I carry it down 28 steps on the way out and up 28 steps coming back in…Couldn’t care less about the steps, it’s the tight stair landing that makes it a pain.

[UrbanEngineer]

@jrenaut 68111 wrote:

It’s not that they directly take people out of cars (in fact, in DC at least I’m pretty sure most Bikeshare trips replace a bus or train ride).

I remember reading an article on GGW a while back that said the 2 most common bikeshare trips are Adams Mill/Columbia to Calvert/Woodley and back. That’s replacing a 10 minute walk with a 3 minute bike ride.

[UrbanEngineer]

Theoretically, it works ok. Realistically, it could be much better. Thanks for the survey link.

This is how the L-Street bike lane worked for me during last Friday’s evening rush. I don’t typically ride it during the evening rush. It was pretty terrible.
http://youtu.be/hbiNobo6Bek

Mostly, it needs to do a better job of preventing stupid from taking over our lane.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3954[/ATTACH]

[UrbanEngineer]

Some local blogs:
http://dcbac.blogspot.com/
http://www.mvjantzen.com/blog/
http://dc.streetsblog.org/
http://twitter.com/struckdc
http://districtcycling.com/
http://beyonddc.com/

Sometimes local blogs:
http://john-s-allen.com/blog/
http://iamtraffic.org/

Not local but too good to not share:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
http://bikeyface.com/

The most absurd bike blog I have ever read, which is written by a local:
http://ihatebicyclists.wordpress.com/

[UrbanEngineer]

I used to ride with the M324’s. The pedal would often times flip over. It can be a real pain in the ass when trying to clip back in and your pedal has flipped over with the platform side up. Metal cleats up against a flat metal surface will slide right off. Dinged my leg a few times too many because of these pedals. I don’t recommend them at all if you ride places where clipping in/out frequently is a must.

On a side note, SPD’s are a clipless pedal.

[UrbanEngineer]

I caught up with a cyclist yesterday who I saw very dangerously cross the intersection during the left green arrow. The vehicles turning left were able to avoid him, but the cyclist didn’t make it easy. I caught up to him to ask him about, and he said that he follows the green light and doesn’t even pay attention to the pedestrian signals. I asked him where he thinks the left green arrow vehicles are turning. He again pointed out the green straight light that he follows and I told him that he’s not supposed to follow that light while riding in that bike lane. That was about it. He said thank you, which left me with the impression that he actually didn’t know what he was doing and that I had provided some useful information to him….but….it’s not rocket science. He may have just been being polite to get me to go away. But I don’t understand why anybody would willingly put themselves in the way of oncoming traffic like that.

[UrbanEngineer]

@dasgeh 62331 wrote:

When cyclists blow the red, they put themselves in danger. When drivers blow the red, they put the lives of cyclists and peds in danger. Apples and oranges.

The cyclists that I was referring to are doing this unknowingly. They are incorrectly following the traffic signals as opposed to the pedestrian signals.

@mstone 62333 wrote:

Kinda like how comments to this story: http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/08/20/update-cabbie-rammed-cyclist-severed-womans-leg-wont-be-charged/ include a complaint about how cyclists run red lights. WHO GIVES A RIP? When we start seeing bikes being routinely used to kill or maim people THEN we can talk about how they’re unsafe. Until then, let’s focus on an actual problem.

Wow…This is a stretch. Pointing out that the unique signage often times results in cyclists unknowingly blowing through a red is nothing like any of the comments you are referring to.

@jrenaut 62353 wrote:

Is it any wonder that you get these “but bikes break the law all the time” comments at sites like Arlnow and whatnot when even here, one of the most bike-friendly places on the internet, we’re making the same comments to ourselves?

My comment was in reference to cyclists who blow through those lights without checking for oncoming traffic whatsoever. I’ve caught up to a few of these cyclists and referred them to the signs that indicate cyclists are to follow the pedestrian signals and they were thankful that I pointed that out to them. They were following the traffic signals and had unknowingly put themselves in danger. They had no clue that they weren’t following the law.

So I don’t think anybody was actually complaining about cyclists purposely breaking the law on this thread. I think people are just talking about it as if it happened, but it hasn’t.

On a side note, there is a monumental difference between blowing through a red light without checking for oncoming traffic and jumping red lights safely. Anybody who condones blowing through reds without checking for traffic is a moron. A discussion about a scenario where this happens often on accident, is more a discussion on the infrastructure than the behavior of the cyclists.

[UrbanEngineer]

@UrbanEngineer 62312 wrote:

…the follow the pedestrian signal signage…the follow the pedestrian signal signage…

Clearly what I said makes no sense, but I’m glad you understood.

[UrbanEngineer]

I see just as many cyclists blow through those lights (as in not shoulder check for turning traffic at all) when there is a green turn arrow as I do cars turning on red. It’s a bit of a problem. I’ve stopped next to motor vehicles and pointed out the red arrow on multiple occasions and I’ve caught up to cyclists to point out the follow the pedestrian signal signage. Not sure where the disconnect is for drivers, as their signage is standard. For the cyclists, the follow the pedestrian signal signage is a bit unique, and those I’ve caught up to seemed to genuinely not know. I can’t imagine anybody on a bike willingly putting themselves in this position (http://youtu.be/KvYFhBR3fXs). With the red light turning traffic, that’s the exact position the drivers are putting us in.

[UrbanEngineer]

I would be outraged if this happened in DC. I don’t have the time to do much of anything with my outrage except maybe stand in a meeting with my arms crossed looking pissed. Luckily for people like me, there are people who are willing and able to stick their neck out for all of us and call out the authorities when necessary. Here is somebody doing just that about this crash.

http://wiggparty.org/2013/08/bicyclists-death-reveals-san-franciscos-real-criminals/

[UrbanEngineer]

me: Riding in line with some slow moving traffic during the morning rush in the pouring rain.

you: Cab who honked at me a few times and then pulled up next to me to yell at me for not riding off to the side.

No matter what we do, somebody’s getting pissed about it. It’s pouring rain, the morning rush, riding down a one-way with driveways and cross-streets on both sides, in slow moving traffic and you want me to lane split? What for?

This had nothing to do with how fast I was going, as I certainly wasn’t the one holding up traffic. This guy honked at me just because I was on a bike and was in front of him.

[UrbanEngineer]

@jrenaut 56917 wrote:

I kind of like riding in the rain when it’s warm.

The ride in was perfect today. Dark clouds and rain drops scare a lot of riders away, and for whatever reason having less riders out there often times makes my morning commutes a bit more enjoyable. Seemed that mv traffic was pretty light this morning as well.

[UrbanEngineer]

I have never taken a photo with my gopro hero3 white edition. I just print screen the video replay. Works just fine. The video quality is awesome too. I’ve had some issues with camera steadiness using the helmet mount. I’ve seen other helmet mount videos that are steady as a rock, and I have no idea how they do it. Because of this I’m considering switching to a handlebar mount.

[UrbanEngineer]

@jrenaut 56281 wrote:

My understanding is that some of them are actually permitted in the bike lanes.

From GGW:

“According to a guide from the DC government, a scooter is a motorcycle if it has any of 5 characteristics: wheels under 16 inches in diameter, an engine greater than 50 cc, the ability to travel in excess of 35 mph on level ground, more than 1½ brake horsepower, or a manual transmission. If a scooter has none of those, it’s a motorized bicycle.

So why does this matter? Motorized bicycle owners are not required to pass a motorcycle skills test or wear a helmet and can ride in bike lanes.”

So I should’ve excluded the “get your f’ng scooter out of the f’ng bike lane” part of my profanity laced tirade at him. Good to know.

[Author]

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