[UrbanEngineer]

Got passed by a motorized scooter in the lane today with inches to spare. I’ve begrudgingly come to expect close calls with automobiles when sharing the lane with them on the road, but holy crap, being passed in a protected bike lane like this by a motorized scooter scared the hell out of me. Really pissed me off. I see scooters fairly often in bike lanes around town. Never had one do something like this though.

[UrbanEngineer]

@oxie 52459 wrote:

-Wait for a pedestrian signal and cross traffic in the crosswalk.
.

Sounds like this is what amyp does but there isn’t any place to wait except for in the way of other cyclists.

@oxie 52459 wrote:

-Maneuver in line with the traffic waiting at the cross street. Proceed across the intersection when the light changes.
.

This is basically turning left onto 15th and then maneuvering to direct yourself south. Not always easy when you have cyclists behind you also turning left to head north. If you’re going with this approach, I don’t often times recommend hopping onto the sidewalk, but in this case, if clear, there is a curb cut just before this intersection that will put you on the sidewalk for just a short bit which will then make you’re maneuvering to head south less of a headache.

@oxie 52459 wrote:

-If you are comfortable doing so, before reaching the intersection, merge into the main roadway and over to the rightmost lane, then turn as normal. Remember to yield to oncoming traffic and be safe, if you choose this method
.

This is what I do.

[UrbanEngineer]

It’s not a good idea to pass vehicles on the side to which they are currently indicating a turn towards. Doesn’t matter who has the right of way. Doesn’t matter that they are not in the proper lane. If you see a signal that says vehicle is coming your way, and they show no signs of yielding to you, I’d believe that signal and let them go. Annoys the crap out of me that this is the case, as I would expect drivers to know the laws and to yield to cyclists in the cycletrack, and to change lanes into the bike lanes so they don’t turn across them…but they don’t.

[UrbanEngineer]

@CPTJohnC 51068 wrote:

But does your client and employer agree? If they do, great. But in many environments, the extra $10/20 per meeting is largely irrelevant (esp. when I’m billing that client $300-500/hr for that meeting) versus the ‘appearance’ of ‘unprofessionalism’. It isn’t a question of the reality (is being a little sweaty really unprofessional? Will I really be that much sweatier if I ride my bike than if I walk from the parking lot to the bldg — in august, the answer to that might be “no”) but rather of people’s expectations and perceptions. It’s kind of like when the lawyer shows up driving a beater car — people
start to question his capability — after all, if he can’t afford a nicer car… likewise, people perceive bikes as transportation for the poor or otherwise ‘disadvantaged’ or for freaks.

Stop bringing reality into my little ideal world.

I’m lucky in that I work as an engineer designing sustainable buildings and am the associate work horse and not the talk $$ with the client type. My job makes it more acceptable to show up places dirty and/or sweaty, as part of my job involves going into construction sites and mechanical rooms and getting dirty. Clearly this is not the case for all professions.

That said, most of my work is paid for by tax dollars, and whether my client or employer agree with my biking isn’t nearly as important to me as whether or not those who pay for the job, being the tax payers, agree. Why charge the tax payers for a trip when I can get there for free? Do tax payers agree with paying a bit more on tax payer funded projects so those involved can get places without getting a bit sweaty? The transportation expenses on a project may be a very small percentage, but small amounts multiplied over many thousands of times will result in big dollars.

[UrbanEngineer]

“Now I have kids and daycares are not interested in you being 30 minutes late because of a flat bike tire”

In the DC area, anybody who bike commutes to an office filled with drivers and metro users as I do is probably use to being the most punctual person in the office as biking is easily the most dependable and consistent mode of transportation in the area.

“The workplace is a fierce place and if you have an office job, you are expected to be on time, dressed appropriately, not smell and not have chain grease on your slacks. If you come in disheveled or late from a flat tire or slow bike ride, then you will have plenty of time to cycle while looking for a new job. It feels as if 90% of US employers are more focused on making profits and succeeding instead of contributing to environmental conservation and assisting employees with commuting options. It’s a different world and US companies as a majority are not equipped or interested in making cycling to work an option.”

When I have to go out to a job site, I’ll ride my bike. Those who cab it, they’ll bill those cab rides to the job. $10 here, $20 there, over the timeline of an entire project, many workers doing it…That’ll add up. I might have some sweat on my brow at the project meetings, I might not be dressed in a suit like most everybody else, but my commute is charging the client $0. That sounds profitable to me.

[UrbanEngineer]

The office building I work at near farragut square has a wheel bender type rack on the 3rd level of the parking garage. Getting down to the 3rd level of the garage hasn’t been so bad, as I’ve done it just about every day for 5 years now, but on rainy or snowy days, some of the very steep slick inclines with 90° blind corners at the bottom of them are a bit much. Throw in cars moving, cars parking, and pedestrains walking to/from the core elevators and you’ll come to realize the 3rd level of a parking garage is not really an ideal place to put a bike rack. Could be worse though.

[UrbanEngineer]

In my opinion, Connecticut is the worst intersection along the L-Street cycletrack. They recently completed construction on the island along Connecticut, and it sticks out a bit into the intersection. Many cars already like to swing out unnecessarily wide to make their left turns. Put an oversized island in the way and the space for cyclists between the straight and turning traffic all but vanishes. When I’m waiting at that light to go straight, I wait in the left turn lane so as to not allow the cars to squeeze me.

[UrbanEngineer]

I’m not such a fan of sporting spandex gear when meeting people out, nor am I a fan of tearing through clothes by riding in pants not made to handle the wear and tear of cycling, so I invested in a few pairs of betabrand cordarounds, and swrve regular trim fit jeans. What makes these pants better suited to handle the wear and tear of cycling? It’s the Gusseted Crotch! And what is a gusseted crotch? Well….Funny story.

There is an action Super Hero named Chuck Norris. Mr. Norris is most well known for kicking ass. But as a Walker Texas Ranger he had a uniform that required him to wear jeans ALL the time and most jeans cannot handle the wear and tear of roundhouse kicking bad guys in the face. So Chuck Norris teamed up with a company known as “Action Jeans” to create a pair of jeans that could withstand his roundhouse kicking ways. The secret to these jeans are the gusseted crotch. The gusset allows for greater movement without ripping or binding. More info on these action jeans can be found here:

http://www.methodshop.com/2008/05/chuck-norris-action-jeans.shtml

[UrbanEngineer]

Me: Crossing 15th street NW at New Hampshire & Florida with a nice big solid green light letting me know it’s my turn to proceed.

You: Barreling the wrong way down the 15th street hill into the 15th, New Hampshire, Florida, & W intersection, coming to a screeching halt just inches away from t-boning me.

I know you said sorry, but if you’ve made that many dumb decisions to get to the point where you are barreling into an intersection going the wrong way when the cross traffic has a green light, you are clearly aware of how unnecessarily reckless you are being. Saying sorry doesn’t mean crap at that point. On a side note, at least your brakes are squeaky enough to have given me a nice alarm of your idiot self coming towards me.

[UrbanEngineer]

My favorite part of this photo is that you blurred out the back of his head. Love it!

[UrbanEngineer]

Me: Riding in the lane passing slower bike lane traffic.

You: Driver yelling at me to get off the road.

As much as I generally love having SUV’s speed up behind me while laying on the horn in a residential 25 mph zone, I just wasn’t in the mood for it today. When you rolled down your window to tell me “I’m not stupid. I know you’re supposed to be in the bike lane. why you trying to cause controversy?” What I should’ve said was “Yes, you’re right. I enjoy causing controversy with things that can squash me like a bug. My apologies.” but I only had enough time to say “You’re an f’ng idiot”. I hope you didn’t misunderstand

[UrbanEngineer]

He clearly doesn’t understand the purpose of signaling and calling out passes if he’s passing people without calling out while they are signaling. Luckily he hit a curb and not a bus.

[UrbanEngineer]

Seems over complicated. A buffer of parked cars right before a mixing zone. Not so sure I like that. It would be safer to have a designated turn arrow for the road users and have the cyclists follow the pedestrian signals as they do on the 15th street cycletrack and remove the mixing zones.

Also not a fan of how the parking is shown. That’s a lot of road being designated for parked cars. Why not have the lane be a travel lane with on-street parking during specified hours?

Why not just have 3 lanes on the road and a buffered track on the right side separated by a curb?

[UrbanEngineer]

@Greenbelt 43513 wrote:

my building has bike racks in the underground garage. PM me for the secret instructions if you want.

Those bike racks are on the secure side of the building. You’re going to get Bilsko thrown into the holding facilities.

@Greenbelt 43513 wrote:

I can see that bike rack from my office!.

If that’s true, unless you’re the Chief Deputy US Marshal, I’ve been in your office on multiple occasions.

[UrbanEngineer]

I’m over there all the time doing work. I park at the corner of C and 6th, right outside of the guard booth. Never had a problem. Also, I would recommend using the C-Street entrance, it is always much shorter than the main Indiana Ave entrance.

Also, take a look at the rules of what you can and can’t bring into the courthouse. My contractor badge allows me to carry a tool bag in, but some typical bike tools might not be allowed.

[Author]

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