[VA2DC]

Coming westbound up 15th St N toward Veitch, I’ve found it much easier to hang a right onto N Courthouse Rd, then take the middle lane to turn left onto Wilson in front of Ireland’s Four Courts. There’s no oncoming traffic that way, and it’s easy to swing wide into the Wilson westbound bike lane. You might catch extra red lights at Uhle and/or Veitch, but I find it to be a more comfortable crossing than the Veitch/Clarendon/Wilson clusterf***. Lately, though, I’ve been skipping 15th St. altogether and instead stay on Rhodes northbound all the way to Wilson, after crossing the bridge over Rt. 50.

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I confirmed with our building grounds folks that the sidewalks on either side of Independence Ave SW are controlled by DDOT, at least between 12th and 14th Streets SW. I presume this also would be the case east of 12th St SW. Thus, they would be subject to the CBD restriction on bikes, although I haven’t seen any enforcement so far.

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@ginacico 143055 wrote:

Is Independence technically part of the National Mall, or not?

I believe that the answer is no. There are parking meters along Independence Ave. that are controlled by DDOT, which wouldn’t be possible on NPS property. I think that NPS control begins at the edge of the sidewalk opposite from the road, which means the sidewalks on Independence would fall in the CBD. That said, I take the sidewalk from my building (USDA Whitten Building) when Independence is stacked up with all flavors of buses and cars in the afternoon. I just take it easy and give wide latitude to pedestrians.

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You: Hipster dude wearing ironically retro faux-Ray Bans cycling across Memorial Bridge while smoking a cigarette.

Me: Following behind you waiting for a chance to pass, stuck in ample smoke clouds that seemed impossibly abundant. I felt like the coal tender trailing a steam locomotive.

Thanks for my daily dose of secondhand smoke!

[VA2DC]

@VA2DC 141569 wrote:

Found on south side of Memorial Bridge around 8:00am on 6/16/16. Message me to claim.

No one has claimed this found part, which I’m pretty sure is the barrel from this model of Sunlite pump: http://sunlitecycling.com/product_detail.php?short_code=Air-Surge+2-Stage+Pocket+Pump&cl1=PUMPS

It’s just the barrel part without the valve head. But if you could use it as a replacement part, message me to arrange for pickup.

[VA2DC]

Thanks for all the helpful replies! Well, maybe except for this one;)

@baiskeli 141682 wrote:

Sure, there are places you might hide a bike–the trick is making sure you break down near them.

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@Raymo853 141586 wrote:

Just a posting warning people about the insane amount of poison ivy out there this year.
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I’m starting to itch just looking at these pictures. I’ve noticed a lot of poison ivy trail running too. Ugh.

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@KLizotte 141394 wrote:

Perhaps painting the entire trail with red paint where no passing should occur would be good? Similar to how green paint is used in bike lanes in tricky areas. Unfortunately it is unlikely this paint would be regularly maintained so would disappear in time as is occurring to the green paint in some areas.

I like the painting idea, or something like the slightly raised white stripes that act like rumble strips at some of the intersections on the W&OD. Additional signs along the trail would add another distraction that generally pulls your vision toward the signs and away from oncoming traffic. Plus, more sign posts would make the trail shoulders more dangerous and take away convenient spots to bail off the trail or take evasive action quickly if necessary.

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@Steve O 141213 wrote:

And if the sign is moved, a new one will need to be put there instead. Otherwise there’s no directional information whatsoever to guide people to the BJT.

@Tim Kelley 141295 wrote:

Our Top Men responded,

“You know what? Whoever wrote this. They’re right. This sign was put in the wrong place! It was supposed to be much further down the trail, just like they said.
GRRRRRRR…I’ll alert the authorities.

Could you thank them for catching this most grievous of errors?”

So the Top Men will move the directional signs down the trail? Will they leave the “Bluemont Junction Trail” sign in the current location to mark the entrance to the BJT, as noted by Steve O?

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@mstone 141296 wrote:

Is someone going to rescue all the people who got lost in the parking lot?

I’ll check tonight, but no cyclists were lost in the garage the last time that I rode by there;)

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@huskerdont 141362 wrote:

It’s always the SUVs, the kind of car people who can’t drive gravitate to for protection.

So true. One evening after dark last winter heading home northbound on the MVT, I saw two lights headed toward me on the stretch between 14th St Bridge and Memorial Bridge. I thought it was just two bikes side-by-side and that they’d line up single file once they spotted my light heading toward them. The lights didn’t converge, and once I got close enough, I saw it was an SUV headed straight towards me. I hopped on the grass as it drove past me. I was so flabbergasted that I didn’t think to chase it to get a license number or a picture. I have no idea how it even got down there.

[VA2DC]

@Steve O 141096 wrote:

Shoot, there are errors, missing signs and other corrections that I have communicated to the program manager on numerous occasions over the last 4 years, of which I believe exactly zero have ever been fixed.

Speaking of errors, the Bluemont Junction Trail sign westbound where the trail joins the north end of the Holiday Inn access road would be very confusing to a newbie. Anyone unfamiliar with the trail (presumably, the very same people for whom the signs are intended) would think that to get to Arlington Traditional School/get on Bluemont Junction Trail/go to Bluemont Park, the sign says to turn left immediately and follow drive that runs behind the Holiday Inn parking garage. That wayfinding sign should be placed 100 yards further west where you actually do turn left onto the Bluemont trail. Just a small “Bluemont Junction Trail” sign with a straight ahead arrow would be better in the current spot.

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@Tania 141145 wrote:

To get from north side of Fairfax to the south, the “official” bike trains have been turning left immediately at Wakefield, then a right on 11St N and then a right on Taylor. It’s almost NO traffic at all (and very pleasant). Then we go across Fairfax on Taylor and cut through Welburn Square to 9th Street and re-join Fairfax at Monroe (at Va Square Metro).

The route in the past two mornings has been very low stress as far as traffic and very new city-cyclist friendly. Heading west is another story mostly due to increased traffic volume.

What kind of ridership have the bike trains been getting?

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@baiskeli 140901 wrote:

You could make a small adjustment that might help a little. After crossing Rt. 50 at Rhodes, turn right on 14th and then right on Fairfax (or to avoid the short climb from 14th, cut through the grass immediately at 14th past the apartment building there – slowly, as it’s steep and can have rocks and bottles in the way). Ride on Fairfax and then get on the bike trail between Fairfax and 50, under Courthouse Road, then turn right where Fairfax starts again for a small climb up Fairfax to you home.

A somewhat bigger adjustment is to cross Rt. 50 on N. Meade and turn left on Fairfax Dr. until you can pick up the bike trail, and then follow baiskeli’s directions above.

Alternatively, following your original route from Iwo Jima along Arlington Blvd, after crossing Rt. 50 at Rhodes, stay straight on Rhodes at the 4-way stop at the end of the bridge. Turn left on Wilson, then left on Courthouse to a right on 14th or 13th. Even though it’s a longer ride, the climb up Rhodes to Wilson is somewhat less daunting than the climb up 14th/15th to Courthouse.

As already mentioned, there aren’t really any decent alternatives for avoiding a climb around Iwo Jima unless you go quite a bit out of your way. You might consider staying on Marshall to the right on N Meade instead of taking the path toward the Netherlands Carillon. Somehow, the roadway feels like a bit less of a climb than the path, although you drop down and then have to climb back up again as you approach N Meade.

I do agree with the other posters that it gets better with repetition. I’ve only been at it for about a year, starting with Bike to Work Day last year. (I guess that you could say that Bike to Work Day worked for me.:o)

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@chris_s 140810 wrote:

Some relief is coming for this – the current private development construction there is building a small section of two-way curb-protected bike lane from Wakefield to Glebe. This will allow you to stay on the North side of Fairfax Drive for an additional block without having to ride on that sidewalk; then you would make the transition to the south side bike lane in one of the crosswalks at the Glebe intersection – either West of Glebe or East of Glebe.

That’s good news coming off of Custis, but will the eastbound bike lane on the south side of Fairfax remain? Coming from Bluemont Junction, I’d hate to have to cross Fairfax twice just to get down a block (and not hop on the sidewalk in front of Buffalo Wild Wings).

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