[Xarici]

I did let him know that it wasn’t legal and he ignored me. If I weren’t enjoying the commute and also needing to be in the office I would’ve stopped for longer.

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Positive. His car, council plates, and saw him get out and open the trunk.

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Nice ride in marred by Councilmember Jack Evans pulling a U-turn on Penn to get a prime parking spot in front of the Wilson Building. Sigh.

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There’s a guy I’ve passed a couple times who rides with no hands while on his phone going uphill in the 15th St. cycletrack. Passing him is a bit unnerving given the weaving and not looking up…

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Last evening’s commute: discovered I had a slow leak in my rear tire on the way back. Thanks to everyone who stopped to check if I was ok on Penn Ave: biker with a cool front rack/bag combo, lady driving a silver Jeep with a bike rack, and other biker on the fixie/SS, much appreciated! I got it pumped enough to make it home and changed out the tube for this morning’s beautiful ride in!

[Xarici]

@creadinger 66786 wrote:

Cars should always pass bikes mentality, with no thought put into what’s ahead.

Definitely experienced this tonight. Heading east on ECap there were four of us cyclists in a row, taking the lane to go around a couple cars parked in the bike lane when a black SUV driver zooms up, fully in the wrong lane, and tries to pass all four of us at once causing the driver coming the opposite direction to come to a complete stop in his own lane to avoid a head on collision. Unbelievable.

[Xarici]

Me: heading south on 15th about to cross Constitution to go enjoy closed Jefferson instead of PA Ave, taking the left lane as the right turn lane was backing way up, stopping as the light was red.
You: Audi driver who zooms up and tries to cut me off with less than a car length to go. I yell at him to watch it as he was very close to me even though I was pretty much already stopped already.
You: “Now be smart about this, you’re a biker, and you should give way to cars.”
Me: ” I was biking legally, you crossed a double yellow to try to pass me, are well within 3 feet, disregarding my safety, and you gained a total of zero seconds.”
You: About to disagree when you’re cut off by the SUV driver next to you who says, “Hey, he’s right, I saw the whole thing, you cut over to try to cut unsafely, and didn’t give him 3 feet. Where were you trying to go anyway, the light’s red?” He then asked me if I was ok, awesome all the way around. I thanked him and got ready to go when the light changed. Funny thing is during this whole thing Mr. Audi kept trying to ease forward to cut me off, while we were stopped!

[Xarici]

To the cop parked in the PA Ave cycletrack at 13th yesterday evening: thanks for doing nothing when the guy pulled a U-turn right NEXT to you.

I caught him at the light and asked him nicely not to do U-turns anymore. He said thanks, thought about it, and then said that I should stop at red lights, to which I replied that I did, at every one. Thanks for the irrelevant blame-deflecting afterthought though, Mr. Driver.

[Xarici]

From yesterday’s ride home:

You: riding with an inflated exercise ball creatively strapped to your rear rack.
Good work! Glad there wasn’t much wind for you!

You: Parking enforcement officer, on a segway, on your phone, zooming up the wrong way in the middle of K Street to pass both lanes of cars stopped at the light.
Please don’t, for so many reasons.

[Xarici]

I have them, don’t really notice the beeping as the battery unit is usually in my pannier. The beeping helps to let you know when the thing is on as it will turn on and drain the battery even if not connected to the wire. This is rather annoying as sometimes the button gets pushed in my pannier and drains the battery. I bought washers to glue around the button to stop it getting pushed accidentally.

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It’d be nice if they installed flexposts or really anything at all at Constitution and Penn. The vast majority of drivers turning left onto Constitution cut that corner well over the lines very close to anyone waiting at that light. I always stop well behind the stop bar there and have no idea why there aren’t any protective measures other than white paint there.

Update: based on the cones that are now placed along there, it looks like this will indeed happen!

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You: Crazy dude threading between two side-by-side MOVING commuter buses on K NW who then almost got right-hooked by the black SUV turning right from the middle lane when you emerged from the narrow gap… maybe rethink that move next time?

[Xarici]

Bummer, looks like they’re still stopping/driving there, thought they’d been better about it. I have reported this twice at least. One time the driver actually made a move toward me with the van while I was talking to her about why it’s dangerous for her to park there… no response from WMATA, big surprise.

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I also stop at all lights behind the stop bar on E. Cap and Penn and am constantly being shoaled. The worst are the people that do it multiple times on one stretch. I even had a guy on a CaBi last week shoal me (without calling) three times despite having thanked me for calling my first pass. I know the route and the timing of the lights so I know when I need to push, slow down, so it really bugs me that people are self-important/rude/unaware enough to jump ahead of me only to get stuck at the next light they can’t ‘safely’ jump. I just try to be patient and ding/call every time so they get the memo, but doesn’t always work though sometimes it will. I have tried telling them it makes us look bad, doesn’t usually work but I did get one positive reaction once. I have also audibly apologized to the pedestrians the other biker cut off. I would also be interested in others’ experiences, especially constructive ones.

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Turns out my wife’s day ended on a better note after the encounter with the scary driver: she was in a group of five or so bikers on Penn and the cab driver that pulled a U-turn between them was seen by a cop and was actually pulled over!

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