[Zack]

@bentbike33 160324 wrote:

For the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area, which consists of District of Columbia, DC; Calvert County, MD; Charles County, MD; Frederick County, MD; Montgomery County, MD; Prince George’s County, MD; Arlington County, VA; Clarke County, VA; Culpeper County, VA; Fairfax County, VA; Fauquier County, VA; Loudoun County, VA; Prince William County, VA; Rappahannock County, VA; Spotsylvania County, VA; Stafford County, VA; Warren County, VA; Alexandria city, VA; Fairfax city, VA; Falls Church city, VA; Fredericksburg city, VA; Manassas city, VA; Manassas Park city, VA; and Jefferson County, WV, it was 0.8% in 2015.

While citywide and across the region, that number sounds low, some neighborhoods are several times that. I made a map of Alexandria’s census tracts and used Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey and some neighborhoods are 4-6 times higher than that regional average. DC has even higher numbers in certain neighborhoods.

[Zack]

Riding home on the MVT last night, I came up behind another cyclist at the northern airport bridge and waited to pass as usual since it is a blind corner. Another pair of cyclists pull up behind me waiting for a clear line of sight too. Then suddenly, a fifth cyclist starts passing us all just as a northbound cyclist comes flying around the blind corner. Luckily, everyone avoided each other but man, I don’t remember an uptick in jerk cyclists this time last year. But in the past few weeks, it seems some folks act just like bad drivers!

[Zack]

@Emm 158628 wrote:

For today’s “super fun commuting around wildlife adventure”, I hit a bird on my bike ride in. Or really, the bird hit me. I was just doing my thing, being a PAL and commuting at a moderate pace along G St SW on my way to work. Then a group of 4-5 songbirds darts out of the tree in front of me. A few of of them made it past me fine, and then another went right into my right hand. Luckily, little birds are soft. After a slight tumble it righted itself and kept flying away to hang out with its friends, and I sustained nothing more serious than a tiny cut on my finger and some mild confusion over what I had just experienced. I’m just happy it fared better than the 2-3 smushed squirrels I saw on the roads today.

Glad your bird was alright! I almost hit an owl a few years ago on the lower MVT. It was sitting on one of the bridge posts and blended right in with the post. I rode by and he took off right over my head.

[Zack]

@cvcalhoun 157956 wrote:

When I reported someone to the police in DC based on a video, they said they were able to prosecute based on that. Only problem was it was a Maryland driver, and they don’t have access to Maryland driver information based on the license plate number, so they had to wait until the person was back in DC and someone happened to run the plates.

Interesting, appreciate you sharing your experience. What form did you use? Or did you have go into a station? This guy was a DC driver.

[Zack]

@cvcalhoun 157840 wrote:

Did you get the license plate? Can you report him?

Do report them if you got the license plate, there is a process in DC for those cab drivers to be disciplined.

[Zack]

Was passed on the MVT by a guy with his seat too low and his pedaling level of effort didn’t match his speed. Spotted a bright red Copenhagen wheel around his rear axle. Anyone else ever see one of these?

[Zack]

@KWL 157138 wrote:

The southern National Airport bridge has a good size sheet of solid smooth ice. The rider in front of me ended up sideways, but made a good catch.

Rode the MVT between 4MR and 14th St Bridge, and this was the only section where I walked most of it. The rest of the trail is ride-able with more moderate icy patches that only require going slow. Not a bad ride, especially as I bought new Pearl izumi gloves half off at Wheel Nutz the other day. With any luck, we should see some melting today!

[Zack]

Bike may use full lane!

Alternatively, R4-11 rocks!

[Zack]

I used to live in Takoma, DC and rode the Metropolitan Branch Trail everyday. It is a nice ride and these days, there are lots of people on it. However, there are occasional incidents, I didn’t remember hearing about any from 2016 but Googled and found this one. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/robbery-beating-reported-tuesday-on-popular-dc-bike-trail/2016/03/29/0851954c-f5fb-11e5-a3ce-f06b5ba21f33_story.html?utm_term=.b90ac5ca9105 and this one.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/blog/13070761/d-c-police-seek-suspects-in-alleged-robberyassault-that-started-along-met-branch-trail
There are also some on-street sections which are not low stress such as getting to the trail from Takoma Park. I used 3rd St NW, Hamilton/Gallatin, and Fort Totten Dr, the latter of which goes up a large hill with lots of car traffic. Once you get onto the trail at Fort Totten, you have to watch for police cars which use the trail as an illegal shortcut to get gasoline. There is also 8th St NE which is chaotic in the mornings with parents dropping their kids at school. The new cycletrack on M/First St is great but then it dumps you into Columbus Circle in front of Union Station which leaves you either riding on the wide sidewalk, cutting through the Capitol Complex where they hate bicycles, or on multilane Louisiana Ave.

But listening to your situation and to Crickey7’s point about the Capital Crescent Trail’s impending closure for the Purple Line light rail, Bethesda or a neighborhood nearby is the way to go.

Within Takoma Park itself, there is no safe on-street bicycle infrastructure except for Sligo Creek Trail but it goes too far out of your way to be a commuter route. There are some nice low stress streets and Takoma Bicycle Shop but those low stress streets don’t really connect except over high stress streets. There is also no low stress connection from Takoma Park to the Capital Crescent Trail either.

[Zack]

@AlexandriaBiker 156115 wrote:

This is from a year ago …

Is there any change to the stop signs on trails issue? I was at the meeting where this was initially discussed but never saw the definitive conclusion from ACPD or Commonwealth Attorney. Do the signs have any legal standing in Arlington? Can anyone address if stop signs on trails have legal standing statewide? Nationwide?

This has come up in discussions over the last year and I’m just interested in having correct information. Thanks.

The answer is no unless Arlington or another local governing body passed an ordinance expressly requiring a complete stop on trails.

http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-924

D. Where a shared-use path crosses a highway at a clearly marked crosswalk and there are no traffic control signals at such crossing, the local governing body may by ordinance require pedestrians, cyclists, and any other users of such shared-used path to come to a complete stop prior to entering such crosswalk. Such local ordinance may provide for a fine not to exceed $100 for violations. Any locality adopting such an ordinance shall install and maintain stop signs, consistent with standards adopted by the Commonwealth Transportation Board and to the extent necessary in coordination with the Department of Transportation. At such crosswalks, no user of such shared-use path shall enter the crosswalk in disregard of approaching traffic.

[Zack]

@Emm 155070 wrote:

Lots of police by the MVT in Alexandria today. I saw 4 between Tulane and Slaters Lane. Not sure if this was just coincidence since it crossed a few jurisdictions between Fairfax, NPS and Alexandria City. One was at Dyke Marsh, another by Jones Point, and 1 along the more traily-area in Old Town, and 1 on S. Union St. They didn’t appear to be doing stop sign enforcement or anything as I failed come to a complete “foot down” stop right in Old Town in front of one since I didn’t see them until too late, but they were there… watching…

To their credit, APD has been using their increased resources to do more traffic enforcement and even regular patrols are encouraged to do the same thing. I saw them along the Potomac Yard Trail doing speed enforcement on Potomac Ave last night.

In Virginia, the stop sign law does not require “foot down,” this coming from the head of the enforcement division himself and he uses this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKmwKP5ZRtQ to guide their discretion on enforcement of stop signs. In a nutshell, slow down to a walking pace and yield to anyone else in the intersection or crosswalk, and you will likely not earn a ticket. If that is what you did on Union, they were using their discretion as they said they would.

[Zack]

@anomad 154427 wrote:

I’m attending training this week at “Homeland Security Acquisition Institute” over by Union Station (yawn). If anyone has the pleasure of attending classes there they have two large private bathrooms and a “wellness room”. Not as good as a real locker room, but the bathrooms work well for changing. There are a couple good bike racks in the garage and usually two attendants keeping an eye on things. They’re actually pretty nosy, so I always make a point to say good morning and let them know what I am up to and offer to show ID. The only downside is there’s nowhere to hang your clothes unless you luck out and get a classroom with one of the little closets for extra chairs and stuff.

Started the ride home with my tights on this evening and got so warm I stopped and put them in my panniers. Riding in shorts in February is awesome!

Darn, I wish I had known that a few weeks ago. I just finished two weeks of training there!

[Zack]

First commute ride after three weeks, as I teleworked during inauguration week and was in a class for two weeks. I was impressed by how many other commuters were out.

In fact, I looked at the bike count data for Alexandria and on weekdays, there were about twice as many riders. This trend continued at some of the busiest bike counters. I thought this was attributable to the nice weather but at least in Alexandria, there are about the same number of weekend riders which I theorize are more weather influenced.

Bottom line, nice to have so much company!

[Zack]

Santa (aka my wife) bought me a Gopro Session 4. If you see yet another geek with a helmet cam, I am now one of them!

[Zack]

@worktheweb 149653 wrote:

I used to have an under-desk setup with a drying rack and a fan that would dry everything by quitting time, but after a year without incident, somebody complained, so now everything is in a locker at the gym downstairs @worktheweb 149653 wrote:

.

Gotta love that, I used to have a curtain so I could change in my office sometimes instead of in the bathroom. But after a year (and my SES willfully ignoring it), a new person moved to an office nearby and then I was told to stop 😮 because someone complained. Then, that person moved elsewhere.

I did see that one of the modal agencies has cool folding screens to provide cubes with some privacy but the front office shot that down for now.

[Author]

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