Missed connection

[lordofthemark]

You – the well dressed blonde woman in a sedan, turning left from WB Eye on to Half Street, SW (the unit block of Eye Street SW)

Me – the bike rider heading eastbound on Eye, in the general travel lane (because of the disabled bus in the right turn/bike sharrows lane)

I realize you must have been frustrated, waiting for the pedestrians to cross the street, and the cars turning right from EB Eye to Half Street, but you STILL have to yield to oncoming traffic, which in this case included me on a bike, when turning left. You nearly hit with me that move, and I didn’t even think to stop and see if you would do that, as I have never seen anyone do something quite that reckless there. Were you trying to make the case for the “ban cars” movement?

[Oldtowner]

You: On bike, following school bus in Old Town this morning.
Me: on bike following you (unbeknownst to you)
School bus stops with its red flashing lights on. In perhaps the douchiest move I’ve ever seen you blow past the bus on the right with its door open.
Then after passing you a few blocks ahead, the bus puts its lights on again for the next stop, but this time deliberately pulls really close to the parked cars so you can’t blow past the door again.
You: blow past the bus on the left this time with the red lights flashing.
Me: C’mon man. You make us all look bad. And for good reason.

[lordofthemark]

You: The driver of the white pickup, going south on 4th Street SW at Eye.

Me: Riding a bike eastbound on Eye, entering the intersection on the LPI

If you are going to Idaho a red light in your pickup truck, you need to learn to do a proper Idaho. First of all, you need to stop at the red and THEN proceed, not just cruise through without stopping. Also you need to wait till the intersection has cleared.

[KWL]

Me: JRA
You: $%*^%# crazy squirrels

[n18]

@KWL 181902 wrote:

Me: JRA
You: $%*^%# crazy squirrels

I have had more success with making Tsk-Tsk sound rather than my bell. The idea is that squirrels treat cyclists as predators because we are silent and zooming in toward them(+-10 Degrees). A predator doesn’t announce itself, and so by announcing yourself, it knows that you are not a predator, and gets out of your way. Somehow bells make them confused as it sounds artificial, so you have to use natural sound.

[Sunyata]

I talk to the squirrels. It seems to work 98% of the time.

Chipmunks on the other hand… I have no idea what makes sense to them. Music, bells, and talking do not work.

[creadinger]

In the mornings I always get stopped at the light on Suitland Rd crossing Southern Ave and as usual when it turns green I always have to wait a couple of seconds for all the red light runners on Southern Ave to blow through before I can safely go (HEY DC, HERE’S A GREAT PLACE FOR A RED LIGHT CAMERA!).

This morning after I got moving you pulled up along side in your black sedan, yelled a few things at me and sped off again. I couldn’t hear what you said, but I’m sure it sounded tough. Whatever it was, you were raging about something that made you so mad you sped past the school bus with the red lights flashing, actively picking up about 20 kids. About 15 other drivers stopped along with me. What gives??

And then to illustrate how awesome the drivers in this area really are, you, the driver of the white sedan that stopped alongside me to wait for the bus decided to pass it across the double yellow going up the hill simply because it wasn’t going 15 over the speed limit. Dude. Passing the bus with the lights flashing is illegal. Passing the bus across double yellow in a no passing zone while speeding is also illegal.

To make matters a little more real, I am keenly aware that both of you are probably neighbors of the shit stain from Suitland that killed Thomas Hollowell. Some days I really hate working at the Suitland Federal Center.

Addl: It’s time to report to PGCP that Suitland Rd is again reminiscent of the Road Warrior movies where drivers just do what the hell they want. A little, teeny, tiny bit of enforcement would be great. I mean seriously, just drive a police car once or twice and it might help.

[SpaceJockey]

@Sunyata 181921 wrote:

I talk to the squirrels. It seems to work 98% of the time.

Chipmunks on the other hand… I have no idea what makes sense to them. Music, bells, and talking do not work.

I road-killed a squirrel once while wearing head-to-toe RealTree camouflage T-shirt and shorts while riding my BMX near Waterfront metro. The lady walking in the opposite direction that witnessed the event had a look of shock and terror.

[Yule]

Creadinger, sorry to hear about your bad experience.

@creadinger 181947 wrote:

from Suitland that killed Thomas Hollowell

Your anecdote led me to check the commuting data for Suitland (from the Census Bureau’s yearly survey); maybe unsurprisingly, is that ZERO bicycle commuters live in Suitland.

In 2016, the most common method of travel for workers in Suitland, MD was Drove Alone, followed by those who Public Transit and those who Carpooled.

Most common method of travel
1. Drove Alone 57.5%
2. Public Transit 24%
3. Carpooled 12.4%
4. Work at Home 2.5%
5. Walked 2.4%
6. Taxi 0.3%
7. Other 0.9%
8. Bicycle 0.0%

Suitland registered 0.0% Bicycle for the years 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

_________________________

Based on growth in the 2010s, Arlington and Alexandria are likely to reach a combined 2.0% bicycle commuting share by 2020, or many thousands of bicycle commuters on the streets/trails daily versus something between about zero and twenty people (twenty pushing the high end of the ‘0.0%’ estimate’s margin-of-error) who bike-commute from Suitland.

FWIW, in 2016: Prince George’s County MD overall had 0.2% bicycle commuters, Washington DC proper had 4.6%, and census-defined Washington DC metro area (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV metro-area) had 0.9%.

[baiskeli]

Saw this on the SquirrelArlington site:

“Whenever you cross a street, it’s a good idea to go almost to the other side and then, if a car or bike approaches, turn around and run right back in front of the vehicle to where you came from.”

[creadinger]

@Yule 181961 wrote:

Your anecdote led me to check the commuting data for Suitland (from the Census Bureau’s yearly survey); maybe unsurprisingly, is that ZERO bicycle commuters live in Suitland.

I don’t know where he lives (I stalked him on strava once a few years ago), but there is an older man with a white beard who rides inbound in the mornings from the Suitland area. He may start farther out than Suitland, or he wasn’t selected for Census’ ACS those years.

[SpaceJockey]

Me: Out in front after breaking free from the pack going upwind
You: Making the pass as I slowed down to not create an unsafe situation under Memorial Bridge

Despite any war of ego, I enjoyed watching you struggle hard for the next 2 miles as I took a draft. Normally I would be satisfied with that, except that you kept zigging when you should have been zagging during your passes and made what should have been easy situations into near disasters with high probability of collateral damage. Cool your jets.

[VikingMariner]

@Sunyata 181921 wrote:

I talk to the squirrels. It seems to work 98% of the time.

Chipmunks on the other hand… I have no idea what makes sense to them. Music, bells, and talking do not work.

Dances with Squirrels. Will be contacting you soon with a movie deal as soon as I finish the script. We gonna be rich.

[n18]

You: E-Bike owner that left his bike locked somewhere in Fairfax county for days/weeks with badly bent front chainring(x1 setup).

Look for “direct mount chainring” on Amazon with the same number of teeth, or ask a bike shop. You probably need special bike tools to remove the crank, it might be cheaper to let a bike shop do it.

[komorebi]

You: my trusty rear light that got stolen while my bike was parked in Adams Morgan today. Farewell, and thank you for the many safely lit miles. I hope the person who took you (1) needs you, and (2) remembers to actually use you.

[Author]

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