[Oldtowner]

@notlost 119344 wrote:

Also good to keep in mind that the section of the Mt Vernon Trail between the 14th street bridge and 66 is part of DC.

Isn’t the MVT federal property? I have only seen Park Police on that stretch (on motorcycles).

[Oldtowner]

@PotomacCyclist 98384 wrote:

The Parkway is closed for the annual Parkway Classic running race every March or April. It’s a 10-mile run from Mt. Vernon to Old Town. It used to be known as the GW Parkway Classic.

The Parkway south of Old Town is also closed every year for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half-Marathon.

[Oldtowner]

@baiskeli 97575 wrote:

Again – this is not about fully-powered scooters, it’s about bicycles that are foot-powered most of the time.

e-bike:

Scooter like those in the streets of Hanoi:

Article comparing e-bikes and scooters:

http://www.politusic.com/everything-else/electric-scooter-ebike-motorcycle/

Ah, but if it were that easy to tell the apart. What is this? Note the pedals.

[Oldtowner]

@Harry Meatmotor 97505 wrote:

This is one insight that i think can be expanded. The industry is pushing this waaaay hard. As you may have noticed at all 3 major cycling tradeshows, e-bikes were everywhere. The reason? The aging boomer market share. Trek, Giant, and Specialized have already sold most of the boomers (and their kids!) MTBs or hybrids in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. At least 1/3 of them* bought Specialized Roubaixs between 2003 and today, and the last hold outs are going to be sold e-bikes soon. The industry needs the trails to be ready for the coming electrification of the cycling activity. Once they’re legal, the next hurdle will be charging stations at the bottom of the DH course (and at the intersection of doom!), and trailer-hitch mounted bike racks with charging ports.

* completely unscientific WAG

This is the real concern. I can imagine serious traffic issues on the trails, if the e-bike market takes off. Imagine the W&OD starting to look like the streets of Hanoi.

[Oldtowner]

I got passed by an e-bike on the MVT a while back, I was doing around 20 and he flew by me, definitely 25+. If e-bikes were limited to 20mph, I’d be fine with it, but faster than that could be a problem. With regular bikes most people at those speeds are reasonably experienced. With an e-bike who knows?

BTW an old bitty on a cruiser yelled at me a couple of weeks ago for “speeding” on my panniered-up commuter on the MVT near the airport. Wasn’t doing more than 17 mph, but she thought I was a menace at that speed. It’s all relative, I guess.

[Oldtowner]

Just today, I saw a fool salmon the WHOLE WAY up East Basin then onto Ohio to get to Hains Point. Really?

It is amazing how there is a car or van always parked right there at the turn. I assume this is an anti-salmon strategy on the part of NPS.

[Oldtowner]

Have to agree the WV part was noticeably nicer as far as the welcome went. The cars were respectful and the people were friendly and waving. Even the guy running in street clothes with an axe (I didn’t ask) was saying hi to everyone as we passed.
I agree PP needs to figure out a way to get the community more invested. Is there some local charity the ride could support? I bet if the ride was to raise money for the local police fund we might get a better welcome from the Sheriff. Are there some local vendors who can sell food or other wares at the end? It just takes some imagination and leadership to get the locals involved and this ride back on track.

BTW to my riding partner from State – thanks for the company!

[Oldtowner]

80+ is automatic reckless in VA. See Paragraph (iv) below:

Virginia Code Section 46.2-862. Exceeding speed limit – A person shall be guilty of reckless driving who drives a motor vehicle on the highways in the Commonwealth (i) at a speed of twenty miles per hour or more in excess of the applicable maximum speed limit where the applicable speed limit is thirty miles per hour or less, (ii) at a speed of sixty miles per hour or more where the applicable maximum speed limit is thirty-five miles per hour, (iii) at a speed of twenty miles per hour or more in excess of the applicable maximum speed limits where the applicable maximum speed limit is forty miles per hour or more, or (iv) in excess of eighty miles per hour regardless of the applicable maximum speed limit).

[Oldtowner]

Don’t take chances with this. If you have a bike on the list don’t ride it until it’s fixed. I had a recalled fork snap on me last year before I could get it in. Fortunately it was just me and the ground involved.

[Oldtowner]

I agree. These rules are a lot better than those other rules, but we do need our local rules. Somebody should start a wiki on this. It would be a great collaborative project.

[Oldtowner]

It may be a little unorthodox and I’m sure it violates “the rules,” but I wear a rain cover on my helmet and a full baseball cap under it. It works great, even in the heaviest rain. Not sure how it looks, and in the pouring rain, I don’t care. I think contacts are the only answer for mist, but fortunately we don’t get that too much around here.

[Oldtowner]

The Alexandria Bike Wars are indeed heating up fast. I live in Old Town and have already seen many emails from neighbors who are rapidly organizing opposition to the Royal Street plan.

Here is an article they cited which is followed by the usual heavy dose of anti-cyclist vitriol.
http://wamu.org/news/14/03/18/alexandria_officials_want_to_push_cyclists_to_royal_street

[Oldtowner]

The reason people, including me, prefer Union St is because there are fewer stop signs and much less cross traffic. Some of the stops are even 3-way and not 4-way.

The Royal St plan will be tough to make work logistically, and especially politically. A handful of neighbors fought hard against the upper King St plan. A Royal St plan will involve exponentially more stakeholders.

All that said, I applaud the City for at least thinking about how to accommodate the large volume of north-south through cycle traffic. It gets crazy especially on spring weekends. I’m just not convinced Royal St is the right answer.

[Oldtowner]

@rcannon100 79248 wrote:

Take
14th St Bridge to Jefferson
Bike south towards HP
Halfway between the shorelines on HP, on Buckeye Dr – is an onramp to a bicycle bridge following the Southwest Frwy that will take you to L’Enfant Plaza
From Benjamin Banneker Park at the south end of L’Enfant you can bike into SW
Eye St SW has a bike lane

This will bypass Maine Ave ~ Map hopefully

This is awesome! How have I never discovered this in all my years of riding around here?

[Oldtowner]

@5555624 16888 wrote:

Who needs police motorcycles on the trails, when you can have a squad car?

This morning, since the NPS has blocked off Ohio Drive, instead of crossing Memorial Bridge and riding down Ohio Drive to the Jefferson memorial, I headed across Columbia Island to the MVT and the George Mason Memorial Bridge. Around 3:00 a.m., just as I am about to enter the northern tunnel under the Humpback Bridge, a police car comes out the southern tunnel. It was moving slowly and no flashing lights, so it did not appear to be in pursuit of anyone. (Not that I saw anyone.) I should have stopped to see where it went, but rode on.

Normally, I only take that route to work maybe twice a month or so, but I might need to take that route more often and see what’s going on.

I saw a police cruiser were down today at around 2pm. I didn’t have time to investigate, but there were a bunch of people there too. Seemed odd.

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