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The Park Service could terminate the equipment operator’s contract for convenience at no cost to the government because the contractor clearly and obviously ignored any safety precautions. There are no barriers compliant with ADA regulations either so my visually-impaired friends would fall right into this equipment.

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Yesterday was my first time using the stairs. It adds about 2-2.5 minutes and is kind of a zoo. I haven’t seen that many folks bunched up before. The Memorial Bridge adds about 2 miles to my Navy Yard bound commute (+10 minutes) so I think I will stick to the stairs for most of the construction.

Suggest going up the right side (duh!) unlike me since folks were waiting to come down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8tGU5aiCcw

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@josh 180828 wrote:

I thought LOTM’s question was more of a joke than a serious question. His point was about needing to look before signaling so you don’t whack someone with your arm during the act of signaling itself. I think it’s reasonable to signal, then check, and finally turn.

The Dutch point with their finger when in crowded cycletracks and other confined spaces. I have tried that in confined situations and it works reasonablly well.
http://www.holland-cycling.com/assets/images/rechtsaf-vrij.jpg

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@elizsnyder 180584 wrote:

I am pleased to announce that I had no close calls this morning. I did not have to spew my venom at any deserving vehicular offenders. However, I do respectfully request that cyclists use their bells or call out when passing. I am not continually staring into the mirror I have hanging below my left side handle bar. Instead of surprising me and almost grazing those tiny blonde hairs on my forearm, how about a notification and a foot personal space when you pass? yes, I would appreciate that. I am 40lbs bike with another 25lb-30lbs (that’s 65-70lbs of moving weight not including me…take note) of white panniers and trunk bag full of computers, clothes and lunch. If I hit you, sideswipe or otherwise, you will cry when your carbon fiber fluffernutter cracks upon impact. boo hoo. do not say you were not warned flyboys.

You can tell very quickly the difference between a regular and a recreational rider by whether they ring their pass or say bike on your left. I have almost knocked a few people off (accidently) when they did not all their passes too.

[Zack]

I rode the MBT every week day for 18 months (night and day) and never had an issue (although I am a guy). One Saturday, I saw a large group of men way down by R St and was a little nervious. Turned out they were a motorcyclist club taking pictures of one of their bikes on the edge (but not on) the trail, harmless and kind of cute. The other odd and occasionally scary thing are the MPD cruisers which occasionally drive on the trail, mostly at Fort Totten Dr/Bates Rd at the top of the smelly hill. It is unnerving and illegal but hard to stop, even after one nearly hit me with their car.

I suggest riding fast and don’t wear headphones. I second LhasaCM’s large group advice.

[Zack]

Yeah, the bike rules on WMATA are BS. It all depends on the level of caring by the station manager (usually meh but not always).

BART in San Francisco takes a different approach, allowing bikes at all times so long as riders do not try to put them on crowded trains https://www.bart.gov/guide/bikes/bikeRules. “Regardless of any other rule, kayaks (or bikes) are never allowed on crowded cars. Use your good judgment and only board cars that can comfortably accommodate you and your boat (or bike).” Relying riders’ judgment is a good approach because a flat out ban does not account for less than crowded cars. They even allow kayaks during all hours, restricting them to the last car during peak hours http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/04/01/bart-extends-kayak-hours-but-only-in-last-car

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@Oldtowner 175010 wrote:

I had a similar incident on the northbound MVT a few weeks ago. Was going to pass a pedestrian at around 17mph, saw the roadie behind me, put my hand out to let him know I was passing, and the roadie accelerates and passes both of us as we are all three together. I told him that wasn’t cool and then he slowed down and told me, “People like you think you own the trail.” Then he explained to me how much faster he was than me and challenged me to a race to prove it. I declined.

I almost knocked someone off this morning who did something similar. Mondays…

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How cool! I am just starting to mess around with my own videos, beyond just speeding them up. In terms of bicycle friendliness, what do you think of that Washington versus this one? I am headed out there in June for vacation and wanted to scout things out.

[Zack]

An ebike passed me this morning on the MVT, called their pass politely and passed safely. About a third of the conventional cyclists who passed me failed to do the same. Neat about ebike rental in Old Town although I can hear the naysayers howling about them and stop signs.

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]16523[/ATTACH]
I saw this graphic from NYC’s proposed congestion plan. I thought it laid bare how little traffic enforcement actually occurred.

I imagine a chart of our Metropolitan Police would be very similar. There is an attitude, ask many DC officers, that traffic enforcement is beneath them and they have more important things to do. Part of this is the automated enforcement doing a lot of the work at least revenue wise. There is a broader conversation to be had with MPD and elected officials as to what can be done to improve traffic enforcement and what should we expect in terms driver behavior from our police and government officials.

In Alexandria, our new police chief told his officers to do traffic enforcement when they had time during their shifts. And at 8pm on a quiet street, I saw an officer pulling someone over. That came directly from the top but it was also a product of conversations with elected officials as well as advocates and other residents.

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@Judd 172982 wrote:

I switched to Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on the commuter and haven’t had a flat since.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I used to use these too, never had a flat with them.

[Zack]

Had some light flurries this morning!

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@Sunyata 169324 wrote:

Yeah… I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and pretended that he must have just had a really bad day and was not paying attention to what was going on around him. But it REALLY made me angry. Had I not almost immediately turned off Commonwealth, I probably would have chased him down and gave him a lesson in respect and manners. But I did turn off and kept thinking to myself, “what would Dirt do?”

I have been making a conscious effort to not let things bother me as much as they usually do and to immediately let go of stress and anger when a person does something that I consider rude or unsafe. Amazingly, it has actually made my life a little less stressful, which is a REALLY good thing considering the changes in my work environment lately.

Give yourself a pat on the back because that was a really good call not to chase him down! When he was shouting at me, it was then clear he was nuts, perceiving slights where there were none etc, and threatened physical escalation. In your case, he had no problem committing assault (spitting). Who knows what he would have done when confronted.

Conscious effort seems like a good idea, I will try the same thing, thanks!

[Zack]

@ursus 169367 wrote:

I wonder if this is somehow connected. It looks like the same place. 😮 https://twitter.com/Wash_cycle/status/938493647087198208

Seriously, does anyone know if there was really a murder there, or just the dockless bike?

No, definitely not the same place and unlikely unconnected. Commonwealth Ave and Mt Vernon Ave in Del Ray, Alexandria.

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@Sunyata 169251 wrote:

I do not know his identity, but I am 98% sure that is the same guy (pretty unique bike set up) that passed me on the trail near Commonwealth Blvd without calling his pass. He then immediately slowed down in front of me after we both turned onto Commonwealth, so I rang my bell and passed him back. He then got upset, passed me again and SPIT ON ME. 😡

I really REALLY channeled my inner Dirt that day and luckily, I turned off on Glebe while he kept on Commonwealth.

Oh my goodness, that is crazy! What kind of person does that? Did you report him to the police? The same thing happen with passing happened to me, he was in front but slowed way down so I passed and then he followed close for a while before passing me back.

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