Monday Afternoon Commute - instinctively Neanderthal reaction

Good afternoon

• In 1903, a bicycle race track called the Coliseum, opened on A Street NE, between 14^th and 15^th Streets. "The name was a bit of a misnomer, as it consisted of two short sets of stands at right angles at one corner of an oval course of 1000 ft. Nonetheless, it was considered one of the finest tracks in the country.....The crowd that evening was treated to [Elkes] traveling around the 1/5 mile track 5 times in 1 minute and 39 seconds, indicating a speed of 36 mph – this at a time when the top speed for a production automobile was something like 20 mph...Elkes would die almost exactly 2 years after his debut at the Coliseum when his tire burst during a race in Cambridge, MA."
• "If the purpose of bollards is to deter motor vehicles from accessing pedestrian and bicycle facilities, they should only be located at points where trails and streets intersect. This makes particular sense at points where a driver may mistake a trail for a street. There aren’t too many of these situations in Arlington, but the W&OD near Bluemont Park is no stranger to SUVs driving to the picnic pavilion. And I can imagine how bored teenagers might find it fun to try to drive up the access bridge from the Roosevelt Island parking lot. So yes, bollards do have their place."
• How Montgomery County should sign bike routes. 
• Once, when we were going to an art opening of an acquaintance of mine, my friends and I planned ridiculously over-the-top comments we could make about the art to complete strangers. One that sort of struck a chord and been repeated often was, "This work is all the more terrifying for its repulsive brilliance." It is praise I would bestow on this letter. 
• "Bicycle advocates in Washington are worried that the path to a possible deal in Congress on a transportation spending bill this week will involve throwing them under the bus."
• The US Census Bureau's "Profile America" feature (who knew?) focuses on the development of tires, inlcuding the invention of balloon tires by a Scottish veterinarian in 1884.

Comments

[SJE]

That letter is nuts. OTOH, did the cyclist have an appropriately bright light, that is facing the right way? We have all seen people who have a light on, but its either weak, or pointed so that oncoming cyclists, drivers, peds, don't see you.

[Joe]

Hopefully the person who received the letter can itendify the car and the person and report this harassment and letter to the police.

[dayglo]

I have seen abandoned cars on the trail (with police investigating) and people who accidently drove on it thinking it was a road.

[Jonathan Krall]

Yes, bollards have a place and I agree with the author of the article that the place for bollards is _not_ in the center of the trail. For example, the overall trail width can be reduced to keep cars off the trail. There is no need to place a dangerous obstacle in the center of the trail.