Tuesday Afternoon Commute - Oprah

Good afternoon

• The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is hosting a public meeting to share plans for a federal transportation planning study that will focus on pedestrian safety for residents and multi-modal transit users at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue, SE and Potomac Avenue, SE. The public is invited to attend and hear about the details of this study and future plans for this area. Representatives from DDOT and the project’s technical team will be on hand to answer questions.
• Using a phone app and organizing themselves on the Washington Area Bike Forum, local cyclists create a winter biking contest called "Freezing Saddles". 
• More on the recent bicycle fatality in DC "According to investigators, the victim had a barbecue grill tied to his handlebars using a piece of twine. As he was riding, investigators say, part of the grill and a piece of twine got entangled in the wheel, causing the front wheel to lock up....While Alvarez-Benitez was found with a helmet, police say, it is not known if he was wearing it when he was thrown from the bike." [See a video below the bump]
• Assualt with a bicycle. I've actually written before about how difficult this is to do and how it puts the cyclist at such high risk (falls can kill as the prior link shows), but I guess people out there are still stupid enough to try (and awful enough to commit hate crimes). 
• Politco has a story on funding Capital Bikeshare, but it's behind the paywall. "The red blur of a Capital Bikeshare bicycle whizzing by has become a Washington fixture, and now the company and others like it are taking a harder look at advertising revenue to keep it that way. After getting off the ground with federal and local dollars, Capital Bikeshare sees ad revenue as a way to move toward greater independence and sustainability. “If you can be independent and sustainable, then that’s the dream,” said Tim Blumenthal, president of the cycling advocacy organization Bikes Belong. Caitlin Emma has the story for Pros:"
• I feel like I've read a very similar article to this one about how biking is changing housing. Maybe I'm thinking of this one? Or this one?
• And then, there is just so much out there about Lance Armstrong.

Comments

[rcannon100]

Freezing Saddles on the Bike Forum: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?3500-Freezing-Saddles-Winter-Bike-Challenge-%28sign-up-open%29

[DaveS]

I was going to chime in about how 95% of the area population thinks just riding a bike IS a hate crime - then I read the article.

Gonna go decorate my bike with pink ribbons and teddy bears now, just so's they know it ain't me...

[david]

We have heard only one side of the story in the bicyclist " hate crime" story.

[Kolohe]

We have heard only one side of the story in the bicyclist " hate crime" story.

'Yutes' doing f**-bashing is not exactly unheard of, esp in that neighborhood.