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Are triathletes bike handling skills that much worse than pure cyclists, or have I just been reading too much BSNYC?

Triathletes have a reputation for poor bike handling skills. Part of that could be the result of the bikes. Triathlon/time trial bikes are notoriously more difficult to handle in tight situations than road bikes are.

Perhaps part of it is the wave of beginners who have joined the triathlon community over the past decade.

Part of it could just be snobbery on the part of a small segment of road cycling enthusiasts. I'm sure there are many non-triathletes who are beginner cyclists that have poor bike handling skills. I see many of them out on the streets, though I can't say for certain whether someone is a triathlete, a road cyclist, a bike commuter or a new recreational rider (or some combination of the above).

I might check out "Premium Rush" but I'll wait for some reviews first. I don't have high expectations. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised. Either way, I don't think I'll be getting a fixed-gear bike at any time in the near future.

6 AM for the Crescent/Rock Creek loop? That seems wholly unnecessary. (& there isn't a heck of a lot of 'heavy DC traffic' on a route that goes from Jeff Memorial down the MVT to Old Town.

Weirdly sloppy. How could a magazine with any budget or a even a random copy editor screw up the towpath route map to White's Ferry. Yet Washingtonian managed.

If I remember, the residents of stockholm didn't mind the congestion fee; it was suburban/neighbooring cities that complained. And they didn't vote to extend it -- they voted to stop it. The referendum was blocked. The greens forced it through as part of agreement to form a national goverment.

However, I would like to start taxing DC residents evertime to come to DCA and IAD. Or BWI for that matter.

charlie, from the article

"public opposition to the fees initially ran as high as 75 percent."

and

"When the trial was over, the cars came back. Traffic volumes rose so close to their original levels that city residents, by a slim majority, voted to make the congestion charge permanent."

and aren't DC residents already taxed to go to DCA and IAD and BWI? I have a lot of taxes on my airline tickets and parking ain't cheap.

Besides, that's not the point of "congestion" pricing. If things are truly congested than do so at the times they are - I have no problem with that. I normally bike or take transit to DCA and MARC/Metrobus to BWI anyway.

"After a seven-month trial earlier this year, Stockholm held a referendum this month on whether to make the charge permanent. In answer to the question: “Should congestion tax be used in Stockholm?”, 53% voted yes and 47% no, making it the first European city to approve a road user charge.

Whether the vote will mean a reintroduction of the congestion charge is less clear thanks to a complicated set of political circumstances. A somewhat different referendum was held in 14 of the 25 other municipalities in Greater Stockholm – areas under control of centre-right parties – and in answer to the question “Should the congestion tax in Stockholm be made permanent?”, 39.8% voted yes and 60.8% no."

As before: voters in the center city voted for it, voters outside did not, and the referendum lost. the national parliment then decided to impose it, as a said, as a condition of the greens entereing the coaltion.

Stockholm is pretty unique with the number of bridges and choke points.

Whether the vote will mean a reintroduction of the congestion charge is less clear thanks to a complicated set of political circumstances.

Charlie, the tax was made permanent on August 1, 2007. So, that's pretty clear.

Voters outside the city weren't really voting on it. They were voting in consultative votes, so that's totally irrelevant - and may not even accurately reflect what a real vote would be. You get a different set of voters for an opinion poll then a vote that will actually change policy.

But the referendum won.

It would not be that difficult to do this in DC.

Airport taxes already exist and amounts vary depending on which airport you fly. I think the issue here about congestion pricing is the complaint of driving commuters whenever the talk of commuter taxes comes around. I assume they don't want to be forced to pay extra if they get the same slow commute into DC. To me that says there's a failure of that state's own transportation system - if congestion commuters were given faster and more convenient non-driving options to get into the city which didn't involve having to pay a commuter tax, then I bet more commuters would take that option. As it stands now, those states don't offer those options. Instead of blaming DC for considering congestion taxes, maybe MD and Virginia congestion commuters should look at their own state and start with solutions there first. DC has to shoulder a much larger portion of road wear and tear done by Virginia and Maryland congestion drivers, than DC drivers have on Virginia and Maryland roads.

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