TheWashCycle

Sunday Video: The JET Bicycle - The most dangerours unsafe bike EVER

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1988: CITY BIKES ANNIVERSARY BASH

Tonight

When: This Sunday, 6/30, from 5 PM to 9 PM

Where: 2501 Champlain St. NW, Washington, DC 20009

Saturday Morning Ride - 100th

I had the day off yesterday, and so took a few hours to ride the CCT/GBT/MBT loop. Things have really changed since I last did it 2 years ago - especially on the CCT. So many new buildings going up. I rode the new bike lanes on Hamilton and there is a very odd bike lane at one of the intersections that I would've taken a photo of if my phone had not died. The real event on Hamilton was that I was nearly struck by lightening. I think it hit the chimney of the house next to me. A few cars had their car alarms go off and I felt what I can only describe as a push, like a sudden gust of wind. Let's just say that my bike shorts suddenly got warmer on the front. Scary stuff.

• "A bicyclist left the scene after colliding with and damaging a vehicle on June 17 at Follin Lane and Maple Avenue, E., Vienna police said"
• "With U.S. cities like Chicago poised to launch new bike programs (and ongoing programs in D.C. and Minneapolis, which have yet to reject them or descend into totalitarian states (in the utopian sense or otherwise)), it's increasingly clear the bike sharing is here to stay." And the bike-sharing whine-o-meter.
• Lance Armstrong gives an interview and claims that winning the TdF was impossible without doping as the 100th Tour de France begins today. American Tejay van Garderen is a top contender. 

New routing for "interim MBT" near Fort Totten

From DDOT

New routing for "interim MBT" near Fort Totten. Westbound traffic should continue on Gallatin. Eastbound traffic should use Hamilton. A new signal has been added at Hamilton and North Capitol to create a safe crossing. Bike lanes will be added between Fort Totten and New Hampshire Ave. We are still working on building the real MBT, but in the interim, this route is safer and creates a safer bicycle environment for anyone generally riding in the neighborhood. We are hoping to put up additional signs and not all of the bike lanes have been painted yet.

Virginia's Transportation Alternatives for 2014

Virginia released its final list of federal Transportation Alternatives projects for FY 2014. Formerly known as Transportation Enhancements, the TA program is one source of bicycle infrastructure funding. Local projects of interest to cyclists include. Oddly there is nothing in Arlington or Alexandria.

• Fairfax County 
  • Continuation of a shared-use asphalt-paved trail along Gunston Road connecting the Pohick Bay Golf Course and the main entrance to Mason Neck State Park
  • Construction of a shared-use trail connecting the Occoquan Regional Park and the Laurel Hill Greenway. The proposed segment will be approximately 1850' in length with an 18' cross section, including a 10' shared use path, a 4' natural surface path and the appropriate clear zones for an ADA compliant shared use path.
• Town of Vienna - Pedestrian improvements at the station and W&OD trail crossing including sidewalks, curb ramps and crosswalks.
• Town of Haymarket - Streetscape improvements along Washington Street including 5-foot on-street bike lanes on both sides of Washington Street

Friday Morning Commute - Divvy (we're still #2)

Good morning

• "It is really easy to understand how someone in a car could make a left turn onto the W&OD trail from this turn lane."
• As Divvy kicks off today, we have this story of how CitiBike encouraged one woman to learn to ride. 

Thursday Afternoon Commute - Monroe

Good afternoon

• August 1st is reportedly the opening date for the new 0.1 mile section of the Met Branch Trail behind the Monroe Street Building. 
• Alexandria's ordinance making sidewalk cycling legal has some people upset. DCist really knows how to sell the change "Sidewalks throughout Alexandria could become a lot more crowded and difficult to navigate with the latest decision by the city's leaders." Well, that is one thing that COULD happen, but it almost surely will not. There will be a slight uptick in the number of sidewalk cyclists and the impact will be trivial on most people. 
• Work has begun on buffered bike lanes along Veitch Street in the Arlington Courthouse area.
• "The Virginia state government has issued a call to the private sector for ideas on improving Interstate 66 outside the Capital Beltway" How about extending the Custis Trail?
• Chicago's bike sharing system, Divvy, start tomorrow; while LA's bike sharing system by Bike Nation hits a snag. They were going to use ad revenue to pay for it, "But advertising on a bicycle kiosk in Los Angeles falls under a city contract with CBS Outdoor and JCDecaux, which jointly hold the rights through 2021 to sell advertising on "street furniture," which includes bus stops, public toilets and newsstands." Does that sound familiar?

If only we all had the footage

You should just go read this post.

When I suggested that he review the video, he refused. The supervisor said he'd contact the officer but that I shouldn't expect anything to come of it, as I was a bicyclist. 

I've known about this story for a while, but I'd never seen the footage. Unbelievable. It hurts to watch it. 

In Defense of Sharrows

I'm not enamored with this video on "Cycling in the US from a Dutch perspective". I think it shows a lack of real understanding of cycling in the United States. It's more like "Cycling in the US from a closed-minded Dutch tourist's perspective."

I don't know why the Dutch are obsessed with the fact that many cyclists here like to wear lycra or that Americans tend to wear helmets. Both have their advantages. And I don't agree with the narrator's deduction that this is some sort of sign of American failure. It might be that even when cycling numbers in US citieis get to be as high as in the world's great bicycling cities that there is still more lycra and more helmets in America. I don't see a problem with that. If the concern is that people don't bike as much or that mostly younger men bike or that people who do bike only do it for fun, then those are the facts that are relevant. What kinds of clothes people wear really is not.

But my real beef with the video is the claim that sharrows "are just useless paint." That's just categorically untrue. The FHWA did a study of sharrows that showed that sharrows increased the operating space for cyclists, both in the distance that they kept from parked cars and in the space passing motorists gave them. Sharrows reduced sidewalk cycling and they reduced wrong-way riding. They slowed drivers down. They even caused drivers to stay farther from parked cars when bikes weren't present. Those are changes that have real value, and the narrator is misleading people when he claims otherwise.

Are sharrows as good as a separated bike path? No, they are not. But, they're also not as expensive or as difficult to install. 

If this filmmaker wants to pass himself off as some sort of expert on bicycling "infra" he should take the time to learn the facts about what he's talking about. 

I don't believe that the Dutch perspective is that "the only right way to make bikable cities is the Dutch way," but that seems to be the one presented in the video. 

Thursday Morning Commute - Parity

Good morning

• The Commuter Parity Act of 2013 would, among other things, increase the fringe benefit for bicycle commuting from $20 a month to $35 a month, specifically allow beneficiaries to use it to pay for bicycle sharing and allow employees to claim it AND/OR the transit benefit (currently it is either/or). It would also automatically adjust for inflation each year.  
• Proposal to close a gap in the East Coast Greenway near Baltimore. 
• Filibuster training: "An avid runner and cyclist, Davis was in good shape for the physical challenge of standing and talking for nearly half a day."
• The Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program Report is now available. This program provided $25 million to four communities to create a non-motorized transportation network. "The four pilot programs saw an average increase of 49 percent in the number of bicyclists ... between 2007 and 2010." This outpaced the national average from 2001 to 2008. Despite the increase in cycling, cycling fatalities did not go up. "the count increases over these 4 years came primarily from increased utilitarian bicycling and walking trips in each of the four communities." The health benefits alone were estimated to be about $7M per city.