Monday Morning Commute - randonnée

Good morning

• The majority of people (66%) in the DC area approve of "Washington D.C.'s effort to increase the number of bicycle lanes on major roads." Only 26% Disapporve. Oddly support was lower in DC than in Maryland and Virginia. But that may be because bike lanes had much lower support (57% as opposed to 71%) among African-Americans. Still, there wasn't a single group that didn't approve by a wide margin. In addition, local residents think 
• Post article on reduced congestion barely mentions biking "Although 75 percent of area commuters get there by car, the survey revealed that commuters are open to alternatives. By about 2 to 1, there was a preference for options other than roads. Two-thirds of those surveyed said they approve of the District’s expansion of the bike lane network."
• In April, "street markings and signs on the 9th Street S. and 12th Street S. side of the bike boulevards" that parallel Columbia Pike were to be placed in "late Spring." Now they're saying "in the next 6 weeks." 
• the Montgomery County Planning Board approved construction of the North Branch Hiker Biker Trail.  It will go from Lake Frank in Rock Creek Regional Park to Bowie Mill Park on Bowie Mill Road, connecting to the ICC Trail along the way.  Future extensions will take the trail into Olney.  A developer of a residential subdivision is building part of the trail on that land.  It will be placed on the 2015-2020 capital improvement plan, meaning that it should be built by 2020. See map below. 
• Find a bike shop, mapped, anywhere in the world. 
• "The only thing standing between where we are and the kind of infrastructure in Arlington and DC  is the will to act....But in many ways, the true highlight of the trip was our meeting with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)"
• Good article on CitiBike. I like this "could one use my iPhone’s speaker to tell me which bike stations have empty docks as I approach my destination?"
• "There's no direct translation for randonnée (pronounced ran-don-NAY) — it can mean a long outing or trip, or a ramble in the countryside. For its practitioners, called randonneurs, it's easier to define the event by what it isn't: a race. There are time limits, which means riders can't go too slowly — but they also can't go too quickly."

Comments

[T]

That's an important trail linkup for north county because you will essentially connect Redland/Olney/Manor Country Club areas to Rock Creek Park Trail System. Of course the county will promote this as regional rather than interconnecting.

[Brendan]

Most people in the survey are supportive of bike lanes because they have an expectation that it will remove cyclists from the road and restrict cyclists to bike lanes only.

[Smedley Burkhart]

Brilliant, except you can already get from Muncaster Mill to lake Frank, albeit in less scenic fashion, on benign little streets and the existing Lake Frank trails. I would think the money would be better spent on the GA Ave. corridor. Used to live up there before moving into town. Don't miss it much.

[washcycle]

Brendan, where do you get that?

[Jonathan Krall]

I've got a hypotheses that a minority of loudmouthed haters have everyone else convinced that bicycles and bike lanes are unpopular.

The disbelief I've seen on on this issue reminds me of the disbelief that I see whenever there is another "people are driving less" story. The data on both issues remain consistent. People, on average, actually like bicycles and are actually driving less.

I have another hypothesis: as the driving population shrinks, it becomes crazier.

[Brendan]

Just a hunch. When there's no bike lane, drivers don't yell at me. When there is a bike lane, drivers yell at at me to get in the f-ing bike lane. And when I went to court for "failure to stay right" ticket in Arlington, the one question the judge asked was if there was a bike lane "near by." There was no bike lane, so I can't say for sure where he was going with that. I still won the case though.