TheWashCycle

Tuesday Afternoon Commute - You say hypocritical, I say prioritizing

Good afternoon

• Demolition of the old 11th Street Bridge ramps will result in the narrowing of 11th Street SE between K and L Streets, and the closing of the bike lanes. 
• Herbert Hoover building security plan includes two CaBi stations - one at 15th and Pennsylvania.
• I missed this quote from Lon Anderson of AAA about the Penn Ave cycle-track enforcement. "I hope they will also be enforcing red lights and stop signs for bicyclists and that this will be equal-opportunity enforcement," spokesman Lon Anderson said. "To target cars for crossing bike lanes and not targeting bicyclists for crossing intersections at red lights seems to me to be hypocritical." Unless of course you think that enforcement should relate to safety benefit rather than some notion of 'fairness'. 
• MSNBC"s Chris Hayes had his bike stolen.
• My latest Green Lane Blog post. This one on the first Green Lane - the Captain America of green lanes if you will.
• The take-away from the growing body of science about ski helmets is in fact unequivocal, Dr. Haider said. “Helmets are safe. They don’t seem to increase risk taking. And they protect against serious, even fatal head injuries.” Does that mean Maryland will introduce a mandatory ski helmet law?

Saturday Morning Ride - $40 value

Good morning

• VASA ride registration is open. 
• Tour DC Breweries by bicycle. 
• WABA has a flickr pool
• George Mason University wants students and staff to register their bikes. It's not mandatory. And it's free. Oh, and they'll give you a free bike lock if you do. 

 

Trading a cheap bike and a cheap shot for Gary Fisher 29er mountain bike

The man who was attacked when he tried to recover his stolen bike from the front of a Metro Bus tells his story, and he's not disappointed with how it all went down. 

He got up and got on the pink tired bike and rode off. I got my nice Gary Fisher back. He rode off on this pink tired bike that I bought for 100 bucks a few years ago heading toward Courthouse and Rosslyn. I assume he dumped it right after he rode out if sight because he stood out on that thing and cops never found him.

I was fine after the fight and didn’t have a mark on me.

 

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - Bedfellows

Good afternoon

• After a man sees his stolen bike on the front of a bus, he puts his bike on with it and rides a stop. He gets off and attempts to take both bikes off. But then a man who presumably put that first bike on the bus, jumped off, attacked him and rode away with the new bike. 
• More on the WABA app (it also has a flashlight) "The program was developed by Apps and Apples, an Indian company that WABA discovered after noticing a personal-injury lawyer's smartphone app. "Because in the event of a bike crash we want to collect the same kind of information a personal-injury attorney would want," WABA's communication coordinator Alex Baca writes." And here too.
• Sen. Peterson of Virginia on the dooring law: The bill passed in part because “Senate Democrats stayed in peloton formation to support me . . . It now moves on to the Pyrenees, i.e. the House Transportation Committee.”
• "We doubt that the first couple noticed as they walked, but bike lanes down the middle of America’s Main Street are one indication that this city takes bicycling seriously."
• More on the congestion pricing scenarios. And the Cato institute agrees with Earl Blumenauer about the need for a VMT to fund roads (that won't happen often). Still, if you think they're all buddy buddy "The Oregon representative obviously hopes vehicle-mile fees will help close the gap, allowing him and his colleagues to continue funneling billions of dollars into rail transit and other forms of travel that are actually pretty obsolete."

Thursday Afternoon Commute - Cheh

Good afternoon

• Yesterday afternoon a cyclist was critically injured in a collision with a school bus in Montgomery County. "The bicyclist was heading north on Berryville Road and the bus was traveling eastbound on Darnestown Road when the two collided in the intersection" Here are photos. The driver was taken to the hospital as well.  "The bus -- which was carrying students home from Poolesville High School -- came to a stop on the wrong side of the road. Skidmarks were visible crossing the double yellow line. The front left side of the bus' windshield was cracked." I wonder if the driver had a heart attack or something and lost control of the bus. Let's hope they both recover. 
• L Street cycletracks underway. M Street coming next year. Some drivers complain that cyclists break the law "Until you get cyclists to obey the laws, you are going to have continued difficulties as drivers and cyclists fight for the road."
• CM Mary Cheh had her bike stolen."It was stolen a couple of weeks ago around the corner of 13th and Mass where she had it locked up—at 9 in the morning, no less. She tried checking online (Craigslist) to see if the thief was selling it, but had no luck,"
• One writer wrestles with two contradictory opinions: helmets are useful and she doesn't think she has to wear one all the time.  
• DDOT is encouraging more people to bike to work to deal with a 12-percent growth in downtown transportation activity by 2015.

Friday morning commute - Freeze

Yesterday I saw a few MPD officers at the Safeway helping a woman break her bike lock. I'm guessing she'd lost the key. It was a cable lock and they broke it with a hammer.

• At a meeting on 17th and 19th Streets SE this week, DDOT recommended narrowing 17th and adding a bike lane, while adding sharrows to 19th. This is for the section between East Capitol and Potomac Avenue. Project wouldn't be completed for 18 months though. 
• Don't be this cyclist. Stick around, just as you'd expect a driver to. 
• Work has begun on the New Hampshire Avenue project which will, among other things, add bike lanes in both directions between Dupont and Washington Circle
• Apparently, you can break a U lock by freezing it. My advice is to get a lock that has insurance - and enough to cover your bike, follow all the instructions that come with the lock to make the insurance valid and then pray that bike thieves leave the broken lock behind. [Bike thieves: if you leave the bike lock behind, more people will have money to buy bikes and that will mean more bikes to steal. Everybody wins.]

Thursday Afternoon Commute - DQ

Good afternoon

• The next DQ ride is set for November 4th. That may not work well in DC the weekend before the election, but I guess it didn't hold the Stewart/Colbert Rally back. 
• Here's a better link for BicycleSpace's Bike Parade. The'll will be hosting a free craft session at the shop tomorrow (Friday) night at 7:30 pm where people can come to decorate their bikes in advance of the event?
• Reinventing the bike lock #6: Strong cable lock bolted to the bike, with or without motion-activated GPS. 

Thursday Morning Commute - More paint

Happy Birthday to CaBi

• Yesterday DDOT painted the bike lanes on Eye Street SW green. Ironically these are the same ones that would be removed in the cycletracks on M street alternative. 
• A pilot program that makes CaBi bikes available to the homeless, has been going well. "he ten riders have embraced their memberships and have been using the bikes avidly. Taylor said he uses the bikes every day and has tallied 97.53 miles. Dave Withers, 53 , is the program’s top rider with 136.55 miles and owns the distinction of renting a bike 246 times in one month....“People are super excited to use the Bikeshare so we do have plans to expand to an additional ten member in our program,” said Gates. Members use the bikes to reach a variety of destinations such as stores, 12-step recovery meetings, potential job interviews, appointments and school classes. "
• BicycleSpace received an award from Bicycle Retailer & Industry News as one of the Top 100 bike shops in USA.
• The theft of a bicycle in Bethesda leads to a lot of thoughts about the police, security, crime and - oddly - speed cameras. I know what this guy wants, but I'm not sure how he expects to get there. The only way I know how to live in a neighborhood in the DC area where you can leave your bike on the front porch and not have it stolen is to be stationed at Ft. Myer. 
• Young people are buying fewer cars than their parents did. "30% of Baby Boomers considered themselves "car enthusiasts," said Bluhm, buying showcase vehicles like the Camaro, Corvette or Jeep. Less than 15% of Gen-Yers say the same, and they're flocking to more practical models."

Friday Afternoon Commute - Hard to stop

Good afternoon

• The NoMa BID was recently awarded a $490,000 grant toward their $50 million parks development plan. "NoMa's park plan, which is being developed with the design firm AECOM, includes outdoor fitness facilities, dog parks, public art installations, picnic tables, bike racks and tree-lined plazas." I would imagine that some of this would enhance the Met Branch Trail. 
• The Long Bridge study will start soon, and it's a great opportunity to add a bike/ped path to the bridge.
• A new development located between the NW Branch Trail and the PG Plaza Metro Station will encourage biking. "the developers are promoting the transit-oriented nature of the project with a gridded street plan for the new community. 'Pedestrian and bicycle pathways/linkages to the Metro and between all of the buildings within the development are being designed to promote non-vehicular travel and encourage walkability,' notes a press release."
• Preventing bike theft, from a policy perspective, is largely limited to encouraging better bike locks, and that's why bike theft is so hard to stop.

Friday morning commute - Boring

Weird hours again. Last night I was out for a run and just as I went past the Eastern Market Metro somebody started yelling out from inside the station and I realized they were yelling "That guy just robbed me!" and I looked over and on the other side of the bus stop was a guy running in the same direction I was - and he was not dressed for running. So I followed him, but he was much more willing to run across Penn Ave into oncoming traffic than I was. I called out to people, but I was hesitant because I wasn't actually sure this guy was the thief. I think if I'd sprinted I could have caught him, but was I going to tackle him on such flimsy evidence (and risk getting my ass kicked?) Of course, it was the first time I chose not to run with my phone, so I couldn't get a photo or call 911. He ducked down a gap between two houses on D and climbed an 8 foot high brick wall, and so I gave up pursuit. Still, it was all very exciting. Turns out, that a woman had her purse snatched, but I don't think the police caught the guy.

• WABA does not hate clueless Bikeshare riders.  Alex Baca calls the Examiner story boring and suggests better story ideas than "this group hates that group." In the week before the Texas-OU game there is always an effort to have groups from the schools team up to do charity work - to make up for the fist-fights that will inevitably break out on Commerce Street. Perhaps AAA and WABA need to do a river clean-up together or something. 
• Bike thieves arrested at Georgetown U. "DPS apprehended and arrested two males who were in the process of trying to use bolt cutters on a bike that was secured in a bike rack. This case is being handled by MPD."
• Arlington County is conducting it's bike and ped count and needs volunteers. 
• The Crystal City Diamond Derby will take place on Saturday, September 29 from 4:00-10:00 pm. The venue is the underground parking garage at 2345 Crystal Drive, which will be transformed into an urban cycling course.
• Most e-bikes users in Maryland will now be required to title and insure their vehicles with the Motor Vehicle Administration. Drivers also must wear helmets and eye protection. "Reyes said he wouldn’t know how the MVA would title an e-bike, as they generally are not assigned vehicle identification numbers....Although VINs are the primary number MVA uses to title vehicles, any moped or scooter without a VIN will be assigned a number by the MVA so that it, too, can be tracked, Young said."
• A development along Oxon Hill Road may result in the road being widened to 4 lanes with bike lanes. People who live along the road oppose it. Maybe just widen it to include bike lanes?
• A very dramatic car crash in Brooklyn luckily resulted in only minor injuries "Authorities say the 49-year-old woman lost control of her vehicle in Brooklyn Wednesday morning. She crashed through a wooden partition blocking the construction site after striking a bicyclist and three parked vehicles. The SUV flipped and came to rest on its roof at the construction site about 50 feet below. "