Archive: Biking
Advocating Eye Contact in Traffic
Here's a very sensible letter about road safety, but I want to ask you a question after you read it. Dear Dr. Gridlock: As part of the ongoing discussion about driver/cyclist relations I thought I would share the following experience: Yesterday I was on my bike at the intersection of R and Connecticut/20th where the cyclist was killed several weeks ago by a garbage truck. The light was red and I was stopped in the bicycle lane. I have a habit of always looking back to make eye contact with drivers when I am stopped at a light, and I did so this time. The driver in the car next to me nodded and rolled down his window to tell me that he would be making a right turn onto Connecticut. I thanked him for letting me know. He replied that if I wanted I could go first. I graciously...
By | August 14, 2008; 06:37 AM ET | CommentsComments (35)
SmartBike Open for Business in DC
Wear a helmet. That's the one essential you're not going to get when using the new SmartBike DC system to take a three-hour tour around the city. SmartBike logo on rear wheel. (Thomson) Such a deal: For $40 a year, people 18 or older can register online and receive an electronic card, like a SmarTrip card, that allows them to take bikes from one of the docking stations across downtown Washington and use them for up to three hours. There are 10 docking stations now and more are on the way. Mayor Adrian Fenty formally launched the program today, next to the SmartBike rack at the Reeves Center at U and 14th streets NW. Chantal Buchser, who works at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association in Dupont Circle and has been beta testing SmartBikes, rode up in a dress suitable for office wear. The bike's design, with its low bar and...
By | August 13, 2008; 02:39 PM ET | CommentsComments (12)
Bikers Question Trail Speed Limit
The Washington Area Bicyclists Association says it's concerned about the plan to post 15 mph speed limits on the popular Capital Crescent Trail between Bethesda and the D.C. line. The association asked cyclists who use the paved trail to urge Mary Bradford, the director of Parks for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, "to open up a dialog among all trail user groups to better address safety." "Trail safety is the responsibility of all people who use the trail, whether they are cyclists, runners, skaters or people walking their dogs," WABA said. "However, with the new safety plan, cyclists bear the brunt." The association asks whether any effort be made to educate all trail users on proper trail etiquette. The speed limit, the first one on the trail, is one of many steps the park and planning commission is taking right now to address trail safety. Because of...
By | June 10, 2008; 10:22 AM ET | CommentsComments (0)
DC Ending Mandatory Bike Registration
As of next week, the District government will no longer require people to register their bikes, and the police won't be authorized to stop a bicyclist for the sole purpose of checking the registration. But police and the District Department of Transportation are encouraging riders to voluntarily sign up with the National Bike Registry as an anti-theft measure. The end of mandatory registration follows amendments to the city's bicycle law. (This was the old law: "No person shall operate a bicycle in the District unless the bicycle has been validly registered as provided ... and bears a serial number, a valid registration tag, and valid registration plate ...; or unless it is validly registered in another jurisdiction, when required by applicable law of such jurisdiction, and bears readily visible evidence of being registered.") If your bike is registered by serial number in the national database, the police can check a...
By | May 29, 2008; 11:58 AM ET | CommentsComments (15)
This Is Bike to Work Day
Convoys of bicyclists from across the region will be heading into downtown Washington early this morning for the annual Bike to Work Day. Some of them will be doing this for the first time, because the event is designed in part to get drivers to cross the threshold and become bikers. If you're not joining them, watch out for them. There will be thousands, and some may be a little wobbly. If you are riding with them, you'll be heading to one of many pitstops, or rallying points, for the convoys. The convoys follow certain corridors, mostly from the Virginia and Maryland suburbs, to Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue between 13th and 14th streets NW in downtown Washington. Some may be interested in signing up for classes in Confident City Cycling....
By | May 16, 2008; 04:30 AM ET | CommentsComments (0)
Community Bike Ride on Sunday
The weekend weather forecast sounds pretty good so far for the Arlington & Alexandria Community Bike Ride that begins on Sunday morning. The temperatures Sunday should range from the high 60s to the mid-80s, with a chance of an isolated thunderstorm during the day. Click on Bike Ride logo for more information. This is not a competitive event, and it sounds like a great chance to get to know what the two communities have to offer for bikers. There are two types of rides: One is a "family ride" loop of seven miles that will take you along some of the popular and pretty flat trails. The "community ride" is a 23-mile loop along streets as well as trails. The early registration, which ends today, is $15 per adult and $30 per family. Here's a link to the online registration form at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association Web site. On...
By | May 31, 2007; 10:41 AM ET | CommentsComments (9)
D.C. Bike Station Proposed
Concerned about rising Metro fares and looking for an alternative way of getting into the city? Check this out: The District government tonight will present its proposal to create a Bicycle Transit Center at Union Station. The idea is to offer bike parking, rentals, repairs and accessories in a very modern looking structure of glazed panels and steel just to the west side of the train station. It's near where the Metropolitan Branch Trail, a planned bike route from Silver Spring, would pass by the station. There would be parking for about 200 bikes, some changing rooms and lockers. Models for such centers exist in California, Seattle, and Chicago, says DDOT, but this would be the first of its kind on the East Coast. The center could be open in 2008. DDOT is looking for suggestions on the plan, and will take questions and comments after a presentation about it....
By | December 12, 2006; 06:30 AM ET | CommentsComments (36)
