Sunday, April 17, 2016

Smooth 26 Inch Tires for Zippy Ride

1995 Trek with Michelin Run'r tires installed
1995 Trek Singletrack bike with 26 inch 1.4 inch wide Michelin Run'r tires installed

Michelin 26 inch Run'r 1.4 inch tires
Close-up view

When I bought this bike, it had some Kenda knobby tires that are 1.95 inches wide (according to the sidewall) installed. Ths rims of this bike are a little narrower than the wheels on newer mountain bikes I have and the 1.95 tires looked a little odd on the more narrow rims. Also, they are noisy when riding, even when pumped up, and likely do little to make the bike zippy.

I found these Michelin Runn'r tires at Bike Tires Direct. There are supposedly made of the same rubber compound as road bike tires (although lots more of it) and yet only cost around 16 dollars each. The sidewall says that the max inflation is 87 psi, but at 75 they seemed plenty hard enough. Bike rides great with these.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Evolution of My Bike Helmets & MIPS

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The progression of bike helmets I have owned - at right, 16 years old (or so), in middle 8 years old, and the brand new one

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The inside view of the three

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The MIPS compliant LaZer Tonic helmet I just bought

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Inside of new MIPS helmet - note the yellow inner liner that can move around

The Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute (aka helmet.org) says that Bell, for example, recommends replacing a bicycle helmet every three years - I think I've seen that elsewhere. Yes, what a wonderful world it would be for companies that make helmets if everyone followed that - but otherwise it makes little sense if the technology doesn't change.

In the late 1990s, I had a Specialized helmet that was mostly good for me since it was sized as a large (not "one size fits all") and I have big head. It was simply a chunk of Styrofoam (tm) with a blue plastic cover held in place with tape around the edge of it, some holes for ventilation, and simple straps. Space between head and helmet was provided by bits of spongy padding. It was good to put stickers on (the outside) but I think I outgrew that somewhere in my 50s.

In 2007 I bought a road bike that I guess was a ramping up in my seriousness (or something) so I decided I needed a new helmet - I found the red one made by Tirreno (which it seems is a Performance Bike house brand) in a large size on sale. It has been what I have used since. It looked sporty but I didn't find it terribly easy to adjust the straps, and recently the plastic ring that grips the wearer's head broke. The ventilation slots, while numerous, are narrower than the older helmet, which isn't so good. I also eventually realized it has a design flaw - towards the front there are slots that come together resulting in a parts of the helmet facing forward that could hook something hanging down from a tree (or whatever). This is in fact amazingly stupid (from a design perspective). Yeah, it is highly unlikely, but still - completely avoidable.

I have read about the MIPS helmet technology that is supposed to help prevent concussions by allowing the head to roll more easily in the helmet. Some people think this is baloney and maybe it is, but at least it represents an attempt at an advancement beyond basis protect for your head from a chunk of Styrofoam (TM). All the MIPS helmets are more expensive but I was able to find a LaZer Tonic (which apparently is intended for commuters) with MIPS from Bike Tires Direct for $75 on sale. It doesn't look like a road racing helmet (oh well) but it has good large ventilation holes, fits me well, and it is supposedly safer (maybe). I've ridden a few times with it; it seems good.




Sunday, April 10, 2016

Raleigh Sports, Paris Variation of Braking

Raleigh Sports Paris-style
Raleigh Sports bike from 40 or so years ago, much like one I have at home

I have a very similar bike from what must be about the same time period. This one, parked on the streets for many years (one assumes) is in remarkably good condition - much better than the one I have (which I got only a few years ago from someone giving it away). It has some superficial differences - the rear rack that clearly came with it, for example, and the full rather than partial chain guard. But it also has a very surprising (to me) difference - the brake system is not a cable-pull system with caliper braking front and back but rather front and back rod-driven brakes that bring brake pads up against the inside of the rim. Just as a traditional caliper brake uses the rim like the disk of a disk brake system, this is like an open drum brake using the entire rim as the drum, but only pressing on one side. I don't even know what this is called. I am quite doubtful as to how efficient it might be.

1973 Raleigh Sports
My 1973 Raleigh Sports, much the same except where it is completely different

Raleigh Sports Paris-style
Back end - rather less than elegant wiring for tail light from old style generator

Raleigh Sports Paris-style
Impressive front porteur rack - that would look good on mine!

Raleigh Sports Paris-style
Note rod-driven brake pulls

Raleigh Sports Paris-style
Between the rack and the rods for the brakes, there are a lot of chrome bits of metal here

Raleigh Sports Paris-style
Note rod to activate rear brake under down tube

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Sunday Ride Along the Seine (March 20)

On Sundays in Paris various streets and roads are closed to vehicular traffic, including a stretch along the Seine river.

My wife and I were in Paris for a week in March. The weather was seasonal - so it wasn't too warm, but not cold, either. We didn't have any rain until the day we left. We were right in the middle of the city. One of the lovely things about Paris is that you can rent a Velib bikeshare bike for almost nothing for a week - 8 euros. Yes, 8 euros for an entire seven days! This can be done easily online in advance, and you get an account number and a pin number (which you have to keep track of). It is very nice to have available as a travel option.

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These are the best not-very-good bikes in the world!

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It was a little cool

Velib Sunday outing in Paris
One of the traffic tunnels that are part of the route

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Marker for the end of the closed off section

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Entrance to traffic tunnel near northwest end of route

I didn't take photos with very many people in them, for some reason, but I thought for a cool cloudy Sunday that there were a fair number of people out, on bike, skates, hoverboards (a hoverboard training class), skateboards, and of course walking.

Velib Sunday outing in Paris
Looking back into another tunnel

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Other end of the ride

In the distance, along the far side of the river, the four towers of the main building of the National Library of France are visible.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Predictable-Alert-Lawful on Your Trail, in Your Neighborhood

The "be a PAL" bike trailer of Arlington VA
The PAL campaign mobile unit-the bike trailer has a 20 inch wheel on each side

On my way home Thursday, it was surprisingly windy given that weather.com suggested a SSW wind of 10 mph. I was surprised to find the young woman above walking her bike that has a PAL - predictable, alert, lawful - billboard-trailer. Apparently despite the holes cut in the fabric to let the wind through, it doesn't do well in a crosswind. If the thing blows over, she would get pulled over too, so she was walking. I guess she does this as a volunteer? Or someone pays her to ride around Arlington trails with this thing? This isn't the first time I have seen her, just the first time I have seen her walking. One odd aspect is that when riding along and seeing her coming the other way, or passing her, there is no time as a cyclist to read her trailer-billboard. So I sort of don't understand it.

I don't know if other jurisdictions have this PAL slogan and campaign or not. Somehow to me it comes across as a little too focused on illegal cyclist behavior or that assumption that if only cyclists would clean up their act everything would be fine. They endorse the following PSAs.


Makes the point that cyclists are the ones who die so they should avoid breaking laws

The problem I have with this logic is that the parallel would be that since motorists have pretty good protective metal boxes around them, it's OK to be a little free and easy with the obeying the traffic code.


Illustrates the classic "right hook" threat to cyclists from motorists

It's interesting that even the demonstration of how it should be done, turning behind the cyclist, results in the car rushing up directly behind the cyclist in a way that would not be great to experience. Better than being cut in front of, yes, but not great.


Motorists in cars should look before opening the driver's side door

These PSAs make good points, but for me there is usually something off about them. In the last one about avoiding getting doored, the third scenario suggests that in the end you should ride in a bike lane well away from the parked cars, presumably because the motorists may well not check before opening a door. In other words, in the end it is all on you Mr. or Ms. Cyclist.

And for whatever reason I end up grinding my teeth a bit whenever I see reference to this PAL campaign (which fortunately isn't often - they seem to have taken the ads for it off the County transit buses). "Predictable" is fine as advice, although it is clearly more about cyclists than motorists. (In fact, most of the predictable motorist behaviors are the ones we don't want, like opening doors without looking or cutting off cyclists with right turns.) "Alert" seems to be because they needed a vowel. Because otherwise, duh. Alert. Yeah. But it is the "lawful" that annoys me most, but I suppose as much as anything because it makes no grammatical sense. What they mean is "law abiding" but I guess that is two words.

Hmmm.

ADDENDUM: BikeArlington read this and says: I also saw your latest post on the PAL trailer. While [the PAL trailer-bike and rider] does ride on the trails, her primary focus is to connect with motorists. She’s frequently camped out along the Mount Vernon trail to interface with traffic moving slowly on the GW Parkway.

The idea behind the PAL campaign is that it’s designed to be targeted towards all mode of travel. We recognize that pedestrians jaywalk, that people on bikes will run red lights, and that motorists will speed and text. We don’t assign blame to anyone in particular, but rather just point out that if everyone travels in a manner that is predictable, alert and lawful, that we would have much less conflict on the streets.


OK.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Arlington Makes the Trails Smoooooth

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Looking towards the south end of National Airport along Four Mile Run

Concrete trail areas and where such trails meet asphalt can have problems - a typical quick response is to fill in with asphalt. Often the results do not make the situation better and may make it worse. In this area where several bridges cross over the concrete trail along Four Mile Run, there were several such asphalt repairs that were not very well executed. There were also several places where concrete blocks did not meet evenly (but were not filled in with asphalt). Today Arlington County had these problem repaired by grinding down the concrete to create smooth concrete! Yay! Well done!

The example shown in the photograph above was dangerous for inexperienced riders - the raised concrete running in the direction a rider was heading could easily result in a crash if someone tried to go across the imperfection when passing someone, for example. This is a lot safer and better. There were about a dozen spots along here where such fixes were made today. Really nice.



Monday, March 7, 2016

"Bicycles Are Prohibited Off the Mount Vernon Trail"

Bicycles are prohibited off the Mount Vernon Trail
This sign, and another pointing the opposite direction, appeared Friday

In the past year or so, it has become popular for cyclocross type cyclists to ride along near the trail, but not on the trail, near Gravelly Point. (This sign is stuck in the ground right next to it.) The regular riders have created a kind of dedicated rut-trail that winds around under the railway bridge away from the asphalt trail. The people look like they are having fun. Apparently with the onset of better cycling weather, the National Park Service has decided to put a stop to it. I am not going to look up the Code of Federal Regulations 4.30, but really? It covers this situation? Hmmm.

What surprised me most today was that the two signs were still there! No one pulled them out of the ground and tossed them into the Potomac (or elsewhere).

I would be a little more sympathetic if the Park Service had done even a little trail maintenance in the last five years or so. Or did anything during snow.

BikeArlington read this and wrote me: . . . last fall, a group of cyclocross racers met with NPS who were concerned about the trail sections that came dangerously close to the GW Parkway (literally cornering at speed just a few feet from traffic). And while NPS is open to the idea of using that space, because it is federal parkland, an environmental study needs to be conducted before the NPS can officially condone such use. Unfortunately, that study . . . takes quite some time. . .

Saturday, March 5, 2016

My Choices for Three Significant Bikes

I was talking to someone at work who explained his thinking about significant bikes - ones that can still be owned and that a person can ride even today. "To the general public the most popular styles of bicycle, and bikes I’d like to ride, I would argue, are the three I mentioned earlier - roadster, ten speed, and hybrid." So he has acquired and had restored and rides a Rudge Sports roadster, a Schwinn Paramount ten-speed road bike, and a Bridgestone X-O hybrid. Pretty nice!

I have three bikes that I ride, but my approach is far more . . . . . well, I'm cheap, for one thing. And since I commute in all kinds of weather, I take the approach of having three different bikes that are suitable for different conditions. (I am not a one-type-bike-fits-all-situations person.) I don't concern myself with the historical accuracy (period correctness) of the components on my 1982 Bridgestone, for example, which has brand new wheels (that aren't the right size, in fact) and only use period components where more or less required (and cheap! did I mention cheap?), like the handlebar stem.

Still, I was thinking about what three bikes I consider most significant even if I wouldn't want to own ridable (or just viewable) examples of them. I guess I would choose an 1890s Columbia, a 1930s Schwinn with balloon tires, and a 1980s Specialized mountain bike. I regard all these bikes has having significance both good and bad, which I'll try to explain. (Keep in my these are just my ruminations, I am not a bicycle historian of some sort.

Columbia Catalog 1900
Columbia single speed bicycle in 1900, with a brake only as an option

The catalog page above is for a somewhat later version of the bike I have in mind from Columbia, but in 1900 it is mostly the same. This was the kind of bicycle that was common during the "bicycle craze" of the mid-to-date 1890s in the U.S. - a fairly utilitarian and simple bicycle, with fixed gearing - you could only coast by putting your feet on small posts on the side of the front fork - and a true brake as we understand them today was optional equipment. The combination of fixed gear and lack of a brake made such bikes more difficult and perhaps thrilling to ride than a typical modern bike even though visually they look much the same.

Bicycling For Ladies - Cover
Bicycling for ladies : with hints as to the art of wheeling, advice to beginners, dress, care of the bicycle, mechanics, training, exercise, etc., etc. / by Maria E. Ward. Published 1896.

Such bicycles were significant in providing opportunities for American women to develop greater independence. The above image is from the cover of a book at the time to provide women guidance on riding bicycles - the rider has her feet up on the fork, coasting dramatically at high speed. These bikes were what made this all possible.

At the same time, there was a serious drawback, which was that these bicycles were marketed with single-tube tires and rims intended for single-tube tires that were tedious to repair when flat. It quickly became clear that there were better approaches for consumers but manufacturers were more interested in keeping their coasts low. It does not seem likely that the difficult-to-fix tires did anything other than work against the interests of consumers to buy bicycles, and then of course there was the introduction of the automobile . . . . .

Schwinn Balloon Tire Ad 1933
1933 ad for Schwinn's new balloon tires (bike included)

This business with tires is why I would suggest this somewhat odd Schwinn from the 1930s was the next significant bike I would choose - it has balloon tires with inner tubes that were far easier to maintain. It took an absurdly long time, but a bicycle manufacturer finally broke the pattern of offering consumers mostly bicycles that had a serious built-it problem in terms of tire repair. And in fact the balloon tires meant a bicycle owner could have a more casual attitude towards maintaining tire pressure altogether.

Streamline
Early Schwinn Aerocycle from Natalie Wilkie

The drawback of this bike, however, was that it was a diversion of the bicycle manufacturers into a focus on bicycle as toy, or anyway, of bicycles as something to market to people who couldn't yet drive (and their parents) in ways that were not, unlike the balloon tires, particularly utilitarian but rather about marketing. In a way, this was running up the white flag to the auto industry.

Early Stumpjumpers
Early Specialized Stumpjumbers from Hugo Cardoso

My third choice of a Specialized Stumpjumper is not based on any particular fondness for or interest in Specialized or that bike, but according to a Wikipedia article this was the first mountain bike, so we'll take that as sufficiently authoritative. For me personally, the appearance and my eventual recognition of the existence of mountain bikes was not on that they were mountain bikes but rather that there was this alternative to road bikes, which eventually got me back to riding a bicycle as an adult. Road bikes (this is amusing for me now) held no attraction, largely because I seemed to have thought they could or should only be ridden on roads which I didn't want to do. A fellow where I worked who lived nearby rode back and forth most days on a nice mountain bike (mostly on paved trails) and I was inspired by his example to do so also. I'm still not sure what would have happened if he had been doing this on a road bike.

Trek Singletrack 1995
My 1995 Trek Singletrack - a mountain bike, sort of, that that I recently acquired (but don't ride on mountains, or even gravel)

So I think that the mountain bike, and the many variants that have appeared since, have helped to get more people riding. This is mostly good. I kind of feel however that there is a downside in that the bicycle manufacturers now seem to see the creation of new bicycle "types" as their salvation for sales. For example, so-called "gravel bikes." I mean, I know there really are "gravel cyclists" but uhm not so many to support all the gravel bikes being produced, I suspect. Or say fat bikes - I recently went to buy something at a nearby REI and the fat bike near the entrance, front-and-center, struck me mostly as a tedious example of marketing wishful thinking and certainly not as an attractive bicycle - here "attractive" meaning "I'm gonna buy one."

And here we circle back to the 1890s, because in fact already at the height of the bicycle craze, the problem the manufacturers were facing was how to come up with new designs - a Columbia bicycle model of 1898 that was significantly different from the Columbia model for 1897 that would generate ever more sales of new bicycles. (I am not much of a friend of the bicycle manufacturers these days since I only seem attracted to used old bikes.) In fact, in 1900, the bicycle shown at the beginning of this blog post was offered as the inferior option when compared to the shaft-drive bike that was new(er) technology that they were insisting was better. (It wasn't better. Do you see anyone riding a shaft-drive bicycle? No, practically never.)

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Pre-treating Trails in Arlington VA

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Trail along Four Mile Run near where I live

Tonight snowy weather of some sort is promised and Arlington has pre-treated the trails with some sort of fluid. That is what the parallel dark lines are. Pretty nice!

I confess I am not sure how much this pre-treatment helps. I live down the street from a high school in Arlington and they do it on our street assiduously before every storm, but once the snow starts to fall - hmm. Still, it is great to see the county government providing good service for trail users (including but not only cyclists), and they have done a good job with plowing trails too.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Presidential Candidates Seeking Cyclist Vote - 1895

PuckPresidentialBikes
Illustration from Puck [magazine], v. 37, no. 953, (1895 June 12), centerfold - click on image for a more detailed view

Title: Presidential aspirants take to the wheel! / C.J. Taylor.
Summary: Print shows the interior of the "Bicycle - Academy" which offers "Special Facilities for Presidential Candidates", and trying out bicycles are several candidates labeled "Harrison, Sherman, Allison, Morton, Tom Reed, McKinley, Stewart, [Hill], Flower, Cullom, [and] Peffer". Morton rides a motorized bicycle, Allison rides a tricycle, Flower has put his head through the front spokes, Stewart hangs onto a column, McKinley appears to be hanging onto Reed, and Hill's tires are leaking air. On the wall is a poster for an "1896 Scorcher".
Contributor Names: Taylor, Charles Jay, 1855-1929, artist
Created / Published: N.Y. : Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, 1895 June 12.

Presidential aspirants take to the wheel! The bicycle vote has got to be catered to, and the best wheelman will make the best run.

At this point, the bicycle craze of the 1890s was building up - many cyclists went to indoor training programs to learn how to ride. Here, the presidential candidates are depicted learning how to ride in order to get the "wheelman" (cyclist) vote. Surprising number of candidates, although compared to what we have been through now . . .

Of course, at this point there were zero automobiles.

Also, looking at these presidential candidate names - Harrison, Sherman, Allison, Morton, Tom Reed, McKinley, Stewart, [Hill], Flower, Cullom, Peffer - most are completely unfamiliar a little over one hundred years later.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

This Bicycle Shift System Didn't Catch On

The National Archives (of the U.S. of A.) has published a "coloring book" as a PDF, making use of digitized oddball patent drawings from their collections. One of them is a fairly strange looking bicycle related patent application from 1899, from a Mr. John J. Hentz of Baltimore.

Hentz Patent bicycle shift system 1899
Full patent is online in Google's patent database

From the patent application text:
The object of my invention is to furnish a device by which to connect or disconnect the sprocket-wheels with the shaft on which they are placed, so that the motion of the shaft may be communicated to the one or the other of the sprocket-wheels, as desired, for the purpose of increasing or decreasing the speed of the bicycle while propelling it on a level or up an incline.
and later, "The operation of the device is obvious."

While operation of this gear shift device may be obvious, it was also not a very good design, with two entirely separate chains. Like most bicycle improvement patents of the 1890s, it didn't catch on.

Looping the Loop - Another Approach

Patent Drawing for K. Lange's Double Bicycle for Looping the Loop
Patent Drawing for K. Lange's Double Bicycle for Looping the Loop

From 1905, a patent application drawing from the National Archives.

Completely unworkable, one assumes. And oddly, at the same time, a "daredevil" named "Diavolo" was doing loops without any need for a special bike like this.


1905 - Daredevel does loop-the-loop on bicycle
Diavolo photographed in 1905

I blogged about this before; there are photos of this being done in 1903. So why the special bike idea? It doesn't seem like having wheels over your head would help of the bike fell across the loop.


Saturday, February 6, 2016

Hyundai's Super Bowl Ad With Bicycle - Don't Get It


The bicycle is only at the beginning of the ad

Whatever it is that this is trying to say, I don't get. Apparently I am not the target audience, although I do have a Hyundai Elantra. Our Elantra isn't smart enough not to run over pedestrians. It isn't clear to me whether this one will or won't run over cyclists. I guess I would be interested in other people buying cars that won't run over cyclists.

What is the point of the bicycle in this?

Odd.

Generally the few ads I have seen alluding to automated correction for distracted driving have been less obvious about suggesting that the car can compensate for this sort of oblivious behavior. I can't decide if this approach is good, recognizing that everyone is an idiot from time to time behind the wheel, or bad (for some other reason that I can't think of). Hmmm.

Maxfield Parrish Bicycle Images of 1896

HarpWeekBikes
1896 Harpers Weekly "bicycle number" [issue] cover and ad

Title: Harper's Weekly, bicycle number
Creator(s): Parrish, Maxfield, 1870-1966, artist
Date Created/Published: Hartford : Pope Manufacturing Co., [1896].
Medium: 1 print : color ; sheet 41 x 58 cm (poster format)
Notes:
* Title from item.
* Back cover: Columbia bicycles insure cycling delight. Standard of the world.
* Images published in Harper's Weekly on April 11, 1896.
* Forms part of the Artist poster filing series (Library of Congress)

www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2015646421/

The image of the young woman on a bicycle was the cover for a special bicycle issue for Harpers Weekly for April 11, 1896. 1896 was the height of the "bicycle craze" of the 1890s. Unfortunately I can't find a full text issue of that issue online that isn't part of a commercial product. Hmmm.

The image of the young man on a bicycle to the left was an ad that was part of the special issue, for Columbia Bicycles.

I was able to determine the date of publication for the particular issue and asked that the information be added to this record in the LC system, which it was.

The bike shown on the cover of the issue is from the same angle and looks about the same as the one in the ad, but lacks the distinctive headbadge of a Columbia bicycle. Well, it is on the cover, not part of an ad. While what little is visible of the bikes is accurate looking, one wonders if Mr. Parrish ever rode a bike - it seems surprising to show riders with their thumbs not wrapped around the handlebars. But then if you weren't going to be pulling on handbrakes, maybe it would seem more natural to ride this way.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Jefferson Memorial on Ride Home

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Jefferson Memorial floating in ground level fog

One of the pleasant parts of riding rather than driving is that it is easy enough to stop and enjoy the view.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Starting Up Bicycle Commute After 2 Feet of Snow

Snow, Washington D.C., car
Snow in Washington DC, January 1922 (from the Library of Congress)

Last weekend two feet of snow (give or take) fell from the sky, closing the government completely for several days, then various kinds of delayed arrival and the like through Friday. I teleworked through Thursday, returning to work on Friday - using Metro.

I am not crazy about using Metro, but I didn't feel like experimenting with the snow on the trails that day.

Yesterday, Saturday, I went about a third of the way to work, to see what conditions are like on the bike trails between my house and the Potomac river where I cross the 14th street bridge into DC.

Plowed trail Arlington County VA
Bicycle trail plowed by Arlington County

The trail for about a half mile from my house to the Four Mile Run Trail was not plowed, but it was mostly clear anyway. The Four Mile Run trail near Shirlington was plowed, continuing on in all the way to the Potomac near the south end of National Airport. Arlington County uses a Gator or something similar; it is difficult for them to stay on the trail consistently, as you can see by the tread marks in the grass where the small plow was off the trail for a while.

Mt Vernon Trail near south end National Airport
Mt Vernon trail near south end of National Airport

Once the trail leaves Arlington County and runs into the Mt Vernon trail, the plowing stops, and the conditions are much more mixed - that is, there is more snow and ice. I can route myself through Crystal City to avoid some of this; I'll see how it goes tomorrow.



Sunday, January 3, 2016

1896 Bicycle Map for DC and Area

Roberts' [bicycle] road map of the District of Columbia and adjoining portions of Maryland and Virginia.

Cover title: Bicycle road map : Roberts' road map of the District of Columbia and adjoining portions of Maryland and Virginia : with tables of distances ... character of roads.
Created / Published - Washington : W.F. Roberts, c1896
Library of Congress, Geography & Map Division
http://lccn.loc.gov/88693356

Roberts Bicycle Map Washington DC and area 1896
Click here for zoom view of this 1896 map

Roberts Bicycle Map Washington DC and area 1896 - detail
Detail showing Washington DC and then-Alexandria (not Arlington) County

Roberts Bicycle Map Washington DC and area 1896 - road quality
Indicators for quality of roads (for use by cyclists)

Roberts Bicycle Map Washington DC and area 1896 - Rides in VA
Runs (ie, rides) into Virginia from downtown Washington

Distances are from the U.S. Treasury Department building and not the U.S. Capitol.

I found a similar, but not the same, map from 1896 published in the Washington Times that I blogged about.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

"Charmless" Signage in Arlington (VA)

I was reading a story in the Washington Post about changes coming to Arlington County council in the new year.

There is this, with a quote from Council member Libby Garvey: Garvey warned that local government should not “overstep our role and risk stifling innovation,” particularly in regulations such as the sign ordinance, which took more than a year to revise. “Part of the charm of Arlington,” she said, “. . . is how not standard everything is.”

I am not sure what "sign ordinance" is being referred to, but I don't much care for non-standard, inconsistent application of signage to traffic control affecting cyclists - but I don't have to go far to find some, given a recent change to the trail near my house.

Down the street from my house on South Dinwiddie Street, there is a trail that is an offshoot of the WO&D trail, that is parallel to the Lucky Run (stream).

Dinwiddie_WReed

The trail is shown in the image above, with the red line. Somewhat unusual I would say, there is a standard sidewalk and crosswalk at the intersection, then 40 or so feet back on S Dinwiddie, there is the crossing for the trail. It is not painted as a crosswalk with zebra stripes, but there are some dashed lines to show it is there to drivers. There are yellow yield signs controlling pedestrians and cyclists on the trail who would cross S Dinwiddie St.

Meanwhile, just a quarter mile away, the trail crosses S Wakefield St in a similar way but the traffic control is completely different.

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These stop sign appeared about a month ago - previously there was not signage here controlling pedestrians and cyclists on the trail where it crosses S Wakefield St. (Yes, the stop sign are not full size, but sort of toy size for some reason.) And the crosswalk is painted with full zebra stripes.

Wakefield_WReed

Here you can see the situation, much like at S Dinwiddie St, with the trail crossing set about 40 feet back of the crosswalk that is the intersection.

I don't understand how it is that Arlington County thinks these intersections are supposed to work successfully. In general, if a motorist sees me in the "not quite a crosswalk" for the trail crossing, they stop - but I can't count on it. And apparently at one of the intersections (Dinwiddie) I am merely to yield, but the other (with full zebra stripes!) requires a full stop! WTF, to use the vernacular (or vulgar - whichever).

Consistency in these matters could be a good thing, even in quaint Arlington County. This is a real safety issue, after all.