Parisian Bicycle Commuting

What I find pleasing is the variety.

Raleigh Sports, Paris Variation of Braking

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.


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


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


Impressive front porteur rack - that would look good on mine!


Note rod-driven brake pulls


Between the rack and the rods for the brakes, there are a lot of chrome bits of metal here


Note rod to activate rear brake under down tube

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.


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


It was a little cool


One of the traffic tunnels that are part of the route


Marker for the end of the closed off section


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.


Looking back into another tunnel


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.

Young Woman Cyclist in Painting in Paris

While visiting the Petit Palais in Paris, I came across a painting by Leon-Francois Commere, Bicyclette au Vesinet. 1903.

A nicely realistic painting - of the bicycle, anyway.

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

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.

Arlington Makes the Trails Smoooooth

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.

"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. . .