Father's Day Bike ride with Kidical Mass

Kidical Mass Arlington leads casual group bike rides for families and people who like families throughout Arlington County.  This Sunday, in honor of father's everywhere, Kidical Mass Arlington is going to ride to ice cream! This time it's, North Arlington style: meet at Hayes Park, ride through Ashton Heights and Lyon Village and finish at Larry's Homemade Ice Cream in Clarendon. **To sweeten this incredibly sweet deal, Larry's is offering us HALF OFF ice cream. Hooray for Larry's!**

 

When: Sunday, June 15, 2014 5:45pm (roll out 6:00pm - come early with a picnic!)

 

Meet:  Hayes Park - North Lincoln Street & 15th St N, Arlington

 

End:  Larry's Homemade in Clarendon - Wilson Blvd and North Highland Street (an easy mile from the start via this route).

 

 Route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4927969

 

Details:  http://kidicalmassarl.blogspot.com/2014/06/fathers-day-more-ice-cream-615-545pm.html

 

Happy Father's Day!

Too Many People - Too Little Room - Danger on the Trails #arlingtonva @arlingtonva @arlparksrec

Last night I have heard that there was a serious accident on the Custis.

I went through the Custis from Rosslyn to Lyon Village just before 7 pm.  At that time, a jugging club was FLOODING the trail with participants.  It was CRAZY.  They were jogging three wide.  They were jogging on the left, into oncoming traffic.  They were not heeding passing calls.

In any transportation artery, there is a point where the amount of traffic exceeds the capacity of the artery.  Last night, that jogging group was dumping more traffic on the Custis than the Custis could handle.

This needs to stop.  The Custis (and the WOD, and the MVT) are narrow trails.  They pretty much afford one lane in both directions, and a center passing lane.  On the whole, most people on the trails are very well behaved.  But when the trails are overwhelmed, a serious accident is all but inevitable.

And this applies to everyone: joggers, cyclists, dog walkers - who ever.  No group should be permitted to have "events" on the trail that overwhelm the trail.  There is a safe maximum capacity to the trails and when it is exceeded, someone is going to get hurt.

I have worked with a volunteer group that used to do 5Ks on the WOD.  And no matter how hard you coached people, and no matter how many event marshals you used, with a crowd that large there was always people who did not follow good trail etiquette, creating extremely dangerous situations.

Arlington trails are a marvelous and vital resources.  They are shared by walkers, joggers, cyclists, skateboarders, and others.  Any time one group floods the trail with traffic, they create a dangerous situation for everyone else.

This needs to stop.

How Long, Lord, Must We Cry for Help?? Intersection of Doom Edition @Arlingtonva @VaDOTNOVA @NPSGWMP @Jim_Moran #bikedc

Answer: Decades.

This map from the National Park Service 1990 DC Trails Plan was recently posted to the local bike forum. It shows that by 1990, the Intersection of Doom was well established as a dangerous intersection.  I moved into Arlington in 1989 and I remember biking through the Intersection of Doom on the way into town.  The Intersection of Doom has been marked on the local bicycle map as a "dangerous intersection" for as long as I can remember.

I'll admit it.  A LOT of the identified problems on this map have been fixed.  Thank you NPS.  But it also indicates the situation.  Where NPS was the only jurisdiction involved in solving the problem, the problems have been generally addressed.  At the Intersection of Doom, we have five - make that four - jurisdictions (Arlington just bought out the private land owner) involved in solving the problem and nothing has gotten done.

Meanwhile, recently a woman hit by a car at the Intersection of Doom reportedly had insult added to injury when a NPS officer came to her hospital bed - not having witnessed the accident - and issued her a ticket for not being in the crosswalk.

Let's be clear where fault lies.  It doesnt lie with the cyclists.  It doesnt lie with the pedestrians.  It doesnt lie with the car drivers.  

It lies with the local governing authorities including Arlington County, VADOT, DC, and NPS who have identified this as a problem for decades, have been lobbied by cyclists to fix this for decades, and whose idea of a solution is to blame the victims.

Fix the Intersection of Doom! 

Do. It.

Phoenix Derby is Saturday

Phoenix Derby

Biking to Work in bad Weather #bikedc #btwd #btwddc

Tomorrow's forecast is not promising. NOAA is calling for high winds, heavy rain, and lightning.

I have to admit.  I am pretty much a 100% bicycle commuter and I bike straight through the winter.  But it doesnt mean being stupid.  Here are some tips about biking in bad weather:

• Weather services are wonderful - lots better than way back in the day.  Pull up the local weather radar and see where the storms are.  If a storm is coming, I will change my schedule to miss the storm: leave early; leave late; or shoot the gaps between the storm fronts.
• Use good gear.  Wear clear eye protection to keep the rain out of your eyes.  Use good bags that keep your stuff dry.  Make sure your brakes are in good working order. Use fenders to reduce the spray on yourself and others.
• Be visible.  If cars had difficulty seeing you before, they certainly will have trouble seeing you with rain messing up their windows.  Wear high viz colors and lights.
• Surfaces may be slippery.  Some cyclists use different tires in different weather conditions. This may also increase your braking distance.  And heavy rains may wash debris onto your route.
• Have an exit strategy:  Can you hop on the subway or a bus if it gets bad?  Can you lock up your bike and stop in a coffee shop to ride out the storm?  
• Dont ride during lightning.
• Be careful of flash floods.  Many trails in my area dip down next to creeks and are regularly flooded during strong storms.  Do not ride through floods.
• Be careful that what looks like a puddle on the road might be a pothole.

Follow Rule #5: Dont be stupid.  If you feel uncomfortable with the weather conditions, either delay your trip or dont cycle that day.

Clean your bike off when you get to your destination to avoid rust.

Sources

10 tips for riding in the rain, Active.com

Cold Weather Biking Tips, Bike Arlington

Cycling in icy conditions and bad weather, Bikeradar

Bang! Avoiding Lightning on Your Bike Tour, Traveling Two

KidicalMass Arlington Ride Schedule

Just in time for the ABCs of Family Biking (an excellent event put on by Kidical Mass DC and friends), Kidical Mass Arlington has a schedule for 2014!  Details, as usual, at our website: kidicalmassarl.blogspot.com ,

It's shaping up to be an exciting year: Taste of Arlington, Father's Day, Tour de France, Arlington County Fair, Clarendon Day and joint rides with Kidical Mass DC and the newly formed Kidical Mass Alexandria!

For the 2014 Spring-Summer-Fall season, we're generally riding on the third Sunday of the month, with some bonus rides thrown in, and some adjustments for some special events. Here's the plan, with the usual caveat that things happen, and you should check the website for details and confirmation.

Sunday, May 18 – Taste of Kidical (a ride to the Taste of Arlington)
Sunday, June 1 – Kidically Spring
Sunday, June 15 – Daddy Kidical (Father’s Day Ride)
Sunday, July 6 – Tour de Kidical (Ride to watch the Tour de France)
Sunday, July 20 – Kidically Arlandria – Joint ride with the newly formed Kidical Mass Alexandria
Sunday, August 10 – Fairly Kidical (a ride to the Arlington Fair)
Saturday, September 27 – Kidically Clarendon (a ride to Clarendon Day)
Saturday, October 4 – Arlington Fun Ride Family Ride

Don't forget to double check the website right before the ride to confirm details.

The ABC Check

Recently I have been volunteering with a local youth organization leading Saturday rides. The kids in the program are riding bicycles that might be referred to as "vintage" or "refurbished." These are bikes, and bike components, that have seen some wear. The first ride that I went on, we saw one flat tire and two busted chains. We also have had cranks fall off. 

Ideally, these are things to be avoided. A good habit to get into before you go for a bike ride is your ABC check: air, brakes, and chain. 

Check your air: Mountain bike tire pressure can be around 30 to 50 psi, hybrids can be 50 to 80 psi, and road bikes can be 80 to 110 psi. Good floor pumps come with gauges. You should also come to know when your tires are properly inflated simply by squeezing them. On bicycle rides, I always carry tire irons, a patch kit, a portable pump, a spare tube, and tire boots (and have used them many times). I also carry a wrench for those bikes without quick releases. You should also check the tire for wear. 

Check your brakes: both front and rear brakes should be in good working order. Most modern brakes have adjusters in the lever to increase the braking power as the brake wears. Never ride with worn out brakes. I carry a multitool that includes allen wrenches that can be used to make adjustments. 

Check your chain, cassette, and crank. Your chain should be properly lubed and clean. Without lube your chain will not move properly, can rust, and jam. Too much lube and it becomes a dirt magnet. Too much dirt and the chain will not shift properly, and may cause "chain suck" where it fails to properly come off the flywheel. Depending on weather conditions, I clean my chain everyone one to two weeks. This can be as simply as wiping it down with a rag. I also carry a chain breaker and a few quick links. 

It is good to teach new riders to deliberately go over a quick ABC check of their bike. After a while, it becomes instinctive. Walk up to a bike, give it a quick look over, squeeze the tires, squeeze the brake lever, and go. 

Source: The ABC Quick Check, NHTSA (crediting the League of American Bicyclists); Basic Bike Check, League of American Bicyclists; ABC Quick Check, Bike Collective.