Who Are the Annoying People Who Ride Their Bikes on River Road During Morning Rush Hour???

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm a big bike fan, but it's just wrong for cyclists to want to bike on major, heavy-traffic arteries with no bike infrastructure during rush hour, and NOT expect increased risk to themselves and to incur the wrath of drivers. It's just not polite or being a good citizen to do that. I love biking and I wish we had more opportunities to do it safely. But the answer is NOT to deliberately misuse traffic arteries.

+1000

I love biking, and would love nothing more than to get to bike to work every day. But when biking to work means slowing down countless people behind me, all having precious minutes shaved off their day- on a commute they no doubt planned and calculated as fitting a normal speed for a car- I don't understand how anyone could do that or thing that it's acceptable. Hopefully the city will make better bike routes, but until then, I'll limit my riding to times when I know it's not inconveniencing hundreds of people.

Not sure which city or county you live in, but DC, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, City of Falls Church, and, yes, Montgomery all want MORE people to bike commute to help county/city goals on congestion, air pollution, and health. Its not selfish at all.

Again, it is hard to make sense of these posts when the "bike commuting is bad" people won't say where they are referring to.

AFAICT the few occasions when someone will admit where they live, its the slice of MoCo in and near Potomac. Not surprising so many entitled people on both sides there.

I'm in Bethesda, right off River Road. Pretty sure no one has any issue with you biking to work- so long as you stay off the major thoroughfares and don't inconvenience everyone else.

Its always frigging River Road. Look I don't ride on friggin River Road, and cant answer all the issues there - but the stuff that gets posted by folks is not limited by area and does not make sense for most of the region. For example there are plenty of arterials in DC where, until new bike lanes are added, riding in the general travel lane makes absolute sense. And in Arlington. And in Alexandria.

Why do you people have to dominate discussion of biking in this forum? Because you live in frigging Potomac? Don't you have some listserve to complain to?

THEN GTFO! Did you not read the title? Are you illiterate?

The OP was answered (the folks ARE commuters) well before I got here. The rest of the discussion has been more general.

You must be a tricyclist. The cluelessness of someone saying "it's always about [subject explicitly stated in the title]". Yes, let's talk about what YOU want to talk about. It's not like the entire thread is about a different topic...

I am explaining why confining cyclists to trails or sidewalks is not a good idea.

If you hate River Road so much, maybe you should move.

I don't, I love it. Especially when I can plow past tricyclists with my horn on full blast.

You don't sound very happy. Perhaps its because you live in a County that has a goal of getting MORE people on bikes.

More people to honk at, what's not to love?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Snort. You wish ANYONE had a sexual preoccupation with you of any kind at all. Keep dreaming, you sad little geek.

Live with yourself, Trumpkin. I can think of no worse fate for you.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I still stand by my original statement. Keep bikes off of roads that have speed limits over 25 MPH and all the issues go away.

I think everyone can agree a bike on an arterial road is dangerous (mostly for themselves) and there is no way they can keep up with traffic

When DC designs bike paths (not separate bike lanes but where people use the road) they purposely keep them off main streets which makes sense

The things that ticks me off most in DC is people on bikes using roads when there are bike lanes/bike routes less than 1-2 blocks over. Examples H street Conn/Mass ave etc any street in downtown DC when there is a bikelane street close by etc. There are plenty of bikepaths use them bikers.

Why do you drive on the route you use, instead of using a different route? Almost certainly the people on bicycles are bicycling on the route they use, instead of a different route, for the same reason.

Because she is in the correct vehicle which the roads were built and designed to accommodate. She's doing everything right.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is why I run a camera on my helmet. Drivers should be aware that if they participate in dangerous and illegal behavior they may be held to account.

I’m quaking in my boots waiting for the cops to come to my door about my honking at you. Good luck, trike.

Honking is not dangerous to cyclists. It might annoy the neighbors though.

I'm glad you think so. That's why I will use this considerate technique on all cyclists I see.

You really are an a$$hole and an idiot - what kind of SUV do you drive and how long is your commute?

It's a big one. You'll find out when I'm behind you, I'm sure.

Not a biker but am I reading this right? An antisocial middle-aged woman from MD in a soccer-mom car is making fun of someone's appearance?

Nope. In fact you seem to have imagined a scenario that is pure fiction. Wishful thinking from a nerd.

I didn't think you were a soccer mom either. Your attitudes are clearly male. Probably some kind of suppressed homosexuality, is my guess - you get these funny feelings seeing male cyclists in tights right? Thats why you don't want their asses in front of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still stand by my original statement. Keep bikes off of roads that have speed limits over 25 MPH and all the issues go away.

I think everyone can agree a bike on an arterial road is dangerous (mostly for themselves) and there is no way they can keep up with traffic

When DC designs bike paths (not separate bike lanes but where people use the road) they purposely keep them off main streets which makes sense

The things that ticks me off most in DC is people on bikes using roads when there are bike lanes/bike routes less than 1-2 blocks over. Examples H street Conn/Mass ave etc any street in downtown DC when there is a bikelane street close by etc. There are plenty of bikepaths use them bikers.

Do you even live in DC? Since I assume you don't you just need to suck it up and follow the laws.

In DC the default speed limit is 25 MPH and even most casual bikers can comfortably go about 15MPH and even on arterial roads in DC the speed limit is just 30 MPH so some of the differential is actually generated by aggressive and speeding motorists.

It is especially stupid when people complain about bikes in DC - in most parts of the city during rush hour bikes can comfortably move along at the same rate as traffic. That doesn't mean they are as fast as cars on every stretch of roadway but when you factor in congestion at every single intersection the average speed on DC streets is quite low and almost always below a comfortable speed for biking.

But that is what pisses off most drivers. They get behind a biker and eventually pass them (usually illegally and dangerously) with a rage acceleration and apparently a laying on of the horn and then half a block later the cyclists coasts up to them at the next intersection.

So all that chest beating and machismo and angst and Mr. North Potomac in his SUV can't go any faster than a guy on a CABI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Snort. You wish ANYONE had a sexual preoccupation with you of any kind at all. Keep dreaming, you sad little geek.

Live with yourself, Trumpkin. I can think of no worse fate for you.

Well, you're a grown man in skin tight trike shorts, so I suppose you're the expert on "worse fates".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Snort. You wish ANYONE had a sexual preoccupation with you of any kind at all. Keep dreaming, you sad little geek.

Live with yourself, Trumpkin. I can think of no worse fate for you.

Well, you're a grown man in skin tight trike shorts, so I suppose you're the expert on "worse fates".

Note only that, I am buying more. Though I also ride in casual clothes too sometimes.

Also your loony hero is going down.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Why do you drive on the route you use, instead of using a different route? Almost certainly the people on bicycles are bicycling on the route they use, instead of a different route, for the same reason.

Because she is in the correct vehicle which the roads were built and designed to accommodate. She's doing everything right.

No, your post is a (factually-incorrect) answer to a different question, namely, "Why do you drive, instead of going by bike?" Please answer the question that was asked.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:How about roads that have separate bike lanes/paths but bikers ride in the road ANYWAY!!! Like on the GW Parkway. WTH? I even saw someone biking across the 14th street bridge on 395.

They're selfish pigs and can't help themselves.

There is one spot where the entrance ramp is not well signed, and people do that (rarely) by mistake).

Not sure what you mean by GW Parkway. I ride the Mount Vernon Trail next to GWMP regularly, and have never seen a cyclist riding with the cars on GWMP.

I mean the GW Parkway, as in exactly that. And the bike trail is pretty much parallel to the parkway from Mt Vernon to Memorial Bridge. I've seen bikers, going north and south in Fairfax County, in Alexandria, in Arlington by the airport and by the cemetery. so pretty much from end to end. Literally, all jazzed up in their biker clothes, in the GW parkway. They know exactly there is a bike lane, but I assume they are irritated that the bike lanes have a lot of people biking, walking and running in it. So F that, they're going to ride their bike on the parkway. IMO it's so dangerous. I don't even think it's legal to do on 395 because I saw a Virginia state trooper stopping people for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Snort. You wish ANYONE had a sexual preoccupation with you of any kind at all. Keep dreaming, you sad little geek.

Live with yourself, Trumpkin. I can think of no worse fate for you.

Well, you're a grown man in skin tight trike shorts, so I suppose you're the expert on "worse fates".

Note only that, I am buying more. Though I also ride in casual clothes too sometimes.

Also your loony hero is going down.

Ooh, upping the patheticness quotient, I didn't even think that was possible.

Hopefully that gives your coworkers a good laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still stand by my original statement. Keep bikes off of roads that have speed limits over 25 MPH and all the issues go away.

I think everyone can agree a bike on an arterial road is dangerous (mostly for themselves) and there is no way they can keep up with traffic

When DC designs bike paths (not separate bike lanes but where people use the road) they purposely keep them off main streets which makes sense

The things that ticks me off most in DC is people on bikes using roads when there are bike lanes/bike routes less than 1-2 blocks over. Examples H street Conn/Mass ave etc any street in downtown DC when there is a bikelane street close by etc. There are plenty of bikepaths use them bikers.

Why do you drive on the route you use, instead of using a different route? Almost certainly the people on bicycles are bicycling on the route they use, instead of a different route, for the same reason.

Because she is in the correct vehicle which the roads were built and designed to accommodate. She's doing everything right.

At the time the roads were built, cycling in the roads was legal. They were designed to accommodate both.

What the hell do you know about road design anyway? I am certain you are not a civil engineer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why do you drive on the route you use, instead of using a different route? Almost certainly the people on bicycles are bicycling on the route they use, instead of a different route, for the same reason.

Because she is in the correct vehicle which the roads were built and designed to accommodate. She's doing everything right.

No, your post is a (factually-incorrect) answer to a different question, namely, "Why do you drive, instead of going by bike?" Please answer the question that was asked.

No thanks. My answer was correct and a perfect answer to the question, as were all of OP's statements. Please stop being a brain damaged tricyclist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about roads that have separate bike lanes/paths but bikers ride in the road ANYWAY!!! Like on the GW Parkway. WTH? I even saw someone biking across the 14th street bridge on 395.

They're selfish pigs and can't help themselves.

There is one spot where the entrance ramp is not well signed, and people do that (rarely) by mistake).

Not sure what you mean by GW Parkway. I ride the Mount Vernon Trail next to GWMP regularly, and have never seen a cyclist riding with the cars on GWMP.

I mean the GW Parkway, as in exactly that. And the bike trail is pretty much parallel to the parkway from Mt Vernon to Memorial Bridge. I've seen bikers, going north and south in Fairfax County, in Alexandria, in Arlington by the airport and by the cemetery. so pretty much from end to end. Literally, all jazzed up in their biker clothes, in the GW parkway. They know exactly there is a bike lane, but I assume they are irritated that the bike lanes have a lot of people biking, walking and running in it. So F that, they're going to ride their bike on the parkway. IMO it's so dangerous. I don't even think it's legal to do on 395 because I saw a Virginia state trooper stopping people for it.

Its not legal on I395 (except one day a year when the bridge is closed to motorists for a giant group ride) and it is not legal on GWMP. I ride regularly on the MVT in Alexandria and Arlington, and again, I have never seen a bicyclist on the Parkway. There ARE a couple of spots in FFX where it is really hard to get onto the MVT (because of the difficulty crossing NB traffic and the lack of traffic signals) so I can imagine someone going south on the Parkway at times it is lightly traveled)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Do you even live in DC? Since I assume you don't you just need to suck it up and follow the laws.

In DC the default speed limit is 25 MPH and even most casual bikers can comfortably go about 15MPH and even on arterial roads in DC the speed limit is just 30 MPH so some of the differential is actually generated by aggressive and speeding motorists.

It is especially stupid when people complain about bikes in DC - in most parts of the city during rush hour bikes can comfortably move along at the same rate as traffic. That doesn't mean they are as fast as cars on every stretch of roadway but when you factor in congestion at every single intersection the average speed on DC streets is quite low and almost always below a comfortable speed for biking.

But that is what pisses off most drivers. They get behind a biker and eventually pass them (usually illegally and dangerously) with a rage acceleration and apparently a laying on of the horn and then half a block later the cyclists coasts up to them at the next intersection.

So all that chest beating and machismo and angst and Mr. North Potomac in his SUV can't go any faster than a guy on a CABI.

I agree that, certainly in DC or other city traffic, this is what bugs drivers most about bicyclists. You're sitting there in your car, going nowhere, while the person on the bicycle is moving.

And then, of course, there's the assumption that people not in cars should make way for people in cars. (I have never read any complaints, anywhere, from pedestrians or bicyclists about the inconsiderateness of drivers driving their cars at the same time that pedestrians/bicyclists are trying to get to work.) Although, to be sure, US society has designed its transportation systems based on this assumption for at least the last 70 years, so it's not surprising that people don't question it.

[Anonymous]

And the bike trail is pretty much parallel to the parkway from Mt Vernon to Memorial Bridge. I've seen bikers, going north and south in Fairfax County, in Alexandria, in Arlington by the airport and by the cemetery. so pretty much from end to end. Literally, all jazzed up in their biker clothes, in the GW parkway. They know exactly there is a bike lane

Please come back when you know the difference between a bike lane, a bike trail, and a multiuse trail.