Originally Posted by koffee brown

Ok, I just risked my life and rode into work today. I'm mad. And I'm going to call over to the park service today. I'll post something once I get some kind of solid confirmation from them on what they plan to do about the Mt. Vernon Trail.

So I did as I said I'd do- I rode Glebe to Eads, then turned on 18th Street and rode to Crystal Drive (mild black ice). As soon as I hit the path, I encountered immediate snow. No biggie. I walked/rode (mostly walked) my bike to Mt. Vernon Trail. As soon as I hit the trail, though, there were problems. Clearly, there was NO ATTEMPT on the part of the park service to plow- not even a tiny bit. Consequently, I walked/rode (mostly walked about 85% of the time) until I got really mad. Walking along GWH, I got madder and madder watching the cars zoom by. Finally, I jumped onto GWH and rode in the dark (keep in mind, it was only about a few minutes to 5am by this point) until I hit Gravelly Point. Gravelly Point itself was only partially plowed, so it became again a walk/ride fest until I passed under 14th Street bridge. Figuring that if I walked to the start of the 14th Street bridge bike path, I'd only encounter more snow, I decided to just push my bike up the hill. When I got to the top of the hill, I remounted and rode across the 14th Street Bridge, but there still is minimal ice. I only had to get off my bike and walk once. On the DC side of the 14th Street bridge is where all the ice is, so be warned about that.

Once I got into DC, it's a whole different story- plowed streets, shovelled sidewalks. I said to myself "I'm sick of this ****... I'm going to pursue this and force them to at least provide basic service for the Mt. Vernon Trail". So please... no lectures about how I can take public transportation, no talk about how they never do anything. They never do anything because we act like a bunch of aholes and we let them do this to us. I'm not going to allow them to treat me (or other cyclists) this way. We deserve equal access just as much as cars and pedestrians do for their streets and sidewalks. If they can't give it to us, then they should reimburse us for taking public transportation, taxis, or renting cars. I want action. I want retribution. Dammit, I want to not have to risk my life and take an hour and five minutes to ride into work when it usually only takes me 30 minutes!

**** the system!

Koffee