Oh!! Duh! Yeah, Paul made it. In fact, I was on his wheel for part of the descent down the mountain until the tandem caught up. Promptly, I grabbed their wheel before they could gap me. I followed them all of the way back to the school (the start location).

The ride was fun and ~20 people showed up. The 2 mile climb was a real pace breaker but nothing to get off the bike for. My average just after this hill was 11.2mph and by the end of the ride it was 12.8mph (we also had to walk a section of Patapsco Park as it was ice covered so the average is lower then normal.) As usual I slowly made my way from the front of the pack to the back as the ride wore on. So the last half the ride it was me and another rider in the back, she wanted to skip the last food stop and I agreed but latter bonked a few miles before the end of the ride. So I sat on a bench on the BWI trail and recouped for a bit and then decided to go out and eat.

So after having a good lunch I decided to run down to Annapolis on the B&A trail and on my way back on the northern end of the spur that connects the B&A with the BWI a cyclists was making the sharp right off the BWI onto the spur and took the turn very wide and I reacted to avoid the oncoming cyclist but forgot for a moment about the huge crack in the pavement by the storm drain. Well it grabbed my front tire and I went down. I’m perfectly fine but my front wheel isn’t. Anyway I got in 80 miles at that point so I got a good amount of riding in. The problem was then waiting an hour for the police to show up so I could report that accident and waiting another hour for one of my friends to get home so I could get a rescued. The good news is Joe’s had my wheel in stock so I am up and running again.

Unrelated news I will be in DC attending some training courses for non-profit organizations Wednesday thru Friday so I get to play bike commuter in DC for awhile.

Glad to hear that you came away relatively unscathed, physically.

bummer about the crash. A police report!! Why did you have to fill one out? Did the other biker wait? Is someone legally responsible for this? Glad you didn't get hurt.

I filled out a police report so 1) there would be some urgency to fixing this and 2) so I could get DPW to pay for my wheel. The other biker did not wait but did ask several times if I was ok.

Other details: this storm drain has two removable cement blocks for cleaning. The outside block does not sit well and rocks back and forth (I assume it walks a bit while it does this.) And it looks like they tried to use tar to glue it in place. This section of the trail is essentially two sidewalks side by side with the outer sidewalk having this storm drain “feature.” So if you are the only one on the trail the crack is out of your way but in two directional mode the crack is dead center with that half of the trail.

Just another example of why I stay the hell off of MUP's. Roads are way safer. Dealing with same-direction traffic is safer.

+1

The only serious crash I have had in the last 10 years was on the B&A trail. Sent me over the handlebars.

-D

If you are trying to dispel the notion that MUPs are safer then the roads I agree with that sentiment but there is information out there that hints that roads/MUPs are near the same for safety, just different sh*t to deal with. And there have been plenty of cyclists that have been downed because of poor storm drains on the road. Personally I have replaced more wheels due to pot holes, uneven bridge expansion joints and steel plates on the road then stuff I have encountered on MUPs.

+1

That might have more to do with your extended-wheel-based heavily laden (and high tear weight) ride than with the stuff you list. Or, poor quality wheels or a combination of the two.

And crashing in the road because of a drain grate********** That's just poor cycling skills. I never ride that close to the curb so the grates don't effect me. With a regular bike most of the stuff you list can be jumped without even touching it. I run strait into bridge expansion joints and steel plates on my tandem and it's wheels are fine. But, they are 48 spoke and purpose-built. Worst that ever happens is a pinch-flat and you have to hit something hard and dead center for that to happen (usually a large stone out in the road).

It's a little tough, when commuting/riding at night on unfamiliar roads to see all road hazards. On rainy night commutes storm drains, pot holes and debris are not as easily recognized. In Relay they recently repaved the roads and put back the old crappy wheel catching drain covers. I couldn't believe it. I thought they were illegal? No??
MUP have a place but not meant for "full tilt" riding. If I want to haul ass I will ride roads if not I'll ride trails, always on the lookout though.

Barry: Where exactly is that section. Is it Stewart ave that crosses I97 then heads towards Sawmill Park?

I thought he was referring to this side of Sawmill Park (where the marker appears on the map). I usually go down Central skipping that part of the MUP:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/junction.jpg

You are liberally adding a lot of variables to the equation which were not originally stated. Regardless, one would alter one's riding based on the conditions. Just like it would be dumb to practice one's 40K ITT on a nice warm Saturday morning on the North Central Trail, one would be prudent to slow down in the rain and the dark and on unfamiliar roads. When I commuted by bike I rode an old Lotus touring bike and installed 38mm wide touring tires and fenders. I commuted through Baltimore City out to Towson. I could literally ride over anything with that bike.

Where: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...m=1&iwloc=addr

The specifics of what happens to me and my rig may be different then another set up but road hazards are road hazards and a cyclist has to avoid those. It’s when your options of avoiding those obstacles becomes limited is when accidents happen. The couple people I know who went down because of a gap on the outside of storm drain were experienced riders on a club ride and had limited lateral movement to avoid the situation. People were safely going over the obstacle to the right and to the left so it just snuck up on them. I’ve had a motorist take the lane away from me when they merge back into my lane too soon and having extra space to the right can help avoid an accident unless that extra space is now pot hole city or a hazardous storm grate (happened to me once, avoided the car just to get the pot hole.) Most accidents are a combination of factors so while each factor maybe avoided, in combinations things get harder.

I’ve safely gone over conditions that have flatted my skinny tire friends and they have bunny hoped over things that I have to drastically slow down for, so what’s a hazard or safe can vary per bike and rider.

On some roads the pot holes are in the right tire track, storm grates on the right and sewer covers in the middle of the road, it’s a real slalom course trying to navigate roads like this. Granted there are probably more idyllic roads then idyllic MUPs but stuff happens everywhere which is all I am trying to say.

Ok, so that -is- on the other side of Sawmill Park, but the location I pointed to is the termination point for the B&A. You've been on the BWI trail for about 1/2 a mile. Or, perhaps, some people may think of this as a connector between the B&A and BWI Trails.

So, I guess the other cyclists blew the stop sign at that corner? (stupid place to put a stop sign since there's a little hill there at the corner--guess it's for the motor vehicles coming out of that dead end road that parallels the trail).

Not to make a federal case of this but stuff just doesn't 'happen'. The fast majority of 'stuff' (i.e., collisions/mishaps/etc.) are easily avoidable. Somehow, it's the folks with the 'stuff happens' mentality that have all the 'stuff' happen to them. Coincidence? I think not.

NoRacer: Ok, fine I was I was the BWI trail but not on the loop portion. Blowing the stop sign is hardly descriptive of anyone coming up that hill. I think one problem is the acute angle that the trails merge here, had the other cyclists been able to make their right turn and stay on their half of the trail things would have been fine but as you said had he stopped things would have been ok as well but then again who would really stop on that hill and who yields to traffic going the other way, that’s just another poor design of this section (requiring a wide turn for cyclists going the other way.) But all in all no accident would have happened if it was not for that crack in the pavement.

Galen: If we are to continue this discussion we need to define some framework. There are two ways to look at all the safety information out there; one way is what is to filter what is relevant to “me.” Under this framework you are 100% correct and I am not out to dissuade you from the course you are pursuing. The other framework is to look at the whole picture or what maybe relevant to the lurker. Over half of Baltimore bike crashes happen on quiet residential streets, for you and I these streets are a “no brainier” to safely navigate but the stats say that there is a real safety issue here for on-road cycling. We both believe that the roads do not have to be this dangerous but the problem is how to get the word out to the unwashed masses. So hopefully a better summary on this topic then stuff just happens would be the roads can be a lot safer then what most people believe and the MUPs are more hazardous then what most people believe.

I will also note that we are mixing two types of accidents; one type of accident involves flats, broken spokes, out of true or bent rims. All these are generally caused by road/trail conditions and are generally not considered life threatening nor appear in crash stats but still it is something cyclists want to avoid and these can happen anywhere. The other type of accident involves a threat to life or a potential threat to life. I feel what I experienced on the MUP is in the non life threatening category, while economically it may be more severe then a flat or just a broken spoke this section of trail will be avoided the same way I would avoid a road full of pot holes or that has been recently chipped and tarred. This is what I meant by stuff happens everywhere.

I always feel that variables are part of commuting/riding. In the last 2 weeks I've experienced roads w/ too much salt that made made a few turn slick(felt like sand), pot holes that grow in number and size daily, black ice at unexpected places, the angle of the sun(can motorist see me) and not to mention the main variable...cagers....I'm getting off my soap box.

Well said. I was going to say; MUPs lull people into a false sense of security. When one lets his guard down....

Either way, there is an entire waste of space called the A&S forum to discuss this stuff. Let's try to not beat each other up in this thread.

-D

I believe you! Just a this afternoon I stopped for coffee at the 4bucks in Dulaney Valley shopping center. Walking across the parking lot I was almost nailed by a cyclist cutting through (I assume) the shopping center. He was not a 'sidewalk' cyclist and was riding a drop-bar road bike (he looked like he should know what he was doing) but non the less while rolling down hill at about 20 MPH cut between parked cars and proceeded down one of the shopping center one-way 'lanes' the wrong way (cars have to back out of angled parking spaces and would naturally look to their left for traffic and the cyclist was coming from the right). I watched for a while to see if he would get nailed by a car backing out but luckily for him, he didn't.

My observation is that stupidity knows no bounds.....

+1. I'm just as guilty. Knowing that the trail continues on, literally on the sidewalk, and due to the steepness at that stop sign, I [usually] don't stop.

I’m in DC right now. I had a blast riding in rush hour traffic to get here yesterday. It was real fun playing DC bike commuter in the snow this morning.

We need to get you a camera like noisebeam has on his bike...

Did you ride from baltimore?

Of course!

they do have MARC ya know:D
this year I am making 'bikes on MARC' my priority. W/ Flanagan no longer head of transportation we might have a shot. Do you have any feel for the new head?

The new Secretary of Transportation is great, a potential problem is the shortage of money in the budget, we need to start building a case of supporting bikes not by (primary) mode share but by the traffic fatalities share (~0.4% vs 1.9% state wide or 3.3% Balto Metro area) and the fact that kids are overrepresented in these numbers.

From what I hear MARC is an ongoing uphill battle, they are fighting (or more accurately have a long list of excuses) why they can’t even increase capacity (by adding more cars because of station constraints, to name one) let alone accommodate bikes. If you summarize all their complex arguments it comes down to they are not interested in increasing capacity or ridership.

MARCs problem is CSX They are all about moving freight, making $$. I just read in Spokes email that Mdot is widening BWparkway. I always thought that it was a scenic hwy so widening was not allowed. I guess I'm wrong.

there's talk on craigs of a guy selling stolen bikes in DC/MD. The guy removed his CL add and is now on ebay. Here's a link for it.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/n...290305208.html

Mods: I don't know where it would do best to post this, feel free to move it. I hate thieves. Charlie