I posted these pics in the folder subforum, but since these are from DC, I'm posting them here also. The box I loaded and hauled to the UPS store to drop off. The dog chow I brought home from Safeway one day (separate trip). Who can guess which neighborhood in NW these pictures show?

--BTW I'm a northerner, who just happens to have been born in VA :)

Haha, the load is bigger than your bike! You should also post those pictures in the Utility forum "What Utility Trips/Rides/Errands Did You Do Today" thread.

Twelfth and NY
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06688.jpg

That was me. ;)

Several of us were local to DC and had seen (or participated in designing) many of the improvements on the bike tour, but it was a great opportunity to show colleagues from the dark times (Fairfax County, etc) what the future looks like.

Hey thanks for posting! Your first post since registering over two and a half years ago! I'm honored. :o
And big thanks for any of the many recent improvements for bicyclists in DC that you may have been involved in!

I noticed today that the wrong way bike lane on 15th had an odd modification. The pictures of bikes and arrows on the pavement have been blacked out, as if it's not a bike lane anymore. What's up with that? Also it seems that some of the bike/bus lane on 7th is no longer. The markings are gone from, I can't remember exactly but, the part between Penn. and E St. is no longer for "buses and bikes only" or so it seems. Do you know anything about that?

I swear I charged the spare camera battery last night, but it had no charge today and the battery in the camera was dead too, so no pictures today. :(

That's alright.

I'll enjoy your last picture for days...

Metro DC, Good ride today?

I did not enjoy my ride.

I took a picture but it did not result in a nice image.

Today was nicer, especially going east. :)

15th street
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06720.jpg

14th and Rhode Island
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06728.jpg

I dug around a bit and found that there were quite a few universities that explicitly used it for their campuses -- Darmouth (MA), Michigan, and Michigan State are three that I remember. Where I went to school, they put up a cattle gate to try to block a particular path; when they realized that everyone was still walking around it, they put in a bigger gate. I haven't been back there in ten years, so I don't know if it's still the same.

Creating an erosion gully on a steep bank between a highway and a river is a little different than taking a shortcut across a campus quadrangle.

Staying on established trails is the first rule for off road riding.

Please ride responsibly.

Do not ride in a manner that contributes to environmental damage. An erosion rut on an embankment is environmental damage. What I would encourage is a "leave no trace" ethic. I'm sure that suggestion will infuriate some, but I think it's really quite reasonable.

I'm going to have to look at that vid again to see what you're complaining about. If you're talking about the "Y" that exits from the MVT and goes under the GW Parkway into Crystal City, it's absolutely nothing worth complaining over.

Just stay on the path or say you stay on the path when you write here. I've never claimed to obey all regulations. I've never boasted about breaking rules either.

OK, I tried to make a path through grass, I rode everyday same place and the path never formed! It was when I used to ride to National Airport twice a day.

I was talking about from 14th street bridge to mt. vernon trail which has a paved access very nearby, not worth trashing the grass. I can't imagine a reason to cut less than a hundred feet off your route. Maybe someone on a wheelchair, that would be rad and awesome, but on a bicycle, lame.

Why didn't you say that before? For that matter, what about the lack of a crossing from the westbound side of Memorial Bridge to the MVT like the eastbound side has? Or the cuts across the sharp turns far south of Old Town? Wouldn't paving these "cattle paths" prevent erosion?

There's an awful lot of pollution along the Potomac anyway. I see people fishing as long as there isn't ice, but I'm hoping that they're doing it for fun and not for food. I don't see why you're getting so worked up over little bits of erosion that aren't even adding any silt to the river.

qmsdc15 and BarracksSi: Can we keep this thread about nice pictures from the city with bikes?

Thanks.

I lurk. I know, I know, I just already have enough forums I participate in.

I don't work for DDOT but I do live in DC. Can't help you there. I work for another local bike-friendly municipality and I'm a daily commuter, so between that and my social rides I see a lot of the city.

It was nice meeting you briefly. You don't post on bikeforums, that's cool. I sometimes wish I didn't.

Another business man driving a leased vehicle.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06769.jpg

Shut your, er, er, keyboard! Don't type stuff like that!

Polite differences of opinion and civil discourse are the hallmarks of a free society. Civil and polite are the key words.

New view of bike culture last night: I'm not normally driving to Georgetown (from upper NW) on a Monday night around 8:00pm. As I drove I made note of the cyclists I saw along Mass and all through Georgetown. First there were a large number of cyclist out and about riding at night. I counted 10+ using the very wide path alongside Mass from the Observatory down to Sheridan Circle (intersection with Q, 23rd streets). This was in the span of 2 minutes or so it took to drive by this leg. The main thing I noticed, for the sum total of cyclists I saw all night (lots more down in Georgetown), was all but one or two had both front and rear lights; and not just afterthought lights, but some decent, eye-catching lights. We're not talking $400 lighting "systems" but nice, average Cateye type lights. I see so many hacks that this was, for me, a nice sign of people seemingly seeing bikes as good transportation.

I don't have great lights, but my new bike has all the reflectors it came with and I have a big SMV sign on the back of the trailer, plus I'm flying one of those tall orange pennants (more for day time visibility). I have a really nice headlight with an 8 LED array, two settings, bright and very bright, and a warning light for low batteries, but I couldn't get the darn bracket off the handlebar of my old bike. It's stuck good.

AM commuter on L Street. I did not notice the camera until just now. I like how he rolls! Ready to get the shot...
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06780.jpg

19th and Penn.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06802.jpg

She rode by two dead ducks a half block ahead of where she is here. The picture reminds me of the dead ducks. Two dead Mallards. There is no fountain in that park across from the World Bank, but I'd seen the ducks there. I think they were pets of the homeless that sleep on those benchs. One of the guys who hung out there was an indigent messenger who rode with a crutch. I haven't seen him lately...

The sad thing is two ducks, a male and a female. I can only imagine a struck bird, the other struck trying to save its mate. The hen was in the middle lane, the drake right lane. Headfeathers still iridescent and beautiful blue violet showing on both wings blood splattered plumage laid out in a last display, but I didn't take the picture.

Some people don't think car drivers are evil! Wake up and smell the confit de canard! Eat what you kill, drivers!

I was clear on the hill and rolling out when they called me back for a double rush filing to Commerce. :)

I snapped this on the way to the pick up. F Street. No excuse for the foggy lens, I guess my pouch is still wet from last week. :o
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06818.jpg

Very poetic. The city can be a sad place. The wife and I were at City Sports on 19th the other day and were in a pretty happy mood. As we left and I was unlocking our bikes a homeless man stood about 5 feet from me just staring. I hopped on my bike, made eye contact, and he said, "I hate couples, because I'm all alone."

How long did he hold the wheelie?

A long. long time. :) I was over a block away, fully zoomed in and not sure if I got him, but there he is!

Hipsters walking brakeless fixies in Chinatown.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06837.jpg

More disappearing bicycle infrastructure, same block of 15th, opposite direction. Where did my sharrow go? :(
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06832.jpg

You should have shot back "I hate lonely people because I have a hot girlfriend!". On second thought, since your wife was with you, probably better left unsaid. :)

Saw this about a redesign of the bike lane on 15th. It's not going away, it's getting better! :)
http://www.thewashcycle.com/2010/10/...tart-soon.html

Bikes at work
 

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06870.jpg

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06876.jpg

If you ask me if I'm the guy from bikeforums, you get your picture in this thread even if your cab is empty.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06881.jpg

I encountered a group of bike mechanics providing on-site maintenance for Capitol Bikeshare. I thought it was pretty cool that they arrived on bikes and had a trailer set up to haul away any bikes that needed repairs they couldn't do on the spot. Spencer with two bikes in tow.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06901.jpg

"Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight."

Actually day seven of a tour from Pittsburgh to a point some thirty miles beyond DC in Southern Maryland. They're going to ride back too. Did he flinch or was it me? I mean parts of him are in focus. I guess I can't blame the wife for the lens smudge she's hiding behind. :( The Watergate in the background.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06927.jpg

A somewhat shorter ride that turned into a walk after one of the riders crashed into his mate. :o Reflecting pool and WWII memorial in background.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC06949.jpg