TheWashCycle

Sunday Video - Tweed Ride

TWEED RIDE // 2011 from Tim Sessler on Vimeo.

Saturday Morning Ride - Responsibility

Good morning

• Check out the sweet, new 39-dock CaBi station at Maryland and Independence Ave SW
• According to the Alexandria Transportation Commission (meeting Feb 1) material, one of the three old rail bridges over the Four Mile Run Trail is to be demolished and a new connection made to the trail.  There will also be a multi-use trail as part of Potomac Yard Park which runs along the railroad tracks. 
• Work on the Capital Crescent Trail adjacent property Lot 31 has been delayed into February.
• The Burke-Springfield-Kingstowne-Lorton Open House for the Farifax County Bicycle Transportation Plan was a success.

Base for Capital Bikeshare kiosk at Wilson and George Mason

Photo by Ken

WABA hiring new Events Assistant

Events Assistant

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) is seeking an Events Assistant to help develop, coordinate and implement our annual fundraiser, BikeFest. The Events Assistant will be working closely with WABA’s Events Coordinator to grow the event from last year’s success. Additionally, the Events Assistant will contribute to other WABA events that occur during the spring biking season.

Position Details

This position requires a minimum commitment of 24 hrs/week. Evening & weekend hours will be necessary periodically. Weekday scheduling is flexible. The position has a firm end date of May 15, 2012, and will remain open until filled.

Compensation

$10-$13/hr., dependent on experience.

 

The Events Assistant Will:

• Assist in all aspects of BikeFest, WABA’s annual fundraiser, including logistics, planning, promotion, coordination of volunteers, and on-site implementation.
• Recruit and coordinate volunteers
• Develop promotional and marketing materials and assist in the implementation of a marketing plan.
• Assist in other WABA events in a variety of capacities/roles as needed.
• Report directly to WABA’s Events Coordinator.

The ideal candidate will have:

• A commitment to WABA’s mission and goals.
• The ability to organize time wisely and multi-task in a relaxed, fun environment.
• Strong attention to detail.
• The ability to work independently when needed.
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite and online social media tools (Facebook, twitter, etc.)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• A bicycle (or access to one) and a passion for bicycling

How to apply

Please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@waba.org with “Events Assistant” in the subject line. No calls please.

Friday Afternoon Commute - Pike

Good afternoon. Beautiful day out there.

• Georgetown U has made an effort to be more bike friendly - adding bike parking in parking garages - but still has a way to go. "Georgetown could provide inside storage for bikes on campus over breaks, so students don't have to worry about their bikes getting ruined or stolen," and "the 2010 Campus Plan made the point that not only is more long-term bike parking space needed but also that bicycle rack designs on campus use space inefficiently, forcing bicyclists to use railings or poles to secure their bikes when racks are full or unavailable."
• From the TRB, a study by occasional commenter Darren Buck shows that "Capital Bikeshare use is higher in areas with more available bike lanes. For every kilometer of bike lane within a half-mile area around a CaBi station, there were an additional 0.85 rides per day."
here
• How to connect Columbia Pike's future bike accomodations. One commenter adds "As part of the Pike Multimodal project, the County intends to build a 10′ wide sidepath along the north (westbound) side of the Pike all the way from the Joyce St intersection in the East to at least S Courthouse Rd in the west." The presentation calls it a sidewalk, not a sidepath. See image below.
• Ride for responsibility is tomorrow. I wish I could go, but it's too long a ride for Trike. Also tomorrow, Baltimore's Trail Summit.
• Virginia Bicycle Level of Service Maps.    

Friday Morning Commute - 25 miles in Texas heat

Good morning

• DDOT is having a live chat today.
• Baltimore scratched it's plans to add bike lanes to Mt. Royal Avenue when the presidents of University of Baltimore and Maryland Institute College of Art asked them to.
• The "Motorist to exercise Due Care not to collide w/pedestrians or cyclists" bill that died in the Virginia Senate two days ago, died in the House yesterday. Only VA, Mass, Wisconsin, Michigan, & S. Dakota are without it.
• Dedicated federal biking and walking funding is at risk. Contact your congressperson. 
• Race for White House could become a bike race. [$20 says Gingrich collapses and another $20 says that Romney tries to up the bet to $10,000]

Halo Effect

Photo by karleisenhower

Thursday Morning Commute - She will miss the generous parking lot

Good morning [I realize it is not morning]

• Despite the hit the Met Branch Trail took in MoCo's latest budget, it is not all bad news "Leggett’s proposed budget calls for the continued pedestrian safety improvements and funding for projects such as $982,000 for the Frederick Road Bike Path, more than $8 million over several years for MacArthur Boulevard Bikeway improvements, and $3.4 million for sidewalks on Greentree Road and Md. 355 through fiscal 2014. It also advocates for inclusion of non-vehicular transportation elements, like sidewalks and mixed-use paths, whenever feasible for road improvements and new roads." The Gazette article doesn't even mention the MBT change.
• The Bethesda Post Office, which backs up to the Capital Crescent Trail, will soon be closed, probably sold and converted into housing. "the project will include 7,000 square feet of commercial space, [and] 145 housing units... after the Montgomery County Council approved a development plan amendment Tuesday.   The building will be set back 60 feet from the Capital Crescent Trail." Hopefully it will connect to and open up to the trail, instead of presenting a fenced off blank wall. 
• What Arlington can do to become a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community.
• Calvert County is working on a new Road Ordinance. The current one is 15 years old. '[Calvert County Commissioner Evan Slaughenhoupt (R)] also asked if DPW had a standard for developing bike paths. Right now, the county follows the State Highway Administration’s policy, Carlson said, but it is working on an exclusive bike path design. It will not be used for the Dowell Road widening project, however, “because it’ll come up to the front doors of the people,” Sharma said.....The ideal bike trail standard would be like the one in St. Mary’s County that runs by the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Carlson said. “That’s how it should look.”'

Thursday Afternoon Commute - a ton of bike facilities

There is a morning commute post, apparantly sitting on my home computer. Hopefully it won't crash and will still be there this evening when I get home. 

• A man was robbed, punched and shot on the Met Branch Trail yesterday evening. The bullet, luckily, just grazed him
• The draft VDOT Safe Routes to School plan.
• Gabe Klein interviewed in The Atlantic "I would have gladly stayed had we won, because we would have done some amazing stuff that we had planned....we were going to launch a ton of bike facilities." What might have been...
• Study determines that bicycling generates $1million a day in Iowa in benefits
• Long Beach and it's goal to be the most Bicycle Friendly City in the United States. "Before the paint was laid down, the street saw about 400 cyclists and 40,000 motorists a day. After the paint dried two and a half years ago, the street sees about 1,000 cyclists per day and the same level of car traffic. And while some had been concerned that intersplicing bikes with cars on this stretch would result in accidents and injuries, Gandy says the post-paint crash figures are the same as before, at just about 5 car-bike crashes per year."

Occubike DC

Photo by Brennan Cavanaugh