Results tagged “bicycle>”

We've been following the work on the new 15th Street NW contraflow bike lane for a while now, and today the District Department of Transportation and Mayor Fenty hosted a little ceremony to announce its formal completion. But we have to thank IMGoph for tweeting to point out that one of the images DDOT sent around from the ribbon cutting features Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans (D) aboard one of the city's SmartBikes. We're used to seeing the likes of Fenty and famed cycling enthusiast Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) on bikes, but Jack Evans? He looks about as comfortable as a bear on ice skates. Click through to DDOT's Facebook page to scroll through the rest of their images from today's event. DDOT Director Gabe Klein also joined Fenty and Evans for their little ride.

City workers on Friday collected and removed what remained of the 22 "ghost bikes" that had been placed around Connecticut and R Streets, the Post is reporting, including the locked-up bike that was put in the spot where the original memorial to Alice Swanson was located. Activist Legba Carrefour, the Columbia Heights resident behind the bikes, had pledged to ensure that the single memorial bike was replaced each time the city removed it, and he says he plans to keep his word. It just might take him a couple days.

With Car Free Day coming up tomorrow, it's as good a time as ever to remind everyone of another two-wheeled celebration -- Bike DC. The October 17 event will feature two routes -- the 25-mile Capital Ride and the 12-mile Family Ride -- that weave their way through parts of the District and Arlington, including a stretch on the George Washington Parkway.

A Metrobus driver and a bicyclist had a minor collision at the intersection of 14th Street and New York Ave. NW this morning, Metro's Taryn McNeil confirmed. The incident occurred at about 11:45 a.m. this morning.

By DCist Contributor Lauren Evans

Metro is hosting a public meeting tonight to gather input from riders on how to improve bicycle and pedestrian access to Metrorail. If you walk or bike to Metro or have even just thought about doing so, WMATA encourages you to show up at Metro Headquarters (in the Lobby Level Meeting Room at 600 5th Street NW) from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. tonight to offer your feedback. They are especially interested in hearing from cyclists, as one of the main purposes of the bicycle and pedestrian study they're conducting is to look at how Metro can make improvements to bicycle access. Tonight's public workshop comes at a difficult time to be gathering public opinion on Metrorail, given the latest news on the reliability of the system's track sensors.

The WashCycle and other area cyclists have organized a D.C. version of the Ride of Silence, an international event that pays tribute to cyclists who have been killed or injured while riding on public roadways, tonight.

This Friday, May 15 is the annual national Bike to Work Day (not to be confused with D.C.'s local Car Free DC Day, which happens in September). The Washington Area Bicyclist Association is once again taking the lead in organizing this year's event locally, and they're asking those of you who plan to participate to pre-register before showing up at the relevant "pit stop" on Friday morning. Registration is free, and allows the organizers to make sure each "pit stop" has enough supplies on hand to handle the crowds. Each "pit stop" will offer free breakfast and entertainment, plus the chance to win bicycles and other prizes. Registration also makes you eligible to receive a free T-shirt (the first 7,000 registrants who show up to their pit stops will get the shirts).

No, we didn't camp outside his Ward 4 home or track him down at local airports to uncover his secretive travel habits, but we do try and keep our eyes open for Mayor Adrian Fenty. Ever the athlete, yesterday Fenty took part in a triathlon at Georgetown University and followed it up with the Carl Dolan Memorial Spring Classic 25-mile bike race in Columbia, Md. And how would we know? Like last year, I raced alongside Fenty, who is a member of local race club DC Velo. I pondered an impromptu on-bike interview, but instead settled for resting in his mayoral slipstream. Fenty drove to the race in his Smart Car, though his bike rode with an imposing security detail in a jet-black Suburban.

Bill Myers reports in the Examiner that Mayor Adrian Fenty's regular bike rides have chalked up at least 178 man-hours for additional police security. "At least 100 times between January 2007 and June 2008, records show, one or more extra officers were paid to accompany Fenty’s bike team and security detail." The records paint a pretty different picture than the mayor's image as a chief executive who tends to drive himself around town without a large security detail or a motorcade. Police union head Kris Baumann told the Examiner the extra hours are "an embarrassment and a waste."

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the District Department of Transportation will be handing out free bike lights to cyclists again tonight, just like they did last year. The giveaway is part of the “Got Lights?” bicycle safety and education campaign that coincides with the time of year when it begins to get darker out much earlier.

All our sympathies go to the SWDCBlogger's roommate who was intentionally struck by a driver while riding late last Friday night on 14th Street SW near Constitution Avenue. Witnesses to the incident picked up the driver's tags, so the hope is that justice will catch up with that automomaniac. Anyone else who was hanging around the Mall after 1 a.m. and saw the incident should get in contact with the blog's author.

              

With the U.S. Capitol in the background and Pennsylvania Avenue freshly repaved, some of the country's best cyclists battled it out in yesterday's ING Direct Capital Criterium. But while the main attraction was the presence of a number of professional racers -- including Garmin-Chipotle rider Christian Vande Velde, who placed fifth in the Tour de France -- the event capped off what has been a strong year in local racing for area riders and teams.

We've been interested in D.C. Council member Tommy Wells's amendment to add additional fines for drivers who double park in bike lanes for a while. Greater Greater Washington has been all over this story from the beginning, so it's no surprise you can read the news there: yesterday the Council passed a set of new laws regarding new fines for drivers who endanger pedestrians and cyclists, and Wells's revised amendment was included. The fine for drivers who park in bike lanes will be $65. Wells said he believes drivers who are ticketed for double-parking, however, will generally not be issued two tickets for both infractions, so the fine may be limited only to drivers who park in bike lanes that are not adjacent to parking lanes. The same bill also raised the fine for drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians from $50 to $250.

The Associated Press (via WaPo) caught new Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn going for a bike ride with President Bush on Sunday. Both men are enthusiastic mountain bikers, and Bush apparently invited Zorn to join him out on a tough trail this weekend.

Poor Mayor Fenty: he just can't seem to get back on his feet. Or his left foot, to be more specific. WTOP reports that the mayor fell off of his bicycle yesterday, re-injuring the foot he fractured playing football on the beach and forcing him to cancel his public schedule for the next few days.

In the week since Alice Swanson was tragically killed riding her bike through Dupont Circle, there has been the usual back-and-forth between aggravated cyclists and aggrieved drivers. Cyclists accuse drivers of being two-ton road menaces, while drivers fire back by relaying long-worn tales of cyclists recklessly flying through red lights.

On the blocks around Dupont Circle yesterday evening, there were more bikes than usual for a standard evening commute. Their point of convergence was the corner of 20th and R Streets NW, adjacent to the outdoor diners at La Tomate, most of whom looked on in some confusion as the crowd continued to gather at the corner, and members of the press set up microphones at the Washington Area Bicyclist’s Association’s podium. Organizers reminded the growing group to keep the walkways clear for pedestrians as volunteers handed out packets containing a bicycle safety book and a pocket guide to D.C.’s bike laws, the packets adorned with a small white ribbon as a reminder of the reason everyone was there.

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association has just announced a press conference for this evening on the death of bicyclist Alice Swanson. Swanson was killed by a garbage truck just before 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

D.C. Police this afternoon identified the cyclist who was killed just north of Dupont Circle as 22-year-old District resident Alice Swanson. Scant other details are available yet about the accident, but WTOP says that at this point, no charges have been filed against the driver.

The AP is reporting that a 22-year-old woman has died after being struck by a garbage truck while riding her bicycle near Dupont Circle this morning. The garbage truck, which was not owned by the city but rather a private company, struck the woman at Connecticut and R Streets NW just before 8:30 a.m. The roadway around the accident site was shut down while officers investigated the scene. The woman has not yet been identified.

Let the bike vs. car wars continue! Toward the end of last week Matthew Yglesias linked to a new D.C. version of MyBikeLane.com, a site that allows users to upload photos capturing the license plate numbers of cars that park in city bike lanes. Yglesias promised to start uploading photos straightaway, and sure enough, a handful of photos at the top of the page are courtesy the Atlantic blogger, including the one above.

Via Free Ride, looks like it's time for yet another ill-advised, barely-clothed display in our nation's capital. The D.C. version of World Naked Bike Ride is planned for this Saturday at 4 p.m.

Adrian Fenty: Fine, I might not run this city, but I sure as hell beat Mayor Adrian Fenty in a bike race. No, seriously. A few weekends ago Fenty -- who runs, swims and cycles, sometimes all in one day in local triathlons -- participated in the Carl Dolan Memorial Spring Classic, an annual road race in Columbia, MD sponsored by local cycling team DC Velo. He was in my race. And I beat him. Fine, he probably didn't get much sleep the night before, what with the schools, crime, voting rights, meters in cabs, laundry, his kids wanting a drum set, and plenty of other things on his mind. But I showed him who was boss that morning. If you want to beat him and his fancy pants Cannondale, he's also been known to ride MacArthur Boulevard and up the famous Angler's Hill on weekends.

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association sent around word today that Bicycling Magazine has named Washington, D.C. the #1 most improved bicycling city in America (you can download a pdf of the story here, since it appears it's not yet available on Bicycling.com). The news was timed well with WABA's efforts to remind everyone to sign up for Bike to Work Day (coming up on May 16).

Not very many media outlets have really mastered the art of producing web video, but Slate's team of online video producers tend to stand out from the pack (see their Larry Craig arrest report reenactment for further evidence). Via Matthew Yglesias, we get this truly funny report on the stupidest bike lines in America (and elsewhere in the world). Slate ended up giving the top honors to a 20-ft. stretch of bike lane they found in Silver Spring, Md., that literally goes nowhere. Have you guys ever seen this supposed "bike path"?

A 15-year-old has been arrested in connection with running down MPD bicycle officer Brian Bobick with a stolen limousine on Thursday. The Post is reporting that Bobick, 30, remains in critical but stable condition after being struck by the limo on the 4200 block of Ord St. NE, and that he pushed his partner out of harm's way just in time.

Now that it's getting darker earlier, bicyclists in the city need to be more careful about riding at night. But if you're like me, you've been putting off buying a safety light for oh, forever. So I'm planning on being first in line this Friday, November 2 at the Suntrust Plaza in Adams Morgan to snag free front and rear bike lights courtesy the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and DDOT. All you have to do...

Good Morning, Washington. In an apparent attempt to rule the D.C. media landscape through terror and intimidation, the Washington Post has published the scariest local news story we've ever read this morning: apparently, these disgusting-looking creatures called camel crickets are infesting area basements due to the lack of moisture in the ground thanks to the region's rather serious drought. Described as "a mix between a spider and a cricket" and accompanied by disturbing photographic...

This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King, and appreciated their beautiful skyline. Chicagoist knows what it's like to like the Cubs. But naming your kid Wrigley Fields? At least they can breathe a little easier now that Grossman's out and...