Arlington celebrates Bike Month in a big way every year. From a massive regional event like Bike to Work Day to the small group discussions at Bike Arlington's Two Wheel Tuesdays, Bike Month events aim to show just how easy and enjoyable it is for anyone to use a bicycle. The easist time to learn how to ride a bike is when you're a kid, of course, and Arlington Public Schools will join in the national celebration of Bike to School Day. This year, it will take place on Wednesday, May 8. Arlington’s an especially good place for kids to bike to school, with lots of multi-use paths connecting low…

Winter not only takes a lot of people off their bikes, it also put a lot of the improvements to cycling infrastructure on pause. Striping is harder to apply, new construction is harder to manage in the cold, and labor is often scarce. But spring brings back the work, and Arlington’s got a number of bike-related projects on tap. Last month, Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) finally expanded to Columbia Pike. This long-awaited expansion will help extend the range of Arlington’s existing CaBi network, providing something of a middle ground between its well-established locations in Crystal City and the …

Icy roads and snowy paths. They’re not here yet, but they’re coming. We almost had them this past weekend. While riding in Arlington’s winter conditions does require a bit of extra effort and care, it’s still quite doable. There are plenty of great resources for learning more about winter riding. A couple of years ago I wrote about dealing with extended darkness, the potential for slick surfaces, and extra debris on the streets. The Washington Area Bike Forum continues to be a great place for Arlington-specific cold weather clothing and equipment advice. There’s plenty of discussion of the …

No doubt many regular readers of this column will be expecting me to tee off on last week’s inexplicable and unannounced closure of a very busy part of the Custis Trail — with no detour. It sent cyclists and pedestrians onto Lee Highway against traffic. The drivers themselves had no warning that the lane in front of them would be filled with cyclists and pedestrians simply trying to get to their own destinations. It was more than half a day before the county, in response to complaints, put a detour in place. Some, quite understandably, see this as a failing of Arlington County to follow …

Clearing snow from Arlington's primary trails became a topic of public conversation again last week. Arlington County's Department of Environmental Services (i.e., the department of transportation) hosted a public chat on Facebook about Arlington's snow plowing and removal plans. Among other things, DES staff explained how they prioritized streets, who was responsible for sidewalks, and which streets depend on VDOT for plowing. When a number of Arlington residents — myself among them — asked about Arlington's plans to clear trails, DES said they had no plans to clear trails, and that in any …

One of the basic principles of road design and traffic management is that — at intersections, at least — bigger roads trump smaller roads. Streets with higher traffic get priority over less-travelled roads. This is why, for example, the lights on Glebe Road are generally set to accommodate the traffic travelling the length of Glebe and not the traffic trying to cross it. The idea is that priority is given to what benefits the most people. It’s just common sense, some would say. Perhaps, then, we should consider applying that principle to the Custis Trail in Arlington. Thanks to Arlington …

Even the most casual of observers could tell you that cycling has been on the rise the past few years in Arlington. But as encouraging as that observation may be, it's not a particularly helpful one, especially if you’re trying to make sure that the streets are safe for increasing numbers of cyclists. Arlington County recognized this problem a few years ago and has built a network of automated counters that recognize bikes and pedestrians at key points on our streets and trails. Traffic engineers have been using automated data collection for years, but almost exclusively for vehicles. Those …

Last week I had a chance to sit down with a local government agency that has a lot of responsibility for maintaining some of the area's busiest paths. The agency occasionally had trouble finding out, in a timely way, about the latest trail blockages. As they put it to me — if they don't know about it, they can't fix it. And sometimes it takes days. While that makes sense, and no institution is omniscient, I was a bit surprised by this. Every day, I get timely and reliable reports on cycling trouble spots, be they crashes, bad signals or flooded trails. I'm not special — anyone can get them. …

I'm not much of a traditionalist when it comes to Thanksgiving, but I do think it's good to stop and appreciate what we've got from time to time. A recent outside view of what makes Arlington good for cycling reminded me that we've got a lot to be thankful for here. I wrote a bit last year about some of the people making Arlington a great place to ride, and now's a good time to update that. A lot has happened in the past year. Capital Bikeshare's long-anticipated expansion really took off, with stations now saturating the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. Arlington also developed a very smart …

It's time for that semi-annual get-your-lights-out reminder. Eastern Standard Time is here, Bike Arlington is doing light-giveaways, and it's well past sunset when most of us are heading home from work. So what's the point of a reminder column? As BikeHugger recently asked — Do people not realize that it's time for lights? Well, no, they don't. Not enough of them, anyway. And by people, I mean everyone using our streets and trails. Cyclists and pedestrians are not as visible as we think we are, and this leads to unsafe situations. Ask any driver or cyclist who's happened upon a "ninja" runner…

As I noted last week, there are lots of ways to make a difference in cycling in Arlington. One of the more formalized - and important - ways to do it is to get involved with the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC). It meets on the first Monday of every month, and every meeting is open to the public. The BAC is formally set up by Arlington County as an advisory body to the County Manager. What that translates to is that the BAC regularly meets with Arlington County staff from the transportation, planning, and parks departments. Discussions range from planning for the next big project (…

This weekend, I took a risk — I braved the suburban wilds of Fairfax to attend the Fairfax Bike Summit. All kidding aside, it was encouraging to see so many efforts — from the institutional to the individual — being made to improve cycling in Fairfax. Fairfax County staff talked about the new bike plan, which sets goals for the next decade. A major Tysons developer presented its plans for remaking Tysons in a pedestrian- and bike-friendly area. Heady stuff, to be sure.  But the most inspiring? Came near the end, when one of the presenters — Fionnuala Quinn of Fairfax Advocates for Better …

Last week this column illustrated the dangers of a poorly maintained street construction site. The accompanying video showed a cyclist taken down by a dangerous parallel ridge cut in the pavement that was left in place and unmarked for months. Arlington Patch followed up with an interview of Dennis Leach, the county's transportation director, about Arlington’s street construction policies and practices. It was useful to hear about the systems Arlington has in place to manage street construction. But they’re clearly not working well enough. To be clear up front — Mr. Leach is to be commended …

Last month, this column touched on the idea that pavement condition isn’t just a concern of motorists, but also of cyclists. In fact, bad pavement condition holds significantly more danger for the individual cyclist than motorist. In that column, I used the example of a recent crash caused by a temporary patching of a utility cut along Quincy Street. It turns out I’ve got video of that crash, and I’d like to show you what happens when Arlington County fails to ensure that those working on its streets fail to do so safely. What you’ll see in the video embedded at the right are a number of …

This past weekend, the Arlington Fun Ride drew more than 150 people out to enjoy a beautiful Saturday morning riding the Arlington Loop. The ride — in its third year — is put on a by a group of volunteers to demonstrate that Arlington's trails are a great place for all Arlingtonians to have fun and get fit. The idea is that by providing a supportive and safe environment to see how to tie all of our the trails together, participants will discover just how easy it is to enjoy those trails. (Disclosure: I'm on the organizing committee.) The Arlington Loop is a 17-mile trail tying together of the…

There’s a part of Clarendon Boulevard where — as it passes the Market Common Clarendon and Whole Foods — the normal rules of traffic appear to be mysteriously suspended. Drivers in the right lane swerve left to get into the Whole Foods parking lot on the left, and drivers in the left lane shoot right for the Starbucks entrance without even glancing in their mirrors. And through it all? One of Arlington’s busiest bike lanes. Arlington County recently installed a new buffered bike lane, moving cyclists further away from parked cars and other traffic further away from cyclists. It’s not a …

I had a chance last week to attend Interbike, the big annual bike industry meeting in Las Vegas. I'm not really in the business of bikes, but I do share a common goal with those who are — to get more people on bikes. So I thought it would be interesting to go see how bike business and bike advocacy fit together. The answer, of course, is that they fit together in many ways. John Burke, the head of Trek Bicycles, delivered the keynote at the opening breakfast. He was urging everyone to get more involved with advocacy. For a company the size of Trek, it's easy to simply write checks to fund …

Arlington's old tradition of a slow-speed and chill "community ride" was revived in the form of the Arlington Fun Ride last year. More than 100 people participated, and the organizers of this community-led ride decided to do it again this year on Saturday, Oct. 6. (Disclosure: I'm somewhat involved in organizing it.) The organizers hope to use the ride to encourage Arlington's youth, adults and families to see the county's trail system as a safe means of transportation and recreation. The fun starts at 8 a.m. at Phoenix Bikes in Barcroft Park, when the main ride gets ready to go. Marshals …

Silky smooth black pavement. It’s the kind of thing that brings a smile to my face, whether I’m behind the wheel of my car or leaning over my handlebars.  There’s nothing quite like the feel of efficient speed over land that a good road gives you. It’s something that both cyclists and drivers can easily agree on, I think. Drivers and cyclists also tend to both dislike it when roads deteriorate. No one likes jarring potholes (or chipseal, for that matter). This common cause goes back a lot further than most might expect. It was the League of American Wheelmen (now the League of American …

Want to see something you’ve never seen before? Head down to Crystal City on Saturday, Sept. 29,  for the second running of the Crystal City Diamond Derby. One part art, one part bikes, and two parts spectacle, it’s a crazy mash of people who come together for a great evening in a unusual setting. You want to see this.  I should admit that earlier this year, when I encouraged people to check out the first Crystal City Diamond Derby, I didn’t really understand what the event was. I recommended it mostly on the strength of my experience with the promoters as people who put on fun and …