From the Don't Try This At Home File

Dude Who Has Been Harassing Me By Driving Aggressively:  *HONK* *VROOOOM*  (Passed with about a foot of space between his mirror and my hip when he could have left me 6 feet of space.)

I noticed that, as usual, he had a female in the car next to him (hereafter known as "Wife") and some kids in the back seat.  Windows are down and he’s stopped at a rather long light in front of me.  

Me:  *Talking to the driver through the passenger window* "So this is how you’re going to end things with me? "

DWHBHMBDA: “Huh?"

Me:  “Fine with me.  Go back to your suburban life, wife and kids.  I”ll cherish the time we had together enough for both of us."

Wife: *Laughing*

DWHBHMBDA:  “What the hell?"

Me:  “I’ll bet your name isn’t even ‘Jerry’."

Wife:  “It isn’t.”   *Laughting*

Me: “Fine!”  *I turn right on red… legally*

Wife:  *Bursts out laughing*

I wish I could say that DWHBHMBDA did something dramatic… or that his kids said, “Uhhhmm Dad???”   I was gone before he got his green light. 

New Arlington Blvd Bike Path

It’s a new bike path…. big deal!  Actually this one is kind of a big deal.  Building new bike infrastructure is all about connecting transportation corridors.  There are almost always good, safe routes to get from point A to point B.  Sometimes these established routes take people far enough out of their way that they take the quicker, more dangerous route, or choose another mode of transportation.  

So when a new bike lane or bike path is created that completes a transportation route, it is kind of a big deal.  

In Arlington, Virginia, Pershing Drive has been an established East/West route for quite a few years.  Unfortunately it kind of dumped off at Arlington Blvd with a rather sketchy frontage road/sidewalk lane to complete the route into Rosslyn or Washington, DC.  People used it, but it was never easy, or as safe as it could be.  

UNTIL NOW!!!!

The wonderful folks in Arlington County added a separated bike path that connects Pershing Drive and the Arlington Blvd. Frontage road.  It is less than a mile of path, but it completes a cycling corridor that connects a neighborhood where many people depend on bicycles to Downtown Washington, DC with a route that is easy, safe and fun to ride.  That’s the holy grail of bicycle infrastructure…. easy, safe and fun.  

The people stuck in bumper to bumper traffic might catch a glimpse of happy people on bicycles on that path and get the idea that riding a bike to work might not be so impossible.  They’ll have plenty of time to watch the bicycles pass them by.

Thanks Arlington County, BikeArlington and all the volunteers that have pushed for better bicycling in this region.  Y’all make me happy.

Pete

Wash Cycle: http://www.thewashcycle.com/arlington-boulevard-trail/
Arlington County Bike Map:   http://www.bikearlington.com/tasks/sites/bike/assets/File/Bikemap_front.pdf
BikeArlington:   http://www.bikearlington.com/