This week cycling advocates, retailers and enthusiasts rolled into town for the National Bike Summit. The purpose of the summit is to bring people together to help discover and discuss how to make cycling safe, easy and accessible to anyone. While the center of the action took place in Washington, Arlington played a starring role in the experience of many involved. While the summit officially kicked off on Tuesday in the district, it started for 25 of the participants in Boston last Friday. Professional cyclist Tim Johnson led a ride from Boston to D.C., stopping at shops, parks and street …

Arlington County hasn’t been shy about engaging the public over the Capital Bikeshare, or CaBi, system. When deciding on station placement for the last round of expansion, they held public meetings and launched an online crowdsourcing effort. Now the county is asking for help in thinking about the bigger picture: How should CaBi grow in the long term? It’s looking for answers as part of its effort to create a Transit Development Plan for CaBi.  In Virginia, such plans are normally prepared for bus and rail systems every six years. As Arlington County describes it, they “allow agencies to …

Electric bikes can be the perfect solution for the transportation needs of some people. They offer the convenience of a bike, but the power-assist can accommodate a much wider range of abilities. So electric bikes should fit right in with Arlington’s mission to get more people out of cars and on to bikes, right? Well... It’s a little tricky at the moment. Electric bikes in the streets? Arlington’s cool with that. But it looks like electric bikes may not actually be permitted on Arlington’s trails. As recently raised on the Donaldson Run blog, the signs posted at many of the entrances to …

Earlier this week, I met an Arlington County staffer who was in my neighborhood responding to a compliance call. As part of the compliance check, he had to come out and physically inspect the issue at hand. And how did he get from the county offices in Courthouse to my neighborhood, just a couple of miles away? By bike.  Why doesn't Arlington County have more employees making that choice? Arlington County does a great job of promoting the benefits of cycling and public transportation to the public. It's cheaper, healthier and often more convenient. It’s clear that many Arlington County …

The big Capital Bikeshare expansion down the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor announced last year was scheduled to begin in “the spring”. Well, it must be spring, as the new stations are already starting to appear. On top of that, almost 40 new bike racks were recently installed all over Arlington.  With good weather and a bit of luck, it seems the spring infrastructure push for bikes is well underway.  Over the past weekend, the Virginia Square Metro station saw the addition of a 19 space Capital Bikeshare station. The Central Library also received an 11 space station. These two stations represent …

Many people don't put a lot of thought into how they handle a bike. Mostly, they just get on and go, riding wherever they feel it is safest and/or most convenient for them. Unfortunately, this approach - often a carryover from childhood - can be dangerous. While better cycling education can help address this, the near-term reality is that the physical infrastructure they ride on will have a greater effect on cycling behavior than education. Even the best education programs won't reach everyone, but everyone needs to use the transportation network. So, it makes sense to focus on how to design …

While many cyclists recently took advantage of some unseasonably warm days to hit the trails, and some will commute through anything, winter's the undeniable low season for cycling around here. But spring isn't that far away, and with it starts a long season of cycling events in the region. Now's a great time to look ahead and set some "big ride" goals for the year. One of the many great things about the cycling events around the area is that there's something for everyone. Four years old and still leaning on your training wheels? Then the Clarendon Cup kid's ride is for you: It's all of 700 …

It’s happened to every cyclist. You roll up to a red light to cross a major road, wait for the light to change, and... nothing. A car rolls up behind you and... voila, the signal changes! It’s moments like these where you’re reminded that so many of our streets weren’t exactly built with cycling in mind. Thankfully, there are a few strategies – beyond simply rolling through the light – that can help you overcome this.  First, let's review the basics. Most controlled intersections (those that use traffic lights, for instance) in Arlington use some form of traffic detection that helps determine…

There are only 14 gold-level Bicycle Friendly Communities in the United States. Palo Alto, Calif. Minneapolis. Arlington, Va.? Arlington County hopes so. As noted in this column last year, Arlington County has long been recognized by the League of American Bicyclists, or LAB, for its significant efforts to become a more cycling-friendly community. This led to its becoming the first silver-level community in the area, well before Washington earned that designation. However, Arlington, during County Board member Jay Fisette’s tenure as chairman, set its sights on becoming the first gold-level …

Wednesday, in a Rosslyn conference room, people from organizations and county government offices across Arlington gathered together to focus on a common issue: improving Arlington’s “bike culture.”  This column has touched on the trickiness of defining bike culture before, and the composition of the group that met in Rosslyn reflected an understanding of that challenge. Bike culture isn’t more bike lanes – otherwise Arlington County’s transportation engineers could manage it alone. Nor is it simply better law enforcement – if it were, an Arlington County Police Department task force could …

Last week, three organizations devoted to improving transportation in Arlington – Arlington’s Car-Free Diet, Walk Arlington and Bike Arlington – joined together to roll out a new street safety campaign. It’s based on a smart approach that’s inclusive of all modes of transportation. The campaign is based on the principle of “Be[ing] a PAL on Arlington’s Streets,” where PAL is an acronym for Predictable, Alert and Lawful. These principles are at the core of all traditional transportation safety instruction, and easily translate from cars and motorcycles to bicycles and shoes.  One particularly …

When you think about the impact cycling has on a local economy, the first things that probably comes to mind are bike shops. Arlington has – by my count – at least five. From a small two-man shop (Papillion Cycles) to the corporate headquarters of a regional chain (Revolution Cycles) employing scores of people, these are real businesses generating real dollars. But cycling has an economic impact well beyond the bike shops. People on bikes contribute to the profit margins of lots of local businesses. Pedego DC Tours, which operates out of Clarendon, offers electric bike-based tours of …

From a cycling safety perspective, Arlington has a lot of things going for it. The street speeds are, for the most part, not very high. There are enough cyclists around that motorists are generally not surprised when they come upon one. That said, there's still plenty of opportunity for things to go wrong when you’re on a bike. From the structural (Custis trail at Lynn Street) to the unexpected (a kid running into the street), there are always dangers out there. What should you do if you end up in a crash on your bike? Several things. Obviously, your first priority is your own physical safety…

In the modern spirit of the season, I present my holiday wish list for Arlington cyclists: 5. End the subpar cutting and "repairing" of our streets. Yes, frequent pavement cuts and covers are an inherent part of growth and redevelopment. While Arlington manages most aspects of its growth fairly well, the pavement repair quality has taken a serious nosedive in the past year. The jagged edges, unfilled cuts, and unexpected lumps routinely result in dangerous situations for cyclists and pedestrians. Arlington County needs to do a far better job than it does of holding contractors accountable for…

In the world of cycling advocacy, a lot of time and resources go into pursuing and planning for significant infrastructure projects and comprehensive education campaigns. While they're an important part of the big picture, they're only part of it. The other part is you. Yes, you.  Earlier this year - in the context of sharing the road - I touched on my belief that improving that kind of sharing will only really come from giving an individual face to cycling. As I've spent more time looking at larger issues in cycling – access, education, gender gaps – I keep coming back to the primacy of the …

One of the most popular multi-use trails in the Washington area is in Arlington’s front yard – the Mount Vernon Trail. Popular with tourists and locals, it’s a haven for runners, cyclists and those out for a simple stroll. Unfortunately, getting to the  Mount Vernon Trail from Arlington can be a rather dangerous affair. To get to the trail’s northern terminus without driving, you must navigate the problematic Lynn Street-Lee Highway-Custis Trail intersection. Unfortunately, this is the only connection from northern Arlington.  The next connection to the trail occurs near Memorial Bridge. …

Bike culture is a phrase that gets thrown around quite a bit by advocates and devoted cyclists. To those just entering the conversation, it can seem that "bike culture" means actively focusing on the bike itself – whether as a means of transportation, an object of art, or simply as a common bond. And, indeed, that is part of bike culture. By that measure, Arlington’s certainly got a healthy – and growing – bike culture. The past couple of years have given us a very visible growth in ridership, which has been encouraged by improved infrastructure. Arlington is home to two successful pro …

Arlington has much to be proud of when it comes to making cycling a good choice for transportation and recreation. This isn’t some happy accident, but the result of the work of a lot of dedicated people, well-planned infrastructure and Arlingtonians themselves. While this column often focuses on what needs to be improved to make Arlington a better place for cyclists, I thought it was a good time to focus on what Arlington has already accomplished. Let’s start with the efforts of the Arlington County government. We’ve got County Board members who not only support the idea of cycling, but often…

Capital Bikeshare’s long-anticipated expansion down the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor finally got moving last week, with a new station near the intersection of Wilson Boulevard and Uhle Street in Courthouse. This marked the start of a small short-term expansion, which will be followed by a much bigger one in the spring and summer. Some Arlington Capital Bikeshare members have expressed frustration with the slow pace of the rollout in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. The originally anticipated expansion schedule has been slowed by procurement processing delays, some site challenges, and Capital …

Cold morning air, leaves swirling everywhere, and dark evening commutes – fall is definitely here. This brings new challenges for those of us who use our bikes to get around and enjoy Arlington. Luckily, they can all be overcome with a few easy shifts in our behavior and equipment. You've read it here before, and you'll read it again – don't go out without a light. With a flip of the daylight saving time switch, many of our commutes moved from twilight to full on darkness. If you're hauling out the lights you used last year, don't forget to change the batteries. A fresh set will make a big …