Rides 10/13: back back back

Hello. I have returned from holiday, where I was either:

 a) at luge camp in Lake Placid with an eye towards competing in the next Winter Olympics, 

b) at luge camp in St Moritz with an eye towards competing in the next Winter Olympics,

c) at luge camp in Lillyhammer with an eye towards competing in the next Winter Olympics, or 

d) in the U.K. doing tourist stuff and visiting some friends from school and also pining about someday going to luge camp. 

Either way, it was fun, but I'm back now and so is bike commuting. For me, at least. For a lot of others, Columbus Day means no work and the roads and paths and trails were nearly empty. It was gray and a little wet, but warm. Do not let October trick you into bundling up! It's still warm! Do not fall for the machinations and insidious marketing of Big Coat! It's still warm! I promise. 

Federal holidays empty the roads. As such, the fewer drivers are able to go much faster. Which is crazy, because it's not like, in spite of the fact that it's a federal holiday (or Sunday, or late at night or early in the morning), there aren't still pedestrians and cyclists and the roads are no longer city streets through somewhat densely populated urban areas. I don't know why this just struck me today (maybe because I've been off the bike and the speed disparity seemed especially jarring) but maybe it's time to stop having roads that so easily facilitate speeding. Like, immediately. Because cities don't stop being cities on holidays. 

Some new protection on the L Street Cycletrack: 

Oh, I'm sorry. That's just a poodle I saw. 

Here are the parking stops (to stop parking?): 

To recap the improvements: first, we had some plastic sticks. Then the plastic sticks were moved closer to the curb to narrow the track to dissuade parking. Now we've added parking stops between the flexposts to further dissuade it. I think these are all steps in the right direction and I'm glad DDOT is testing them on L. I think they might even have a good shot at working (especially if the goal is to keep people parking/idling in the cycletrack). And this is really good. 

But. 

Mixing zones. We still have mixing zones (where drivers cross into the lane to turn left) and these are the points of biggest conflict and I think that so long as we have them (even the better ones on M), it's a compromise that will preclude a lot of people from feeling really "protected" in the "protected" cycletrack. Now, if they could do something about those...