DC Bike Ride – successor to BikeDC?

[Jason]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 139274 wrote:

Oof I shoulda read this thread before I spent 90$ signing up for this yesterday.

I’m not sorry I signed up, but it would be nice if the race organizers came on here and answered questions/concerns.

[baiskeli]

@Jason 139636 wrote:

I’m not sorry I signed up, but it would be nice if the race organizers came on here and answered questions/concerns.

In their absence, here’s the official event guide:

http://dcbikeride.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Event-Guide_FINAL.pdf

[Jason]

Thanks, I read that. All the information is scattered all over the place, and allot of rules regarding various stickers, one for the helmet, another for the bike, and yet another for my jersey for my chest? Chest mounted safety pins. mmmm ok?!?!?! So how should I get into it?

[AFHokie]

They had no record of me signing up when I tried to pick up my packet today. Shit happens & I just sent them a copy of the registration confermation email and a copy of the credit card transaction so it “should” work out. However when combined with previous posts here, I can’t say I’m all that impressed.

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[Jason]

@AFHokie 140053 wrote:

They had no record of me signing up when I tried to pick up my packet today. Shit happens & I just sent them a copy of the registration confermation email and a copy of the credit card transaction so it “should” work out. However when combined with previous posts here, I can’t say I’m all that impressed.

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Right-on. Its organized by a company who’s profession it is to organize thing. Its not an amateur event company. You would think it would be smoother. right?

[KLizotte]

I picked up my packet today and it was fast, painless and organized. I’m just a bit amazed that this event is being run so differently from its predecessor. Why are we required to have individual bib numbers and plaster ourselves with stickers when we could just give our name at the event and get a generic bib? The bureaucracy does seem to be a bit over the top this year. Possibly because they outsourced the job?

OTOH, perhaps the bib number being linked with an individual’s personal information is in case there is a medical emergency and they can look up who to contact.

[consularrider]

I forget, which of the number stickers has the timing chip? :rolleyes:

[sjclaeys]

@KLizotte 140092 wrote:

I picked up my packet today and it was fast, painless and organized. I’m just a bit amazed that this event is being run so differently from its predecessor. Why are we required to have individual bib numbers and plaster ourselves with stickers when we could just give our name at the event and get a generic bib? The bureaucracy does seem to be a bit over the top this year. Possibly because they outsourced the job?

OTOH, perhaps the bib number being linked with an individual’s personal information is in case there is a medical emergency and they can look up who to contact.

They want you to have your bib number in multiple places so that when the photographers take your picture during the ride they can identify you and try to sell their photos.

[Judd]

@sjclaeys 140101 wrote:

They want you to have your bib number in multiple places so that when the photographers take your picture during the ride they can identify you and try to sell their photos.

This.

If it’s anything like Bike New York you will get an email nearly everyday reminding you that you’re about to miss out on purchasing a memory for only $70!

[consularrider]

Ok, that was fun, sort of.

[dbb]

From the Whitehurst Freeway

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11805[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]11806[/ATTACH]

I don’t know what Steve O and Dismal were arguing about a while back about traffic on the Whitehurst. Seemed that the priorities (bikes vs cars) were spot on this morning.

I would, however, preferred something a bit better than Andre

[sjclaeys]

It was better than I expected but am not sure if I would do it again. Some observations:

1) It was fun to ride some streets that bikes normally can’t ride on. However, the route didn’t really get into DC the city and there was a lot out and back. My sense is that the route was greatly influenced by minimizing the number of roads closed. An out and back only requires one road to be closed, whereas continuing on to other roads would mean more closures.
2) Having the route coming off of the 14th Street bridge cross with the route going on to the bridge was not a great idea, resulting in fairly long waits for those going on to the bridge to clear to allow those coming off of the bridge to proceed.
3) Many people way overestimated their average speed and started in the wrong corral, but it wasn’t too big of a deal.
4) Didn’t see much active on road support if someone had a problem. Fortunately, only saw a lot of flats due to road debris.
5) Wet weather didn’t seem to affect things too much. However, guy in the white shorts that become translucent when wet, bad wardrobe choice.
6) Thank you volunteers!

[Judd]

@sjclaeys 140114 wrote:

It was better than I expected but am not sure if I would do it again. Some observations:

1) It was fun to ride some streets that bikes normally can’t ride on. However, the route didn’t really get into DC the city and there was a lot out and back. My sense is that the route was greatly influenced by minimizing the number of roads closed. An out and back only requires one road to be closed, whereas continuing on to other roads would mean more closures.
2) Having the route coming off of the 14th Street bridge cross with the route going on to the bridge was not a great idea, resulting in fairly long waits for those going on to the bridge to clear to allow those coming off of the bridge to proceed.
3) Many people way overestimated their average speed and started in the wrong corral, but it wasn’t too big of a deal.
4) Didn’t see much active on road support if someone had a problem. Fortunately, only saw a lot of flats due to road debris.
5) Wet weather didn’t seem to affect things too much. However, guy in the white shorts that become translucent when wet, bad wardrobe choice.
6) Thank you volunteers!

I had an okay ride, but I don’t know that I would do it again next year. Lots of out and backs and lots of U-Turns. Although the route technically went by things worth seeing, I didn’t see many of them since we were on highways much of the time. There were a couple of spots with lots of road debris. From a poll of people I know: Karen caught a big screw in her tire, Ed C. ran over a hubcap and LeprosyStudyGroup saw a big wrench. I accidentally had a banana peel fall out of my jersey pocket, which I hope didn’t crash anybody.

I started at the very front of the 16 mph group with LeprosyStudyGroup. We easily passed about 100 people that were either in the VIP group or were super optimistic that they were going to ride 18 mph. It wasn’t too hard to get around them. There weren’t too many that were riding unpredictably or oversteering. I’m sure there was probably more of this in the slower packs.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

I spotted that guy with the previously white shorts too, about a quarter mile past that foot and a half rusty screwdriver that seems to be asserting squatters rights on the north shoulder of the 14th st bridge!

Unrelated photos

[Judd]

Pics from the ride. The second picture is where the whole group of riders was stopped for 10 minutes about two miles from the end of the the ride.

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