Missed connection

[OneEighth]

Jump in with both feet! Go fixed.

[Terpfan]

@TwoWheelsDC 34916 wrote:

Hmmm…now that I’m a Virginian I may have to look into this whole “open carry” thing and see how it affects driver behavior.

You’re presuming they’re going slow enough to notice you’re even carrying.

[vvill]

@OneEighth 34921 wrote:

Jump in with both feet! Go fixed.

I have attempted to at least just pedal constantly while “SSing” but I can’t help coasting. I don’t understand how you brake suddenly when you need to, or what happens when you hit bumps or curbs, etc. I always coast at least a bit before hopping over say, a bridge joint. Honestly I doubt I have the knees/legs/fitness to ride my commute fixie anyway. Pretending to SS is hard enough.

[eminva]

dcv and I were talking about this on our commute on Wednesday evening. I have an old “beater bike” that I use for trips to the Metro, etc. It has persnickety friction shifting so I treat it as a single speed. I do have some hills between my house and the metro, and they don’t seem as bad as I imagine them. One of these days I will have to go all the way to and from work that way (I have ridden it most of the way home before). Maybe it’s not so terrible after all?

Fixie is another matter — I tried the one the teen across the street built, and it was weird. I didn’t get out of his driveway.

But all in all, I’m okay with modern technology.

Liz

[culimerc]

I bought a SS/fixie with a flip-flop hub. I rode SS for a about a month, flipped it over to Fixed and havent flipped it back since.

[OneEighth]

I completely understand the hesitation. And, yes, hopping things is very different when your feet won’t stop moving. But, honestly, you’d be amazed at how fast you get used to it. Just don’t start with a nasty big gear and don’t be in a huge hurry.

We now return you to your original programming:

Many thanks to all the early morning riders who have covered their headlights or turned their helmet mounted lights away. I especially appreciate it because I completely understand the hesitation to lose any light this time of year as the suicidal bunnies have been displaced by suicidal ninja runners—those make for a bigger bump.

[rcannon100]

ME: A giddy idiot, gleefully cycling home on a brisk afternoon, feeling as if the world were a wonder.

YOU: A slender black beauty, with long legs, and big round…. wheels.

Together we joined, as if man and machine, gliding our way home – contemplating Dirty wisdom about knee warmers. You were nimble, gliding head long into a stiff Nor’Easter breeze. I… struggled…. but was sure – one more time – we would make it home together.

But it was not to be. On the last hill… the last stroke of the last hill… you gave out – with a – a disturbing sound – a sound that lingers as a phantom in the night.

I held you. I carried you the final steps home. You had lost all power. You could no longer move. You could no longer turn. You just leaned on me, as we took the last, final steps home – once again.

[dcv]

didn’t know where else to post this – this is great, i wish i could be so civilized:

http://www.break.com/index/road-rage-british-style-2386038?st=email&ai=0&zi=0&ds=1

[bobco85]

@dcv 35392 wrote:

didn’t know where else to post this – this is great, i wish i could be so civilized:

http://www.break.com/index/road-rage-british-style-2386038?st=email&ai=0&zi=0&ds=1

I’d definitely have stronger words in that situation. I’m surprised the cyclist didn’t say something like, “You know, you nearly ran into me with your thousand kilogram (we’re in Britain, remember) car. Understanding physics, I don’t think my 70 kilogram pound self tapping on your car could do any damage compared to what you almost did to me. Also, I have your illegal maneuver on camera, if you’d like the police to do something about it.”

I’ve never tapped a car, and am curious about actually doing so in a given situation. I’ll start a separate thread for my inquiry.

[jrenaut]

Me: Riding down Ohio Drive at the speed limit, taking the lane as is my legal right.
You: MD driver crossing a double yellow to pass me at 10 over the limit

Just FYI, I was following all applicable DC laws. Your rude gesture was probably misdirected (look inward).

[jrenaut]

Me: Riding down 14th Street, dodging buses in the rain
You: A taxi, minding your own business behind me
The Matchmaker: The inch-deep cut in the pavement running directly parallel to traffic in the center southbound lane, trying desperately to introduce me to the underside of the taxi’s bumper.

But it was not to be! After one terrifying moment of “I just caught a wheel and I’m going down right in front of this cab”, I was through. Next time, taxi bumper! And buy me dinner first!

Only bike in the garage when I arrived, too (Aside from one that looks like it’s been there a while).

[krazygl00]

Little black cat, frozen in terror with eyes wide and tail bristling, on the W&OD at 7PM with me bearing down on you. You almost got completely smoked, but for my quick reaction.

You’re welcome.

[JorgeGortex]

Capitol Crescent Trail, near trail head in Georgetown-

Me: guy in the car trying to maneuver so I could safely fit through the one car width space between parked cars and moving truck.

You: Neon Clad ELITE COMMUTER with attitude problem.

You showed an absolutely lack of positive cycling brotherhood when you stared me down, flicked me off, and then proceed to exchange verbal “pleasantries” with me because I was trying drive where you were riding. Considering I was going a whopping 2 mph for the express reason that I didn’t have my comic book ad X-Ray Glasses and couldn’t see through the giant moving truck and KNEW that cyclists would be coming en mass during rush hour, you should have been grateful. Any other ninny would have plowed through there with no regard for you or anyone else. You, fellow cyclist, have earned the “Brick with Love” award.

ps- next time you spill profanities at someone, at least have the guts to not continue riding away while doing it.

[mstone]

To the woman jogging with her friend on a MUP in Fairfax:

I’m sorry for causing you to make that weird noise and jump when I passed you oncoming. It really never occurred to me that you were so engrossed in your conversation that you would have missed me, the bike, my front light, my head light, etc., all the way up the hill as I approached you in the dark, such that you’d be surprised when I passed. If I had thought I was unnoticeable, I would have given you a ding/clunk. I do suggest working just a little bit on your situational awareness; there are times when jogging two-abreast on a MUP and having absolutely no idea what’s going on around you could cause a problem.

[Bilsko]

Me: Coming off the Memorial Brige Circle on the VA side, getting ready to cross the GW Mem. Parkway to hop on the MVT. Paying a bit more attention to the oncoming traffic than to the oncoming rider in front of me.
You: Greyish (?) bike with Orange accents, at least Orange rims, IIRC, called out: “Rider up” as I started to swerve into the oncoming bike lane.

Sorry for being kind of wreckless – should have been paying more attention to fellow riders than the traffic trying to make the jump across the Parkway!

[Author]

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