My Evening Commute

[Dickie]

Was not my finest. It started OK as I stopped off at Bikenetic to see Dirt and talk new cross/commuter tires as mine are completely shot and flatting all the time. Dirt was not around but Jan was glad to help out. I left informed but without new rubber for now. Back on the WOD and being careful to elude the dreaded FCPD I slowed at the Grove St. crossing only to be passed by a dude with absolutely no regard for the stop sign. He flew through the intersection just as I was getting clipped in without even a look. He then pulled the ultimate DB move, passing (and nearly clipping) two woman with strollers as they crossed paths with a gentleman walking towards them… yep, four abreast with him at speed. The gentleman yelled and put his hands out for protection and the ladies screamed. I slowed, apologized for his behavior and chased the scum down. As I got next to him (and gestured for him to remove his headphones) I became possessed by a sudden calmness (weird). I decided to politely explain what I had just witnessed and suggested better methods for future situations… he tolerated my intrusion and then I flatted. DANG IT! Luckily it was directly in front of the “Free Air” station on the WOD so I rolled my bike to the station, leaned my steed against the air machine (you can see where this is going), started taking off my back pack when I watched my bike slowly roll forward and fall against the pole…. result:

Needless to say, wasn’t a great ride home.

Topic

[jpaulwhite]

Dammit…this weather in Ballston looks NASTY! I’m rolling through it though…leaving at 6. Maybe it’ll be gone by then

[dkel]

I left at 4:45 and got soaked! It was fun, though.

[dplasters]

Big rain drops hurt my face at 25 – 30 mph.

Got home and poured a good half cup of water out of each shoe. Nice.

[Powerful Pete]

My evening commute was… wet. :p

But lots fun! The inner mini-powerful pete comes out on moderately rainy days when riding!

[Greenbelt]

Awesome sunset tonight after the rain

[Dickie]

What is it with weather forecasters? I’ve never known a job where you can be 100% wrong most of the time and stay employed. All day the forecast was saying rain at 7:00. I left at 4:30 for my 20 mile ride home and it started raining immediately….it followed me the entire way. DRENCHED! Of course by 7:00 is was lovely… I need a better app.

[skipmcne]

@Dickie 92996 wrote:

What is it with weather forecasters? I’ve never known a job where you can be 100% wrong most of the time and stay employed. All day the forecast was saying rain at 7:00. I left at 4:30 for my 20 mile ride home and it started raining immediately….it followed me the entire way. DRENCHED! Of course by 7:00 is was lovely… I need a better app.

Have you looked at DarkSky? / forecast.io ?

[jpaulwhite]

I beat the rain yesterday! Left Ballston at 6 and didn’t get hit with any rain at all

[DismalScientist]

@Dickie 92996 wrote:

I’ve never known a job where you can be 100% wrong most of the time and stay employed.

:confused::confused::confused:

Don’t you know what city you are living next to?

[Greenbelt]

Best radar for DC close in timing of rain/storms: http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?ID=DCA

[cyclingfool]

Yeah, I left work at 6 and just got some cooling occasional raindrops/light showers. Not downpours for me, and cool views of the sky as the storm clouds passed the broken cloud cover came in behind.

I slowed and then stopped along the MVT at one point to ask a guy (who had his bike turned upside down and was monkeying with a chain) if he needed any help. He sort of half looked at me, but didn’t otherwise acknowledge my presence or my offer of assistance. I would have thought maybe he was deaf, except he seemed to be communicating fine with the jogger who got there three seconds before I did. So, you’re welcome, a-hole. Pro tip: if you want some to build some good bike karma, next time you should at least acknowledge and thank those stopping or slowing to offer assistance next time.

[Matt the Peddler]

I left Dupont Circle around 5pm with a few drops staring to fall. By the time I hit Georgetown it was coming down at a pretty good clip and coming up the hill in Rosslyn it was an all out downpour. I don’t mind riding in the rain that much. Not a big fan though of putting on my cycling shoes this morning and them still being wet!

I too passed a guy tinkering with his bike at the top of the “s-curve hill” in Arlington and slowed to ask him if he had everything he needed. Kept his back to me and didn’t even acknowledge I said anything, despite me asking twice before peddling on with my rain soaked ride home.

[cyclingfool]

@cyclingfool 93021 wrote:

…I slowed and then stopped along the MVT at one point to ask a guy (who had his bike turned upside down and was monkeying with a chain) if he needed any help. He sort of half looked at me, but didn’t otherwise acknowledge my presence or my offer of assistance…

@Matt the Peddler 93037 wrote:

I too passed a guy tinkering with his bike at the top of the “s-curve hill” in Arlington and slowed to ask him if he had everything he needed. Kept his back to me and didn’t even acknowledge I said anything, despite me asking twice before peddling on with my rain soaked ride home.

What was it with people last night?! I’ve always been appreciative of how many people stop and offer assistance if I happen to be off to the side of a trail with a mechanical. Even if you don’t want or need help, it seems only human to thank those who offer help.

In my time, I’ve helped a stranded, mechanically un-inclined rider get her chain back on her chainring Tuesday night and have allowed people to use my frame pump and given the occasional patch. I even did an emergency trail side conversion on a bike from geared bike to semi-single speed at Gravelly Point (shortening chain and bypassing a destroyed rear derailleur so that the rider could make it the rest of the way to Crystal City to work and a bike shop). The latter individual and I still greet each other when we pass during the commute, a nearly daily occurrence.

Those who don’t even acknowledge the offer of assistance are begging for some $#!tty karma to come back and bite them in the arse sometime. In my case and sounds like yours, too, I think quite a balance has been saved up in the bike karma account.

[dplasters]

Got poured on yesterday afternoon. Again. But I wore super light mesh shoes. So I didn’t have any water to pour out of them. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

My belt drive makes me happy.

[jpaulwhite]

@cyclingfool 93021 wrote:

Yeah, I left work at 6 and just got some cooling occasional raindrops/light showers. Not downpours for me, and cool views of the sky as the storm clouds passed the broken cloud cover came in behind.

I slowed and then stopped along the MVT at one point to ask a guy (who had his bike turned upside down and was monkeying with a chain) if he needed any help. He sort of half looked at me, but didn’t otherwise acknowledge my presence or my offer of assistance. I would have thought maybe he was deaf, except he seemed to be communicating fine with the jogger who got there three seconds before I did. So, you’re welcome, a-hole. Pro tip: if you want some to build some good bike karma, next time you should at least acknowledge and thank those stopping or slowing to offer assistance next time.

I agree 1000% !!!! I smile at every jogger/cyclist I see when I’m biking and less than 5% smile back. Sometimes I think they all think i’m weird

For a moment I actually started rethinking smiling at people…but then the nice guy in me slapped the sh*t out of the unsure one and I realized that I’m gonna keep on smiling…cause i’m a happy person!

[Author]

Replies