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

[Dickie]

@lordofthemark 93879 wrote:

Did the ride from SE to Park Center in 67 minutes, I was pleased. Traffic in SE was surprisingly civilized for a game night. Another cyclist on the Eye Street lane asked if I was taping my ride, I said “Oh this, its just a helmet light”. Second time someone has asked about it in three days. Maine/Water continues to be a mess – the end of Water that is open, right by the fish market, has a nasty bump covering a wire. I took 4MRT to Walter Reed instead of going up the 31st street hill to Abingdon. May not have been much faster but definitely more pleasant. The sidewalk on the west side of King Street from Walter Reed to 28th was definitely not pleasant.

I thought I spotted you on 4MRT last night, we crossed paths but I didn’t call out in time. Good to see you.

[Supermau]

Hot. Period.

[Supermau]

According to rule #9 today’s commute makes me a badass!

[hozn]

I don’t think riding in lightning storms makes one a badass. There will be plenty of opportunity to earn your rule no 9 bragging rights here in a few months.

[Supermau]

No lightning. My “evening” commute takes place between 12 and 2. I beat the storm by hours. I was talking about the heat. All tongue in cheek of course. I don’t take myself that seriously.

[hozn]

@Supermau 93933 wrote:

No lightning. My “evening” commute takes place between 12 and 2. I beat the storm by hours. I was talking about the heat. All tongue in cheek of course. I don’t take myself that seriously.

Oh, I assumed you meant bad weather. It wasn’t *that* hot We are just spoiled by this super cool summer have had.

[Supermau]

@hozn 93935 wrote:

Oh, I assumed you meant bad weather. It wasn’t *that* hot We are just spoiled by this super cool summer have had.

It’s definitely been hotter, but I was good and soupy at the end of the day.

[n18]

Car traffic seems bad today around Vienna and along RT123 near I-66, so expect angry drivers today. To add insult to injury, at 3:00 PM, a traffic signal lost power at Maple AVE & Courthouse RD and police was directing traffic, but that is not all. There is also a 4-Mile traffic jam on I-66 heading west, so this affects other roads as well.

[mstone]

Heh, I didn’t notice any of that and had a lovely commute. Sounds like a good day not to drive.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@n18 94164 wrote:

Car traffic seems bad today around Vienna and along RT123 near I-66, so expect angry drivers today. To add insult to injury, at 3:00 PM, a traffic signal lost power at Maple AVE & Courthouse RD and police was directing traffic, but that is not all. There is also a 4-Mile traffic jam on I-66 heading west, so this affects other roads as well.

I think close to half my class was late today, with several mentioning traffic on 66 being terrible. I don’t think I did a good job concealing my bike commuter smugness.

[vern]

I got stung by something (bee, wasp?) on the inside of my left upper thigh riding through Vienna (maybe the bees didn’t like all the traffic?). So, for the final 6 miles or so home it felt like I was getting stuck again with each peddle stroke. I guess I didn’t get the stinger out.

[Crickey7]

Looks like a pretty good chance of evening wetness. So I pulled out the venerable Bad Boy, now running again after a lengthy stealth overhaul.

[bobco85]

After a 6-day trip to Alaska, I came across this on my bike ride home (I figure it is relevant enough to an evening commute to be on this thread) from DCA on Tuesday night: http://www.arlnow.com/2014/09/10/swat-team-captures-barricaded-knifepoint-robbery-suspect/

At first, I saw an Arlington SWAT truck/SUV/monster-of-death with its lights running going on the road while I was on FMR near Walter Reed. Then, a few minutes later, I saw that police cars had closed off a portion of the road between George Mason Drive and Columbia Pike. I guess this was my welcome back to the area

Also, since I had locked my bike at DCA’s garage (bike parking), I noticed that the parking garage has a sign pointing to the Mount Vernon trail. Very interesting, and helpful, too, for anyone else who biked to/from the airport.

[vern]

@Crickey7 94214 wrote:

Looks like a pretty good chance of evening wetness. So I pulled out the venerable Bad Boy, now running again after a lengthy stealth overhaul.

I hope it’s wet…my backpack needs a good wash.

[lordofthemark]

My commute home yesterday took me about 70 minutes – a few minutes longer than last time, which I attribute in part to confusion at Maine and 7th. In the morning the south side sidewalk had been open, so in the PM I crossed Maine, only to find it closed, and then crossed back. Also tried to advise some people in business clothes trying to figure out if the restaurant they were looking for was still open.

This was the first time I had commuted in, and back, the whole way to Alexandria, in the same day, for a total of almost 20 miles. Now to try to do that 2x in the same week (not this week though)

[Author]

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