My Evening Commute

[KWL]

@Terpfan 94887 wrote:

I would like to give a shoutout to the Swedish Embassy driver. Coming off 34th to go across and right onto the sidewalk requires being in the left lane. Cars coming from across the street (albeit it’s maybe every 7th or 8th time there is a car there) rarely yield to let you proceed straight. Actually rarely would be overstatement, they have never yielded until last night when a car with diplomatic tags did. I can only presume it’s from the Swedes with their embassy right there. Good stuff.

That’s my route as well. I have had good success riding directly at the car coming up 34th [edit to remove the following incorrect statement] St. Marys Place (that is the name of the street on the other side of M St.) and pointing to where I am headed to their left side. There have been a few who aggressively force their way onto M, but most seem to deal with my presence nicely. Now the cyclists on the sidewalk who ride through the red light for M St. are another matter.

[bobco85]

@Terpfan 94887 wrote:

I would like to give a shoutout to the Swedish Embassy driver. Coming off 34th to go across and right onto the sidewalk requires being in the left lane. Cars coming from across the street (albeit it’s maybe every 7th or 8th time there is a car there) rarely yield to let you proceed straight. Actually rarely would be overstatement, they have never yielded until last night when a car with diplomatic tags did. I can only presume it’s from the Swedes with their embassy right there. Good stuff.

Just for the purpose of more information, the embassies of Iceland and Liechtenstein are also located there, so it could be the Icelanders and, uh, (Google search) Liechtensteiners.

[KWL]

That’s the Ukraine embassy at 34th & M. Sweden’s is closer to Rock Creek.

[dkel]

I had to play a wedding at the church this afternoon. It was pretty nice: Justice Scalea was there, I’m told. Anyway, as I was riding out after the service, one of the priests was standing out front, and waved me over, “want me to bless your bike?” I said yes, and got my bike blessed, with holy water and everything! Sadly, it didn’t exorcise the demon from my front disc, which howls like the devil every time I brake. Still, it made me feel good.

[hozn]

The water probably made the howling (temporarily) worse! but you can try cleaning off the rotors with rubbing alcohol (or brake cleaner, if you keep that on hand). Depending on which part is contaminated, that may help. Also, never ever touch your rotors; oils from fingers do you no favors there.

[dkel]

@hozn 94969 wrote:

The water probably made the howling (temporarily) worse! but you can try cleaning off the rotors with rubbing alcohol (or brake cleaner, if you keep that on hand). Depending on which part is contaminated, that may help. Also, never ever touch your rotors; oils from fingers do you no favors there.

That front rotor has howled since I got the bike, unfortunately. Bikenetic has cleaned it, I’ve cleaned it, Bikenetic has adjusted it, I’ve adjusted it…Jan says the last resort will be for me to get new pads put in. Pretty sure that will happen Monday!

[hozn]

@dkel 94970 wrote:

That front rotor has howled since I got the bike, unfortunately. Bikenetic has cleaned it, I’ve cleaned it, Bikenetic has adjusted it, I’ve adjusted it…Jan says the last resort will be for me to get new pads put in. Pretty sure that will happen Monday!

Ah, too bad. I have also heard that taking pads out and putting them on a grill can burn off any oils. Well, luckily there are no shortage of pad options for bb7 calipers. I am liking my Kool Stop pads now, but any sintered pad should serve you fine. I have used the Avid pads, Jagwire, and various cheapo ones. Or organic might be quieter but probably wouldn’t last as long.

[DismalScientist]

@dkel 94964 wrote:

Anyway, as I was riding out after the service, one of the priests was standing out front, and waved me over, “want me to bless your bike?” I said yes, and got my bike blessed, with holy water and everything! Sadly, it didn’t exorcise the demon from my front disc, which howls like the devil every time I brake.

It may have something to do with that Protestant Reformation thing.:rolleyes:

[Crickey7]

@dkel 94964 wrote:

I had to play a wedding at the church this afternoon. It was pretty nice: Justice Scalea was there, I’m told. Anyway, as I was riding out after the service, one of the priests was standing out front, and waved me over, “want me to bless your bike?” I said yes, and got my bike blessed, with holy water and everything! Sadly, it didn’t exorcise the demon from my front disc, which howls like the devil every time I brake. Still, it made me feel good.

A sign that you might be riding a She Devil.

http://handsomecycles.com/product/she-devil-complete-bicycle

Or a Neilpryde Diablo

http://www.roadbikeaction.com/ARCHIVE-TECH–BIKE-TESTS/content/66/4880/Bike-Test-NeilPryde-Diablo.html

Or perhaps an Evil Bikes Undead.

http://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Frames,7/Evil-Bikes/Undead,12135

[dasgeh]

@dkel 94964 wrote:

I had to play a wedding at the church this afternoon. It was pretty nice: Justice Scalea was there, I’m told. Anyway, as I was riding out after the service, one of the priests was standing out front, and waved me over, “want me to bless your bike?” I said yes, and got my bike blessed, with holy water and everything! Sadly, it didn’t exorcise the demon from my front disc, which howls like the devil every time I brake. Still, it made me feel good.

We go to a pretty small church in Clarendon, and we regularly have 5-10 bikes at a service. I’ve been trying to get them to do some sort of bike-focused thing — blessing bikes and then a ride? We did a ride to pick up food for AFAC in January, which was fun but cold. Any ideas? Would anyone be interested in coming? It’s right by Liberty Tavern, which has the best Sunday brunch in the DMV

[lordofthemark]

@dkel 94964 wrote:

I had to play a wedding at the church this afternoon. It was pretty nice: Justice Scalea was there, I’m told. Anyway, as I was riding out after the service, one of the priests was standing out front, and waved me over, “want me to bless your bike?” I said yes, and got my bike blessed, with holy water and everything! Sadly, it didn’t exorcise the demon from my front disc, which howls like the devil every time I brake. Still, it made me feel good.

Ah, another fan of house of worship celebrity name dropping http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?5120-CaBi-needs-to-be-better-known-(a-little-story)&highlight=rahm

[lordofthemark]

@dasgeh 95025 wrote:

We go to a pretty small church in Clarendon, and we regularly have 5-10 bikes at a service. I’ve been trying to get them to do some sort of bike-focused thing — blessing bikes and then a ride? We did a ride to pick up food for AFAC in January, which was fun but cold. Any ideas? Would anyone be interested in coming? It’s right by Liberty Tavern, which has the best Sunday brunch in the DMV

Impressive numbers.

[dasgeh]

@lordofthemark 95027 wrote:

Impressive numbers.

When you have 60 butts in the pews, I think 10 bikes outside is awesome! It helps being in the heart of Clarendon, and having 2 bikey families that account for 7 total bikes.

[dkel]

@dasgeh 95025 wrote:

We go to a pretty small church in Clarendon, and we regularly have 5-10 bikes at a service. I’ve been trying to get them to do some sort of bike-focused thing — blessing bikes and then a ride? Any ideas?

We get a few hundred people in four services on the weekend, but I only know one guy who rides his bike to services every week (it’s not me, though: I can only ride to church on Sundays during the summer when I’m not carrying my kids to choir). That said, I’ve met loads of people at the church who ride: many recreationally, several regular commuting types. My boss, the head priest, used to be a runner, but his knees have given out on him, and now that he has recovered from knee surgery, he has bought a new bike, and is totally getting into it. He wants to do a blessing of bikes service followed by a ride, probably in October. The church is only a couple of blocks from the W&OD in Vienna, so it might be pretty easy to do. We’d likely get a whole bunch from the church, so there would be good numbers, which might be encouraging for folks from outside the parish to feel like it’s worth being there. If this thing actually gets planned, I’ll post something on the forum, in it’s own thread. I hope you’ll do the same, dasgeh, if your church does something.

[TwoWheelsDC]

It was, uh, brisk riding home from class at 10pm last night, particularly since it was like 72 when I rode in at 4pm. Thankfully, I packed an extra layer, but it almost wasn’t enough since the (non-adjustable) thermostat of the classroom is set at like 58 degrees, so I was chilled to the bone even before I got on my bike.

[Author]

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