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

[brendan]

@cyclingfool 100840 wrote:

Agreed, except in my case it should read, “Or if I know a hill is coming, then I wait to be dropped like a ninja sword through microwaved butter.” :p

Monday night: I passed a road cyclist near the beginning of return commute from eastern Reston, who then passed me again shortly thereafter and immediately slowed down requiring braking on my part, then more coasting for a while.

A rule: if I’m on the cargo bike and pass a cyclist and then they pass me quickly, I don’t pass them again. Either I’m unintentionally slowing down after the pass (although I consciously do a “Pass With Authority(tm)” and keep the speed up) or the other rider doesn’t like being passed. Or perhaps didn’t like how much I slow down/stopped at the next crossing.

I stayed mostly 3-4 bike lengths back, which involved a lot of coasting, until I had to turn at Custis trail, though I did fall back and catch up and slow down a few times (once due to missing the light he made).

He definitely seemed a bit too interested in what was going on behind him.

Hope that wasn’t someone here.

Hope I wasn’t doing something unintentionally infuriating that I wasn’t aware of.

B

[ronwalf]

It’s not unexpected that the passing person slows down – suddenly they just (up to) doubled their wind resistance. Conversely, you just lost half your wind resistance, and so maintaining your pace will be much easier.

[dasgeh]

I’ve never quite understood the people who get super annoyed with 2-3 bike lengths-behind drafting. At some point, it’s just riding behind someone else.

I did experience someone last week riding just behind me and to the left on the Custis. That was super annoying, as I usually check before moving over (to avoid bad pavement or pass or whatever) and every time I glanced back, there was the guy, looking like maybe he wanted to pass me, maybe not. I couldn’t think of a nice way to ask him to please pass or get in line (there were plenty of safe passing opportunities). *sigh*

[dbb]

They threw us out a bit early. As I was heading out, I noticed some fellow commuters who seemed to be enjoying the start of their commutes far less.

[dkel]

@dbb 100867 wrote:

The threw us out a bit early. As I was heading out, I noticed some fellow commuters who seemed to be enjoying the start of their commutes far less.

Poor saps. My kids and I wish this weather were much worse. That never happened before I became a badass cyclist.

Great pic, BTW!

[cyclingfool]

Something about that picture reminded me instantly of the bread line part of the FDR Memorial.

[CPTJohnC]

@americancyclo 100817 wrote:

Last night on the WOD I ended up behind two cyclists just past east falls church. There was a lot of oncoming traffic so I rode a bit slower than I would have liked and opted not to pass, following two to three bike lengths behind. About two blocks later the rider in front of me brake checked me. It was clearly aggressive and he yelled something along the lines of “I said back off!” Which surprised me because brake checking is dangerous but also because the rider hadn’t said anything before brake checking me. I safely passed a few blocks later but am still surprised by the road rage from a fellow cyclist.

Interesting only because I also had a disconcerting experience last night on the W&OD involving following, but from the other end. I was the lead rider, but I kept losing sight/sense of the guy behind me, possibly because he didn’t have lights, or if he did, they were only ‘to be seen’ not ‘to see’ lights. I have pretty decent lights, bar and helmet mounted. I would swear he was the faster rider, though I outclimbed him a couple of times. The issue was, I kept thinking he had turned off, or dropped back, because I couldn’t really see him (My primary mirror is non-functioning at the moment, but that’s another story). For all I know he was staying with me because of my lights, as he’d have had a dickens of a time seeing well with whatever he had (unless he was intentionally dimming because he was following me closely).

Anyway, I can see how a rider might get scared if he felt that you popped up from ‘nowhere’ and have a somewhat more angry reaction. It is somewhat the opposite of what boboco85 posited, but could also explain his reaction (though certainly it doesn’t justify it). In my case, I did not find the situation dangerous or scary, but it did have me checking my 6 a lot more often than I would normally on a MUP. And even with my constant checking, I wasn’t always able to see where he was, so a couple of times he wasn’t quite where I expected him to be. I should also admit, I ride with music (speaker, not headphones) so I can’t hear a fellow cyclist following close behind as well as I would without the tunes. I had turned it down on the trail, but it still covers the sound of a nearby bike.

[Powerful Pete]

Well, was outside at around 17:15 and it was a perfect evening. Left work a bit after half past on my bike and it was raining and blustery. And it proceeded to all end about 5 minutes later. So all in all, not a bad evening commute, despite the wet shoes.

[ian74]

I feel like I just missed a torrential downpour. I hit a few sprinkles in Bethesda leaving work, then when I got down towards the airport it was a mess, looked like it had just poured. I ended up getting wet on my bottom and front wheel spray in my face.

Still was nice, I didn’t pass a soul from the airport to Old Town. Then when I got home it started pouring again. I think I got lucky out there.

[ronwalf]

Starting off at 6pm, it rained on and off for the first 12 miles before becoming blustery and cold. A hot bath, warm clothes, and mug cakes make the world a better place.

Coincidentally, I named by bike “Large Metal Turkey” for the way the disc brakes gobble when they’re dry. After hearing them in the rain, I should have named it the “Drowned Vuvuzela.”

[ShawnoftheDread]

A downpour started just after I turned off the Custis onto the WOD and lasted until I got home. Pretty soaked but warm enough.

Gave a pair of blinkies to a ninja cyclist who was awaiting an amazon order and yelled mildly at two motorists (apparently a crosswalk running between a median and traffic barriers is a great place to execute an illegal turn). Fun commute.

[Terpfan]

And this is where I added “good bicycling rain jacket” to my Christmas list. Also need some better shoe covers.

I was so close last night and had cleared OT when all of sudden the skies opened up with the driving rains and wind. After 10 seconds, I realized it made no difference if I tried to wait it out and kept on. Boo rain. At least it was warm rain.

[KayakCyndi]

@ShawnoftheDread 101032 wrote:

A downpour started just after I turned off the Custis onto the WOD and lasted until I got home. Pretty soaked but warm enough.

That downpour and cold wind started just as I rolled through Georgetown. Going across Key Bridge wasn’t fun at all. It was 7pm on the dot. I took that as a sign and bailed to metro. Hadn’t done any CyberMonday shopping but had to make Dave hide my credit card once I got home to avoid buying insanely expensive rain gear on the Rapha and/or Assos’ websites.

[chris_s]

I was OK with the rain, but the brief batch of wind-driven sleet was an unwelcome surprise. On 2nd thought, maybe it was hail – it was above freezing at ground level.

[dasgeh]

I took a plane, a train, a bus, a walk and a bike in the span of one hour. It was AWESOME! (Especially since the rain stopped by the time I got to the bike part).

[Author]

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