My Evening Commute

[mello yello]

Had a very wet commute with periods of light and heavy rain. Couldn’t get my shoes completely dry this morning, even though they’re about 90% mesh.
Also, there is scaffolding of some sort up on Case Bridge, and it’s a very tight squeeze around it. Boo. Still, it’s the most convenient / direct route for my eastbound commute, so I’ll continue using it.

[Tania]

Me: “Hey Eugene!”

Eugene, the friendly Kennedy Center guard: “Hey girl! WHERE YOU BEEN AT?!?”

Yeah, yeah. I’m a slacker.

[huskerdont]

For the first time this year, finally got a chance to do the airport loop home last night. Headwinds along the river were a bit annoying (i.e., typical), but other than that, it was a joy. For more fun, took the usual brief detour up and down the zig-zag trail to Potomac Avenue. This year the flowers and other plants are really growing in, hanging over the zigs and zags a bit and obscuring sight lines some–not that I’m complaining about flowers, mind.

[bentbike33]

@mello yello 140269 wrote:

Couldn’t get my shoes completely dry this morning, even though they’re about 90% mesh.

Stuff your shoes with newspaper immediately after a wet ride, remove the paper after a few hours, then either re-stuff with dry newspaper, or put shoes in front of a fan.

[GovernorSilver]

@bentbike33 140398 wrote:

Stuff your shoes with newspaper immediately after a wet ride, remove the paper after a few hours, then either re-stuff with dry newspaper, or put shoes in front of a fan.

This.

Learned that tip in this very forum and it really works!

[Crickey7]

If you’re not wearing cycling sandals by May, there’s no excuse.

[KLizotte]

Am I crazy or are there a lot more tour buses out there than usual for this time of year? It seems like every high school in America has decided to come visit our great city. I have only two words for these folks: Disney World.

[MFC]

@KLizotte 140423 wrote:

Am I crazy or are there a lot more tour buses out there than usual for this time of year? It seems like every high school in America has decided to come visit our great city. I have only two words for these folks: Disney World.

Heading down 15th Street and over to the 14th Street bridge has been jam-packed in the evening lately. The people not on the buses are in the cross-walks.

[huskerdont]

@KLizotte 140423 wrote:

Am I crazy or are there a lot more tour buses out there than usual for this time of year? It seems like every high school in America has decided to come visit our great city. I have only two words for these folks: Disney World.

Something’s up, that’s for sure. I just walked to Metro Center and back and they even had traffic cops at the intersection of G and 10th holding the buses back while peds crossed. The block was full of parked buses. Lots of people about with various university shirts and name tags too.

[Terpfan]

@KLizotte 140423 wrote:

Am I crazy or are there a lot more tour buses out there than usual for this time of year? It seems like every high school in America has decided to come visit our great city. I have only two words for these folks: Disney World.

You’re not crazy, but many of those tour bus drivers are crazy. This morning on Independence Ave, one tour bus driver decided he needed two lanes for several blocks and kept gyrating back and forth. He almost hit two cars and I didn’t even dare to come near him on the right for fear of becoming of a pancake. Meanwhile, in Old Town, they seem to think they’re precluded from following parking laws. I guess the plus side is that more tourists on bus means less tourists confused by our roads.

[dplasters]

try not to think of them as tour buses, they are like large, moving, wind shelters.

[GovernorSilver]

My colleague and I tried switching bikes after we crossed 14th St. Bridge to hit the MVT, since we’re about the same height and build.

The hoods on his road bike were noticeably closer to my chest. Dunno if it’s just the more aggressive geometry, or I just have longer arms (we haven’t compared those). Other than that, it was quite comfortable and so light, pedaling on it seemed effortless.

He on the other hand was taken aback by the weight of my Uptown 8 and the unstable shifting that the Nexus 8 IGH is notorious for – as documented by Sheldon Brown. Actually, it’s unstable on just the 6 and 7 settings. On the 8 (highest) and the lower settings it’s fine – it stays in the gear it’s supposed to be in. He lasted until just past Gravelly Point when he said he wanted featherweight roadie back. He asked if I ever pass anyone on the Uptown 8, and I said “Guess how I won the Freezing Saddles Lowest MPH Award”.

Strava claims we rode at 34 MPH at some point on that short stretch – I was the one following him. Just another example of how GPS tracking can be unreliable sometimes – we passed a couple of riders slummin’ it on CaBi bikes, but a lot of riders also passed us – no way we were doing 30+ at any point in that segment.

Fun times!

[Judd]

I was feeling exhausted as I left work. I managed a slow Hains Point lap and was half way home when I felt that despite pedaling super slow that I deserved some Ben and Jerry’s in Old Town. Super slow ride towards Old Town into a headwind. On the way back I ran into Komorebi and we pulled over and chatted for a really long time which made the struggle festival of a ride totally worth it. It was the fourth day this week that I ran into somebody I know from Freezing Saddles or the forum which is something that always makes my day.

[komorebi]

@Judd 140485 wrote:

I was feeling exhausted as I left work. I managed a slow Hains Point lap and was half way home when I felt that despite pedaling super slow that I deserved some Ben and Jerry’s in Old Town. Super slow ride towards Old Town into a headwind. On the way back I ran into Komorebi and we pulled over and chatted for a really long time which made the struggle festival of a ride totally worth it.

That was my experience today, too. I was struggling with the headwind and tired legs, and had resigned myself to a slow commute home. But chatting with Judd energized me so much that I positively flew the rest of the way. It was great seeing you, Judd!

Fun fact: Strava’s autopause feature didn’t turn on while we were talking, so Strava thinks that that ride was my slowest commute yet (6 mph). Best slow commute ever, as far as I’m concerned.

[DrP]

Most of my commute home was quite nice. Near the end I was nearly involved in an incident on the Custis. Why are there are large trains of cyclists using the Custis and why do they initiate a pass just before a blindcurve/hill?

Probably ~6:30, but I did not check my watch, I was east bound near the beginning of the Custis – I, as usual, was slow up the hill that starts under I-66, but back to speed by the pedestrian overpass. Someone was on my tail going up the hill, but fallen well back by the time of the overpass. Through the long, mostly straight and good visibility stretch before the trail curves and goes below Harrison St, I looked behind me repeatedly and no one was catching up and still a long distance behind. Just before the western Harrison St exit (i.e., just before the curve and downhill and about where you can see only a little ahead), there are pedestrians in both directions, so I slow for passing and preparing for a left turn – I looked behind and saw no one before I got to the pedestrians. As I pass them, I am about to stick my arm out for a left (later than I wanted, but I didn’t want to punch the west-bound pedestrian in the head), and I hear a bell for a pass behind me. So, I slow down, thinking I will wait for the person to pass. However, it is the lead of a long (>10) chain of cyclists, who all start shouting “slowing” and “stopping”. So in that sense they all behaved well, and there were no crashes and they let me off the trail (although I had to turn around to actually get off the trail since I slowed to a stop not wanting to run into anyone).

But why would a very large group use the Custis for riding at the prime time for commuters, dog walkers, exercisers, and those out for a stroll on a beautiful day? Four or five can at least get around most pedestrians and deal with curves and slowing for a short time, but this group seemed excessive in size. And were clearly going quite fast if they caught up to me so quickly. This was just before a blind region of the trail and I regularly have to slow to a near stop to turn off because of people in the opposite direction that are hard to see until just at the turn-off. There are plenty of nearby roads that are not overly swamped with cars and better site lines. I think it was luck that there weren’t people in the other direction, otherwise this would have been much messier and I might be reporting this in a different thread.

[Author]

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