My Morning Commute

[vvill]

@dasgeh 69169 wrote:

Sucks. Like I said, they’ve always gone above and beyond for me. E.g. I once purchased something from them that stopped working within a year. The company that produced it had gone under. The Clymb refunded the purchase price, which was way more than I expected.

Yeah I’ve ordered there a number of times (maybe 5?) and gotten referral cash x2. Their shipping/packaging is a little light (shipping is a bit slow and the packaging can be a bit threadbare) but if you know your size and what you’re getting I think they’re a good outlet store option.

[jrenaut]

Ever have one of those days where your tires feel like balloons, your legs feel like jello, it’s muggy and wet and everything is covered in slimy leaves, then you lock up the tires (AGAIN, I’m going to have to replace them next week at this rate) avoiding a cab because some idiot can’t parallel park and then they’ve made 14th St EVEN WORSE, which I didn’t think was possible, and then after all that it’s 900 degrees in the locker room and then you’re just at work?

Yeah, that was my morning commute.

[KayakCyndi]

Was MUDDY! Ran into Shawnofthedread at 50 and Annandale. Let’s ride the canal he says from atop his nicely fendered steed. I hesitate all of one minute considering my lack thereof. Oh well, bikes (and people) are meant to get dirty. What better way to start the week.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4087[/ATTACH]

All the other pictures are on Flicker.

[TwoWheelsDC]

I was just happy that the storm that rolled through this morning did so at 2am and not 730. That was intense!

[vvill]

@jrenaut 69443 wrote:

Ever have one of those days where your tires feel like balloons, your legs feel like jello, it’s muggy and wet and everything is covered in slimy leaves, then you lock up the tires (AGAIN, I’m going to have to replace them next week at this rate) avoiding a cab because some idiot can’t parallel park and then they’ve made 14th St EVEN WORSE, which I didn’t think was possible, and then after all that it’s 900 degrees in the locker room and then you’re just at work?

Yeah, that was my morning commute.

Mine was absolutely fine until I got into DC. Taxi turning right from the left lane in front of me, where it’s also signed No Right Turn. SUV reversing towards me on K St to give more room to the SUV in front that was slowly attempting to parallel park (actually these attempts are usually amusing to watch if you’re just walking by). Pedestrian with baby in a stroller looking up, seeing me coming, then putting her head down and running across in front of me pushing the stroller (on a red, I had the green), while the other two pedestrians (without strollers) decided to wait all of that extra 3-5 seconds. WHY? Next pedestrian crossing, exact same thing except the one of three peds that crossed in front didn’t bother to even run and had no stroller.

My brakes weren’t working so well either which didn’t help matters.

[dasgeh]

But it was WARM! I have no memory of any sketchy stuff happening, because it was WARM. It was gloriously WARM.

[cyclingfool]

@dasgeh 69452 wrote:

But it was WARM! I have no memory of any sketchy stuff happening, because it was WARM. It was gloriously WARM.

It was practically hot, which is why I was appalled to see several riders out this morning with toe covers on their shoes, long sleeve jackets, tights and full fingered gloves on. This was at around 9 AM, and it was 60 degrees. I was in awe. Who are these people and what do they set their thermostat to at home? 85?

I was in shorts and a tee shirt and I was sweating.

It was a nice ride in. In spots I felt like I was riding on the yellow brick (er, leaf) road. Last night’s rain and wind brought down lots of colorful leaves that hadn’t made the plunge yet, and they were bright yellow with the strong sun brilliant sun shining on them.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@cyclingfool 69459 wrote:

It was practically hot, which is why I was appalled to see several riders out this morning with toe covers on their shoes, long sleeve jackets, tights and full fingered gloves on. This was at around 9 AM, and it was 60 degrees. I was in awe. Who are these people and what do they set their thermostat to at home? 85?

I was in shorts and a tee shirt and I was sweating.

It was a nice ride in. In spots I felt like I was riding on the yellow brick (er, leaf) road. Last night’s rain and wind brought down lots of colorful leaves that hadn’t made the plunge yet, and they were bright yellow with the strong sun brilliant sun shining on them.

I go with long sleeves and full-finger gloves if the temps during my ride won’t be above 60 (weather showed 55 when I left the house this AM), and I wear arm warmers up to about 68…I’m definitely hot-blooded and I really just hate being cold, particularly in my upper body…I don’t need to wear tights until temps get closer to freezing, but I certainly can wear them up to about 50 without being particularly uncomfortable.

[americancyclo]

Was following another rider on the W&OD about four lengths back. A car stopped at the Great Falls St. intersection to let them pass. I continued with caution. Luckily, since the car began to roll through. I locked up my back wheel and skidded across the paint stripes, but stopped short of entering the traffic lane. They stopped too and allowed me to pass, but I guess I should keep the BRIGHT light on a little longer in the morning.

Also, lady in the freshbikes kit who passed me at Penn at 26th. I get that I’m slower, but can you leave more than 2″ between our handlebars next time? And call your pass?

[Greenbelt]

@cyclingfool 69459 wrote:

It was practically hot, which is why I was appalled to see several riders out this morning with toe covers on their shoes, long sleeve jackets, tights and full fingered gloves on. This was at around 9 AM, and it was 60 degrees. I was in awe. Who are these people and what do they set their thermostat to at home? 85?

That would be me! My Garmin measured an average temp of 54 for one thing, not 60, and it gets right chilly in the Anacostia river valleys when the winds are calm — a 10 degree thermocline isn’t uncommon when you drop down to the rivers.

[cyclingfool]

@TwoWheelsDC 69465 wrote:

I go with long sleeves and full-finger gloves if the temps during my ride won’t be above 60 (weather showed 55 when I left the house this AM), and I wear arm warmers up to about 68…I’m definitely hot-blooded and I really just hate being cold, particularly in my upper body…I don’t need to wear tights until temps get closer to freezing, but I certainly can wear them up to about 50 without being particularly uncomfortable.

@Greenbelt 69472 wrote:

That would be me! My Garmin measured an average temp of 54 for one thing, not 60, and it gets right chilly in the Anacostia river valleys when the winds are calm — a 10 degree thermocline isn’t uncommon when you drop down to the rivers.

Alright, alright. I’ll give you guys a pass.

[Terpfan]

@Greenbelt 69472 wrote:

That would be me! My Garmin measured an average temp of 54 for one thing, not 60, and it gets right chilly in the Anacostia river valleys when the winds are calm — a 10 degree thermocline isn’t uncommon when you drop down to the rivers.

Which is funny, because across the Potomac the temperature increases dramatically from when I leave my door (up in Groveton, about 250 feet or so higher than river) to 10 minutes into it when I’m down by river. Literally it will be 49 at my house and 57 down by the river. Yet in the summer, I notice dramatic changes along the MVT of +/- 10 frequently.

[jrenaut]

@jrenaut 69443 wrote:

Ever have one of those days where your tires feel like balloons, your legs feel like jello, it’s muggy and wet and everything is covered in slimy leaves, then you lock up the tires (AGAIN, I’m going to have to replace them next week at this rate) avoiding a cab because some idiot can’t parallel park and then they’ve made 14th St EVEN WORSE, which I didn’t think was possible, and then after all that it’s 900 degrees in the locker room and then you’re just at work?

Yeah, that was my morning commute.

Ever have one of those days where the bumps on 14th St seem to fade away, the Range Rover cutting you off doesn’t seem like a big deal, and even the pickup truck making the illegal left and failing to yield to EVERYONE, making you slam on the brakes from 30mph is just a thing that happened? Racing against cars and aiming for jaywalkers on 7th, then arriving at the office feeling like a million bucks?

Yeah, that was my morning commute.

[Mikey]

I had a meeting out at Carderock yesterday scheduled to begin at 9:30 with presentations to start at 10:00. I got the kids to the bus stop and headed to my bus stop on bike around 7:40. My plan was to take the bus to the Pentagon then ride out along the river to the C&O and then out to carderock (it’s a nice 1:00 – 1:15 out to carderock from the pentagon). The bus didn’t come, and the next one was at least 20 minutes away. A quick look at traffic along 395 from my smart phone let me know that the next bus would not get to the pentagon before 9:15, so I decided that since I had my bike I would just ride from there (a mile south of GMU in Fairfax) to Carderock. It was a beautiful morning. Saw a huge hawk swoop down near the bike path near the Vienna metro. Got off the W&OD just before 9am, then attacked the hills of North Arlington and down to the Chain Bridge. I got on the C&O at 9:20, and out to Carderock by 9:50. All in all a very nice commute.

[KelOnWheels]

Remembered my toe covers today.

Swung by Wednesday Coffee Club but didn’t have time to actually stop for coffee – saw somebody’s bike outside so I hope you were eating delicious scones

[Author]

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