My Morning Commute
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Great last commute for me as well. I got out for a full Arlington loop with a short stop at Java Shack for FCCII. It too bad I had to only ride the direct route to work after that. Should be a great ride home!
Third to last morning commute for 2013. I’ll be commuting next Monday and Tuesday as well. Otherwise, I’m off work until 2014. 2014?! Really?!?!?!
I enjoyed the ride in. Pumped up the tires for the first time in a few weeks this AM. Man what a difference 10-15 PSI make when your’e running 2″ tires and the 15 PSI takes you from 50 to 65. Smooth ride.
I donned my rain cape based on the sound of rain out the window at home and the looks of the radar. When I first stepped outside, I briefly entertained the notion of taking it back off, but I’m glad I didn’t. Rain picked up again on the way in, though nothing like the torrential downpour I just saw outside. Glad I missed that one.
Hopefully my next commute in (Dec 30) will incorporate a few bike-related goodies off my wish list. I promise, Santa, I’ve been good!
I had my typical late, reverse commute from Falls Church to Vienna this morning, and was disappointed when I saw a single person by the Vienna Rec Center: I thought I could make it the whole way without seeing another soul. Compared to Saturday (yes, I worked Saturday), when EVERYONE was out in full kit, I had a quite solitary ride. I could get used to having the whole W&OD to myself… I’ll be working tomorrow and Wednesday as well (really!); maybe one of those trips will be completely deserted.
New VO fenders and Schwalbe Marathon Winter studded tires.
Schwalbe recommends “seating” the studs by riding on dry pavement at first. I was likely the only person in the DC area riding studded tires today.
The studs really increase the pedaling effort. I think I created a CaBi simulator!
The fenders prevented me from setting the bike across the top bar of the wheel bender racks at work. Had to give up “my” space on the rack.
Did I say I hate change?
Yeah, studs are slooooooow. When I commuted on the W&OD, I had this mental calculus I’d do every morning, where I’d try and judge how much ice and snow was left and decide if it made sense to run the studs and be able to ride everything, or run the road tires and walk the sections that still had ice. It was often faster to just walk the ice simply because the studs added several minutes to the commute over road tires. So slow. But awesome on ice. The occasional stealth-drafting roadie following you onto ice he didn’t see was worth the price of admission when it happened.
@jabberwocky 72620 wrote:
Yeah, studs are slooooooow. When I commuted on the W&OD, I had this mental calculus I’d do every morning, where I’d try and judge how much ice and snow was left and decide if it made sense to run the studs and be able to ride everything, or run the road tires and walk the sections that still had ice. It was often faster to just walk the ice simply because the studs added several minutes to the commute over road tires. So slow. But awesome on ice. The occasional stealth-drafting roadie following you onto ice he didn’t see was worth the price of admission when it happened.
They are slow, but I ride them even if there’s a little bit of ice on the WOD because it’s just safer. I have had guys on skinny tires ride with me through stuff i wouldn’t dare ride on without studs and have seen some go down.
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