My Morning Commute

[Certifried]

sucked I drove today, despite knowing the weather would be nice. I ate at the “Original Pancake House” in Bethesda yesterday, and by afternoon was feeling pretty nauseous. I’m not sure it was the food, nor do I really have any idea what the issue was really. Still feeling a little “blech” today, and woke up way too late to ride.

Just another manic Monday.

Topic

[Subby]

@guga31bb 75496 wrote:

This is exactly my alternative route for snowy days (such as this whole week), and it’s always pretty terrible. I can’t wait until Custis is useable again…

I did it today all the way up to Westmoreland because I hate myself.

[americancyclo]

Braved the cold this morning and did pretty well except for my toes after about 35 minutes. W&OD is still packed rotten near my house, so I took the snow route:

Broad St – not much traffic at 630am
West St
Lincoln – still had some ruts in some places, but tire paths were well worn
Washington Blvd – very salty, but plenty of space in most areas, and if not, I took the lane without protest from the death boxes
Clarendon Blvd – Bike lane was clear 95% of the way
Wilson – downhill was fine, no black ice
Lynn – the usually pushy car traffic, bike lane disappears in to snow near intersection of doom
Key Bridge – sidewalk looked icy, so I took the lane, no honks or aggressive driving
M St – the usual
Penn Ave – hard pack snow built up around the bollards at either end of the white house Bike lane clear from white house to 7th NW
7th – no issues
Jefferson – nice and clear

On the whole, I didn’t see any black ice or too many sketchy slush areas that caused any worry. Also made it in regular time with a good average speed. Much better than chugging along on the iced over trails.

http://www.strava.com/activities/108592114

[dkel]

Finally got back to riding all the way to work today, using my sneaky, on-street route through the neighborhoods from Falls Church to Vienna. 😎 The only dicey bits with traffic were a short stretch each of Idylwood Rd and Beulah Rd, and those turned out to be quite uneventful. I was warm, put in a decent speed, didn’t have very much packed snow to deal with at all, and realized how much I missed putting in some miles: neighborhood sleaze rides are no substitute!

[Arlingtonrider]

I had an awesome multimodal commute and Freezing Saddles group sleaze ride this morning with Karen W, who spotted me waiting for the bus. We walked up to Best Buns (yes, I got a scone to warm up later in the office microwave ), caught a bus from Shirlington Station to the Pentagon, rode the metro to L’Enfant, and hopped on bikeshare bikes to go to DoL. (I made an added loop to get a full mile in.) Karen’s GPS system wasn’t working properly, but I can vouch for her ride since I was with her.

I’ve had just about enough of this weather (understatement), but a pleasant walk, bus and metro ride, and then bikeshare ride with a #BAFS friend made the day start a lot better.

[dasgeh]

@Arlingtonrider 75537 wrote:

I had an awesome multimodal commute and Freezing Saddles group sleaze ride this morning with Karen W, who spotted me waiting for the bus. We walked up to Best Buns (yes, I got a scone to warm up later in the office microwave ), caught a bus from Shirlington Station to the Pentagon, rode the metro to L’Enfant, and hopped on bikeshare bikes to go to DoL. (I made an added loop to get a full mile in.) Karen’s GPS system wasn’t work properly, but I can vouch for her ride since I was with her.

It was so nice to have a fun commute in this morning! I’ve had just about enough of this weather (understatement), but between enjoying a pleasant walk and sleaze ride with a #BAFS friend and a warm scone afterwards, it wasn’t a bad start to the day.

I was multimodal too — I took my own bike this time on the bus into DC, then rode from the first DC stop to work. The only sketchy part was riding the 2 blocks to the bus stop — I was worried I was going to miss the bus, so I rode, starting in the street. It turns out the street was a sheet of ice, but the sidewalk was perfectly clear. Huh.

I can say that I was happily warm, which is one thing this weather has taught me. Of course, if it weren’t for this weather, I wouldn’t have to know…

arlingtonrider: I believe the 13 buses go from the Pentagon into DC (and there may be other buses that get you into DC), if you want to try a similar commute.

[aguy7]

How nice this morning to not have to wear 80 layers for a 3 mile ride.

[rcannon100]

Drove. Took 5 minutes longer than my bike commute. Adjectives: Terrible, painful, boring, frustrating, road rage…

Cannot imagine how people do that every day.

[Raymo853]

@rcannon100 75675 wrote:

Drove. Took 5 minutes longer than my bike commute. Adjectives: Terrible, painful, boring, [/IMG]
.

I too drove today and It took longer. When I ride in Tuesday, I might be wishing to be back in the car since the temp will be significantly lower.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dasgeh]

@aguy7 75668 wrote:

How nice this morning to not have to wear 80 layers for a 3 mile ride.

I was a little overdressed for the morning, but hope to be prepared for this evening. Still cooling down…

[jrenaut]

It was so warm this morning. Hains Point is still a bit too snowy (and technically closed). And the shoalers were out in force.

[Steve]

Completely overdressed. Hopefully the temps will drop enough to make my choice make sense later!

That’s pretty cool that your bike rides are quicker than driving. I wonder how different most people’s are. My roundtrip commutes are:

1. Bike – 90 min
2. Metro + Shuttle – 150 min
3. Drive – 50 min

I don’t have a car, so the biking choice is pretty easy. When my wife gets snow days (she’s a teacher), it can be harder to not just take the car, because it’s quite a bit faster and rare enough that my body doesn’t mind the break.

[Toonces]

Overdressed too – still in the sub freezing mode of layering up.

My commute time to Courthouse is the same as driving: 3.5 miles = 17 minutes, plus I don’t have to pay $8 for parking.

[Rob_O]

Anybody buying this response from NVRPA on why they don’t plow the W&OD?

We do not plow the W&OD Trail for several reasons; first of which is that any plowing would damage the asphalt and the thermoplastic markings/stripings we have on the trail. Secondly it is a multi-use trail and the cross-country skiers in the area have used (and continue to use ) the trail.

Our maintenance staff are continuing to clear back intersections of snow and ice; assuming no further snowfall they should be finished later this week with this.

Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions.

Sincerely,

XXX XXXX
Park Manager
W&OD Railroad Regional Park

[consularrider]

I have used the W&OD for cross-country skiing. The issue there is that there is rarely enough snow that I can ski on it. In addition, it quickly becomes hard packed snow and ice so most of the time I see the ski trails off to the side of the paved trail. In several places on the Custis you can see the deteriorization of the center line marking. It’s unclear what caused it, but it could be from plowing (the markings are very old).

[Rob_O]

Have never seen a XC country skier on the trail. But yes, seems like the sides of the trail would be more appealing for those folks. As for the markings, this issue must arise when they plow the roads, no? Same with the damage to asphalt claim.

[Author]

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