My Morning Commute

[Terpfan]

@Dickie 91140 wrote:

For some strange reason I was completely unable to make left turns today…my work exit at Gallows was not happening…. must be something with my headset. So I rode towards Reston before I could find enough room for a sweeping right hand U-turn to then head back to Gallows. I was able to turn right and eventually found my way back to work, luckily my boss understood.

That sucks .

BUT.. this seems like an awesome excuse if I’m running late. “Well, I was only able to turn right. Kind of like UPS drivers. And so tack on 30 minutes.” When I’m late, I sheepishly admit to having used the flat excuse once or twice that wasn’t exactly true.

[OneEighth]

@Dickie 91140 wrote:

For some strange reason I was completely unable to make left turns today…

Zoolander?

[jrenaut]

I tried to adjust the rear brake on the Xtracycle last night. So of course that meant this morning I only had a working front brake. It was like riding fixed, except not at all like riding fixed (except for my badass track stand on 14th St). Hoping to get out of work in time to stop at Bicycle Space for some assistance.

[Terpfan]

@jrenaut 91221 wrote:

I tried to adjust the rear brake on the Xtracycle last night. So of course that meant this morning I only had a working front brake. It was like riding fixed, except not at all like riding fixed (except for my badass track stand on 14th St). Hoping to get out of work in time to stop at Bicycle Space for some assistance.

I can empathize there. I actually did try yesterday afternoon to tighten the brakes because I had the adjuster screwed all the way out on rear brake (stupid hills). I was successful, except then no matter what I did with adjusting screws on the pads, they kept being a hair too close on one side. After 20 minutes, I gave up and took the bike down to Spokes. The guy there was kind enough to fix the adjustments for me. He did point out that sometimes the adjuster screws get rusty so it helps to either wd-40 to remove the rust or even sometimes the opposite and lubricate a little bit. And then he pointed out my rear wheel is a little out of true, which was making it tougher for me. Of course this is the whole me not wanting to buy another wheel dilemma since i’ve had it trued and adjusted like 3x since February. But the minor adjustments with the little spoke tool helped to make it work.

So now I feel like 20% better about trying to fix it next time. Which is funny since I just took the class at REI the other week with Kathy and some other forum folks. It looks so easy at the time and then I forget the things I’ve learned. Or I over-adjust based on what I learned.

[Dickie]

… was lovely for most of it….I’ll take a headwind at 61º any day. Nice low five with Kayak “she’s like the wind” Cindy, and then another with Dread. Came upon Hozn pulling his trailer and chatted for just a while before I went ahead. It all sort of went pear shaped at that point. I lost my head a pulled a dumb pass heading down the WOD hill after Virginia lane, and then at the Gallows light Hozn catches me back up…. without trailer…. he had enough time to pull off the trail, un-hitch, and then catch me up all in three miles….I’m such a slug!

[Guus]

…was absolutely glorious. What a beautiful day! Wind in the back, nice temperature…

[cyclingfool]

@Guus 91321 wrote:

…was absolutely glorious. What a beautiful day! Wind in the back, nice temperature…

I would have thought I’d died and gone to heaven if I had a tailwind this morning. As it was, it was REALLY nice, and I even felt energetic enough to battle the headwind and not just succumb to it and slow down to a more relaxed riding pace.

[Greenbelt]

Excellent commute etiquette this morning…

Not that it helped that much with DMCs (Dreaded Maryland Commuters) gridlocking the intersections

[bobco85]

@Greenbelt 91327 wrote:

Not that it helped that much with DMCs (Dreaded Maryland Commuters) gridlocking the intersections

…cannot process…

…so many people blocking the box! How did you all get through there? It looks like the red SUV would have had to stay put (as punishment) while you went around the silver minivan. Of course, this is assuming they didn’t decide to just press forward using their weight.

…Seriously, did all of you drivers expect to make it through the intersection at that point? The stupidity, it hurts!

[Powerful Pete]

Fantastic commute this AM. M Street was all open and I hit every green light possible all the way to K Street. 😎

Very pleasant riding weather. Let’s hope the weather stays unseasonably normal as long as possible!

[ShawnoftheDread]

Beautiful weather, beautiful ride. Two low fives and a third Forum sighting. But terrible etiquette on the trails this morning, and I let one of Courtland’s texting buddies get to me as I pulled up to my building. Hey, did y’all know I’m white? I was surprised to learn it, but she was there to inform me.

[dplasters]

@Greenbelt 91327 wrote:

Excellent commute etiquette this morning…

What magical intersection is this?? I dream of being in a place with this many people commuting by bike at once. I see like 3-5 folks a day, max. I’m always the salmon going the other way.

Come on Fairfax/Vienna/Merriefield/West Falls Church… we can do it! .. install bike lanes on Lee highway? #pipedreams

[dkel]

I didn’t mind the wicked, constant headwind this morning going out to Vienna, and would have added some distance, except my front fender was loose and flapping around. It made me too nervous to extend my route, and despite stopping and taking off my wheel to try and tighten the thing, there was no helping it without the proper tools. Why anything that is designed to attach to a bike would use a regular phillips head screw instead of a hex head is beyond me. I guess I’ll have to start carrying screwdrivers and box wrenches now. (Or add tightening everything to my regular maintenance schedule. Duh.)

[dasgeh]

@dplasters 91345 wrote:

What magical intersection is this?? I dream of being in a place with this many people commuting by bike at once. I see like 3-5 folks a day, max. I’m always the salmon going the other way.

Come on Fairfax/Vienna/Merriefield/West Falls Church… we can do it! .. install bike lanes on Lee highway? #pipedreams

Last night, coming west from Clarendon, we saw easily 10 bikes at the intersection of Kirkwood and Fairfax. Arlington is getting there. And there is a process going on now to plan the future of Lee Hwy. Right now it’s the civic associations along Lee Hwy getting together to discuss what they’d like to see, but it seems Arlington County got some money to make it official. Hooray! There are bits of bike lane in Cherrydale, and community support to extend them. So may take a while (especially out into Ffx), but it’s coming.

[Greenbelt]

This is typical downtown DC at 9am. The Virginia commuters crossing PA Ave are just as bad. They even pull in to block the box when there are DDOT guys out there directing.

Cops could make a fortune for DC if they enforced. They could just wave cars over and mass produce the tickets. This is partly why jaywalking or crossing on red can be safer — at least you know it’s all on you to ensure you don’t get hit. Crossing on green means you have to trust these idiots to stop, which might or might not happen.

[Author]

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