My Morning Commute

[Zach_the_Lizard]

There was a cop blocking the 15th Street cycle track near the Ellipse this morning, for unspecified reasons. When I asked him, he said “something’s going on” but gave no additional details. It looked as though some sort of police tape was thrown up around certain crosswalks along 15th Street, but I didn’t get that great of a look as I was on the opposite side of the road. I saw bikes coming south in the lanes, though, so the blockade is either only just being set up or is rather leaky.

[lordofthemark]

Very eventful this AM.

Still lots of gunk and puddles on the trails, seems like even more rain fell. Rain pretty much stopped by the time I was riding. Mostly a normal commute – at Maine Avenue, I made my turn from the sidewalk by the Fishmarket, Maine was down to one lane with lots of traffic, and there were flatbed trucks in the lane that was blocked to traffic – but the trucks were not moving, and there was room to get by them to the left, so I went for it – but wait, CYCLISTS going past them the wrong way?!?! Cabi riders, of course. I stopped to let them past, and shot them a look.

Eye Street had a bit more door opening action than usual, and three police vehicles shot past – oh well, there has been a crime uptick right? Kind of hairy again on Eye SE just past S Cap, with the construction crane still blocking half the road. I turned south on New Jersey only to see lots of police lights ahead, and a helicopter in the sky. Couldn’t be OUR building, could it be?

Well, amazingly there was another incident at Navy Yard again, and we were on lockdown. I talked to some people, then they reopened the building. Garage still closed, so had to lock up bike outside.

[hozn]

@worktheweb 119064 wrote:

Yeah, I was upset and adrenaline-filled — my response was not the best and I probably should not have done the chase or the horn. I guess I wanted the person to understand the severity of his actions and that it wasn’t okay.

Yeah, I was kinda amazed at your tactics there; this behavior probably cost the cycling community more than any stealthy pass.

As someone else pointed out, it is also — I would say *equally* — your responsibility to look behind you before changing into the left lane. While I agree that the rider should have called his pass, you should have looked. If you don’t want to turn your head, get a mirror.

Too bad no one had an airhorn to chase you down to tell you that at the time.

I have no idea why there is so much over-reaction over folks not calling passes. Yes, people should call. When I am riding with my FOUR-YEAR-OLD I am a little miffed when people pass quickly without warning, since my son is obviously not highly experienced and the quiet passing sets a poor example. But I would never chase someone down to scold them. What would Dirt do?

And it does not bother me n the least if I am riding down at a good clip and someone rolls by me quietly on the left. Just like I don’t freak out on the highway when a car passes on the left without honking.

[worktheweb]

@hozn 119460 wrote:

Yeah, I was kinda amazed at your tactics there; this behavior probably cost the cycling community more than any stealthy pass.

As someone else pointed out, it is also — I would say *equally* — your responsibility to look behind you before changing into the left lane. While I agree that the rider should have called his pass, you should have looked. If you don’t want to turn your head, get a mirror .

Too bad no one had an airhorn to chase you down to tell you that at the time.

I have no idea why there is so much over-reaction over folks not calling passes.

As it turns out, I do use a mirror, everyday, for this very reason. On this day I happened to not be wearing it as my cycling glasses had broken and I was awaiting a replacement pair, so I lacked something with which to attach it. I did look back, but the guy was not in my line of sight when I did so, perhaps he was hugging the right side of the trail, I don’t know.

The reason for the over-reaction? Well, I had to panic stop and almost hit the pedestrian I was about to pass because I had to take evasive action as the guy came so close to me in a 6 foot lane bounded by steel barriers on either side. Yeah, I let my temper get the best of me, but I never put the guy in danger by my subsequent actions, nor did I endanger anyone else. I got loud and I honked a horn, and yeah, I should not have done that. But he should have exercised his legal duty of due care and should not have recklessly endangered two people on a thoroughfare of substandard width. The notion that my getting loud and upset is somehow worse than that guy just doesn’t add up. I’m usually a pretty chill guy, but this guy forced me within a hair’s width of serious injury, that’s not okay. Maybe you would handle it differently if you were put in the situation, and hopefully next time I will too, but the fight or flight response is awfully hard to overcome.

Another thing to consider, if the person doesn’t get any negative feedback, how are they to know the terror and danger they are causing? If there is no feedback and no consequence for their actions, they may just think they’re an “elite” cyclist and that people are okay with their recklessness because of that self-perceived “eliteness”. Hearing someone object may (or may not) make them realize that they are causing someone else distress and maybe make them a bit more courteous in the future. I think the cycling community is more hurt by people who violate the law and endanger others than people who get upset at others doing so. If we were talking about a car nearly running me off the road and into a pedestrian I think the tone of this conversation would be a bit different.

Anyhow, we’ve beaten this dead horse, I’ve admitted that I didn’t handle it in the way I should have, and I’ll work to refrain from showing any anger at future vehicular assault.

[hozn]

Fair enough. I just think that the person who is changing lanes is the one with the responsibility to make sure that lane is clear — forward and backward. So I would assume you bear at least equal culpability if an accident were to happen in this situation. Maybe the law says otherwise?

[Steve O]

@worktheweb 119468 wrote:

As it turns out, I do use a mirror, …

And you know what they say about using a mirror?
Once you have one, you never look back.

(bada bing)

[Rockford10]

Who put the “kick me” sign on my back this morning? This morning’s commute consisted of a lost school bus (are you turning? are you stopping?), three bad passes by cars (really, why do you pass me as we both approach a stop sign?), stop signs ignored, and the cherry on top, one middle finger. Today can only get better. Right?

[Terpfan]

Only one had one annoying car interaction. For some reason, a blue honda civic thought it would be amusing to attempt to pass me coming up to a stop sign going down hill on Royal St (spot where the construction is past King and the road has those three annoying bumps). I have no idea what goes through some driver’s brains. But, as much as that guy was annoying, two others waved me on as I approached stop signs, so that rocked.

Big downside was my saddle adjustment bolt breaking. Wtf. I’ve never even even seen a bolt fully break before. Oh well, I’m sure the LBS can fix it when they open in like 20 minutes. If not, I’ll go to the hardware store and just buy mimicking parts the same way I did for camera mount to make it work.

[GovernorSilver]

@Terpfan 119567 wrote:

Big downside was my saddle adjustment bolt breaking. Wtf. I’ve never even even seen a bolt fully break before. Oh well, I’m sure the LBS can fix it when they open in like 20 minutes. If not, I’ll go to the hardware store and just buy mimicking parts the same way I did for camera mount to make it work.

Wow, that sucks.

I’ll stop complaining about how my bell broke after just two months of owning this bike, bought new.

[Emm]

In case you were wondering, 100 wedding invites, plus a govt laptop (aka pile of bricks), lunch, and change of clothes is a SERIOUSLY heavy load for a morning commute. I think I violated my rack’s 50 lb weight limit, and barely fit everything into 2 ortlieb bags.

Worth it though. The post office by my work has the friendliest and most helpful staff, AND it was a beautiful morning with a slight tailwind

[ATTACH=CONFIG]9056[/ATTACH]

[dkel]

@Rockford10 119563 wrote:

Who put the “kick me” sign on my back this morning? This morning’s commute consisted of a lost school bus (are you turning? are you stopping?), three bad passes by cars (really, why do you pass me as we both approach a stop sign?), stop signs ignored, and the cherry on top, one middle finger. Today can only get better. Right?

Aww! And on your birthday! (Yes, happy birthday, Rockford! )

[jabberwocky]

Sidewall blowout about 1.5 miles from home necessitated an in the field dollar-bill boot, then my mini pump decided to give up the ghost (my fault, it was totally dry inside and the o-ring had cracked). I got enough air in to limp it home, swapped tires and made it to work on the second try.

On that note, I’m finished with Continental tires. I’ve had two sets of GP4000s, and out of the four, three have died premature deaths due to sidewalls failing.

[GB]

@Rockford10 119563 wrote:

, and the cherry on top, one middle finger.

This is where riding with both hands free really comes in handy.

[GB]

@jabberwocky 119573 wrote:

I’ve had two sets of GP4000s, and out of the four, three have died premature deaths due to sidewalls failing.

Gator skins FTW. I’m not sure what you consider premature, but have 3k miles on my gator skins and I’m very happy with their overall performance.

[hozn]

@jabberwocky 119573 wrote:

On that note, I’m finished with Continental tires. I’ve had two sets of GP4000s, and out of the four, three have died premature deaths due to sidewalls failing.

Yeah, I’ve heard people complain about Conti sidewalls. I did have one GP 4 Seasons sidewall blow out just a few hundred miles in, but since then have never had a Conti sidewall issue (probably 8-10 tires or so). I’ve perhaps just been lucky. I’ve ridden a fair bit of gravel on my GP4000S tires and my sidewalls on the road bike are pretty sliced up (e.g. casing threads showing), but no blowouts.

I would not recommend Hutchinson. I had a sidewall blowout on the Fusion 3 (tubeless). And they also wear fast and flat easily. Or Clement Strada; that blew up riding over a piece of gravel on the trail and then flatted for another reason a few hundred yards later. So far (15 miles in) I’m impressed with the new Schwalbe One (tubeless). I’m a big fan of Schwalbe Durano tires in wintertime (when there’s lots of debris on the roads).

[Author]

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