My Morning Commute

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@GovernorSilver 120564 wrote:

Is this the route?

https://goo.gl/maps/Fy0Zl

Yes. After Jefferson the trail/walk paving has a really rooted and bumpy section. I don’t take this way every time, just when circumstances make it my better choice.

[Vicegrip]

@Steve O 120611 wrote:

Well, that was long.

Went out the wrong way to join friends at Vienna Thursday Coffee Club. After coffee, was convoying in when I noted my rear tire was very soft. Stopped just past Gallows and added air, hoping it was a slow enough leak to get me in. No luck. Stopped at Idylwood to repair.
No biggie, the weather was great.
Decided to swing by house in Arlington to pump up all the way and grab a new tube just in case. That’s when I noticed my u-lock was missing. I remembered it being on the bike at Gallows, and the photo I took while I was fixing my flat showed it missing at Idlewood. So I went back out to look for it. Not there; someone must have picked it up.

Finally got to work after 10, but got 30 miles of low humidity, not-too-hot morning riding in first.

Saw the signs you put up including the one center path.

[Steve O]

@Vicegrip 120675 wrote:

Saw the signs you put up including the one center path.

See post in other thread for good news.

[GovernorSilver]

Glad to hear it!

[wheelswings]

Oops, it’s past midnight and here I am, filing my morning report. Long day at the office!

This morning on the canal I came upon a couple walking with multiple dogs on long leashes. I slowed down and then stopped to let them pass. As she was going by me, the lady scolded me for riding on the canal and told me I should get off (her husband looked embarrassed).
I ignored the lady’s less-than-friendly demeanor and responded cheerfully, “Actually biking is allowed…I’m just not sure about dogs. But I think it’s all fine so long as we’re nice to one another.”
[In truth, both are allowed on the C&O.]

Sometimes I wonder: if I came across as a more intimidating-type person, would I encounter the same amount of venomous commentary? I’m quite small — a stick figure who wears a skirt over her shorts and a big knapsack, and who rides a dinosaur mountain bike. Not exactly intimidating. Maybe I’m easy to vent on, for those who dislike bicycle-riders. Or maybe we all face similar interactions?

In fairness, I’d say that these same small-female qualities likely get me special privileges including some extra-chivalrous behavior by certain drivers and some welcome encouragement as I huff and puff my way up the hills.

[dbb]

Began with significant suckage.

As I checked the road bike before taking it off the rack. Flat rear tire. Damn!

not to worry, there is an n+1 on the rack, the hybrid

Hadn’t ridden it in about a month so both tires needed air.

Rear air’d up fine and then loosened the little lock nut on the front valve stem and had it come off in my hand. Damn!

Went to the backup wheel for my road bike and got on the road after about a 10 minute delay.

Attitude got better with every pedal stroke (In the clown car mode with a 25 on the front and a 32 on the back).

[Crickey7]

I think I distracted the pedestrians waiting at a light on L Street with me by creating a puddle of sweat.

[Emm]

On this morning’s commute a lady sped by me at about 30 MPH on Jefferson Ave. I pulled up behind her at a light, noticed she was driving a government vehicle, and was texting. She then didn’t notice the light change, so I pulled around her and went. Once again, she sped by me well above the speed limit, and I caught her at the next light texting again, and she once again didn’t see the light change. This went on for a few lights. I really should have taken a picture of the license plate and reported it, but I didn’t want to be a total jerk.

Last night some a$$hole hit my bike at work. How, I have no idea since I was parked at the end of the row of bikes, but last night’s commute was spent holding my disc brake cable away from my front tire since they scratched my fork and broke the cable-holder thingy. I was able to reattach the cable to the holder with a ziptie once I got home, but I’m still ticked that my new-ish bike is already getting beaten up.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Emm 120959 wrote:

Last night some a$$hole hit my bike at work. How, I have no idea since I was parked at the end of the row of bikes, but last night’s commute was spent holding my disc brake cable away from my front tire since they scratched my fork and broke the cable-holder thingy. I was able to reattach the cable to the holder with a ziptie once I got home, but I’m still ticked that my new-ish bike is already getting beaten up.

If I ride one of my nice bikes, I never leave it in the racks. I’m lucky that locking up isn’t required, so I can park it against the wall nearby where it won’t get bumped or whatever. But I can’t count how many times my or one of the other bikes has been knocked over, or I find my helmet on the ground because someone bumped it and knocked it off the bike. But judging from the conditions of some of the bikes I see, it seems that at least half of the people have pretty much no regard for their own bikes, which would be fine, but that also seems to mean that many of them also have no regard for others’ bikes.

Similarly, the gym bros at my office each seem to think that the locker room and everything in it is their own personal space and have no regard for others using it, but that’s a whole other rant…

[creadinger]

I wish the shattered glass bottle fairy would realize that enough is enough and scatter some shattered glass bottles somewhere else! SE DC has enough glass on the roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails, we do not need anymore! You hear me fairy?!

[Powerful Pete]

@Emm, so sorry to hear that, that really sucks. Disregarding others’ property really, really ticks me off.

May they suffer a jilliion flat tires on all of their vehicles for what they did.

[dasgeh]

@Emm 120959 wrote:

On this morning’s commute a lady sped by me at about 30 MPH on Jefferson Ave. I pulled up behind her at a light, noticed she was driving a government vehicle, and was texting. She then didn’t notice the light change, so I pulled around her and went. Once again, she sped by me well above the speed limit, and I caught her at the next light texting again, and she once again didn’t see the light change. This went on for a few lights. I really should have taken a picture of the license plate and reported it, but I didn’t want to be a total jerk.

Last night some a$$hole hit my bike at work. How, I have no idea since I was parked at the end of the row of bikes, but last night’s commute was spent holding my disc brake cable away from my front tire since they scratched my fork and broke the cable-holder thingy. I was able to reattach the cable to the holder with a ziptie once I got home, but I’m still ticked that my new-ish bike is already getting beaten up.

I wouldn’t think you a jerk for reporting either of those. In fact, I think reporting a$$hat drivers to proper authorities is a favor to everyone else on the road. Not only is texting while driving illegal in the District, it violates an executive order for government employees to text. A good manager will be able to talk to the person and explain the implications of the actions in a non-charged (i.e. not behind the wheel) setting, where it’s more likely to sink in. Even if the message is just “you could lose your job over the way you were driving”.

[worktheweb]

I was running late this morning when I got flagged down by a cyclist on the MVT this morning blocking the whole width of the trail with her bike. She needed to borrow my pump, so I was happy to help. I had to convince her to move her bike to the grass and off the trail, which took a surprisingly long amount of time to do. After a bit of pumping she got a bit more pressure in there and she asked me if a somewhat low pressure was okay, and I said it would work (and that more would be better), but not to ride off curbs to avoid pinch flats. I helped her get the chuck off the valve and started packing it up again when she said she needed it for the front tire.

This was the point when I realized that the reason for this wasn’t a slow leak or a flat she had repaired beforehand, but that she neglected to check her tires before riding (and she was more than a mile into the trail at this point). I carry a virtual bike shop in my panniers, and I’m always happy to help people in need, but it is a little frustrating that someone goes into full on block-the-trail emergency mode for something that was completely avoidable.

That said, I kept those thoughts to myself and wished her a good ride.

[creadinger]

@worktheweb 121003 wrote:

I was running late this morning when I got flagged down by a cyclist on the MVT this morning blocking the whole width of the trail with her bike. She needed to borrow my pump, so I was happy to help. I had to convince her to move her bike to the grass and off the trail, which took a surprisingly long amount of time to do. After a bit of pumping she got a bit more pressure in there and she asked me if a somewhat low pressure was okay, and I said it would work (and that more would be better), but not to ride off curbs to avoid pinch flats. I helped her get the chuck off the valve and started packing it up again when she said she needed it for the front tire.

You have the patience of a saint. On a related note – a couple of weeks ago I was driving near home in Del Ray and some dude rode by on a mountain bike with basically flat tires. They had to have no more than 10-15 PSI. How does someone even leave the house that way?

[AFHokie]

@creadinger 121027 wrote:

You have the patience of a saint. On a related note – a couple of weeks ago I was driving near home in Del Ray and some dude rode by on a mountain bike with basically flat tires. They had to have no more than 10-15 PSI. How does someone even leave the house that way?

How does someone make it ten feet that way? Its like riding through thick mud.

[Author]

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