My Morning Commute

[KayakCyndi]

@ShawnoftheDread 121100 wrote:

Involved an angry driver waving a large knife at me, followed by a roadside talk with Arlington’s finest. Good times.

Wait. What? Details please.

[Crickey7]

I suspect all knives look large when they’re being waved at you.

[AFHokie]

@ShawnoftheDread 121100 wrote:

Involved an angry driver waving a large knife at me, followed by a roadside talk with Arlington’s finest. Good times.

Did he have an Australian accent?

[mstone]

@cvcalhoun 121095 wrote:

So I finally figured out why my bike was making scraping sounds when I biked, and I was biking much more slowly than usual.

That happens to me more often than I’d care to admit. Better to just not admit you’re feeling weak than to look for a mechanical problem.

[cvcalhoun]

@mstone 121122 wrote:

That happens to me more often than I’d care to admit. Better to just not admit you’re feeling weak than to look for a mechanical problem.

Yeah, the other day, I was out biking with a friend. He was going more slowly than usual, had a pulse rate that was way high, and was unable to bike as far as he had recently. I told him that although I couldn’t even feel it when I checked the tire, I strongly suspected his tire pressure was low. When he went home and found that it was 17.5, with the recommended level being 40-60, he thought I was psychic. But through long experience, I’ve learned that a sudden fall-off in speed or endurance is not a result of age or decreasing fitness; it’s always a mechanical problem. After all, I didn’t get that much older in the past two days!

[Tania]

I’m totally going to blame low tire pressure on why it took me AGES to get home last night and why I felt like things were slogging along this morning. I meant to check it this am before I left the house but was too bleary eyed. No mini pump, only cartridges which I don’t want to use to just top off. Sigh.

[cvcalhoun]

@Tania 121130 wrote:

I’m totally going to blame low tire pressure on why it took me AGES to get home last night and why I felt like things were slogging along this morning. I meant to check it this am before I left the house but was too bleary eyed. No mini pump, only cartridges which I don’t want to use to just top off. Sigh.

To bike from my house to the nearest main road takes me about 7 minutes, 6 on a good day. If it’s as much as 8 and not actually snowing or icy, I check:

1. Tire pressure, then
2. Chain lubrication, then
3. Any odd noises that I’m hearing, then
4. Seat height.

But tire pressure is far and away the most common issue.

[Sunyata]

@ShawnoftheDread 121100 wrote:

Involved an angry driver waving a large knife at me, followed by a roadside talk with Arlington’s finest. Good times.

I wondered if I might have known who the cyclist was that called that in. I heard that come over dispatch yesterday morning (my radio is set to scan PD’s channels, too) and was curious to know what the outcome of it was.

[DaveK]

@AFHokie 121119 wrote:

Did he have an Australian accent?

…Will?

[ShawnoftheDread]

@AFHokie 121119 wrote:

Did he have an Australian accent?

No, that guy seems to drive a Subaru and is always smiling.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Sunyata 121160 wrote:

I wondered if I might have known who the cyclist was that called that in. I heard that come over dispatch yesterday morning (my radio is set to scan PD’s channels, too) and was curious to know what the outcome of it was.

I’ve heard noting new, but the plate number I gave them was correct; he lives in the neighborhood by Banneker Park.

[dplasters]

Are there multiple people who threaten cyclists with knives on the regular???

[ShawnoftheDread]

@dplasters 121181 wrote:

Are there multiple people who threaten cyclists with knives on the regular???

For some reason I thought AFHokie was making a Paul Hogan joke.

[dplasters]

@ShawnoftheDread 121182 wrote:

For some reason I thought AFHokie was making a Paul Hogan joke.

My boss’ name is Paul Hogan… I never knew the actor’s name was also Paul Hogan… A whole new world of office hi-jinks is opening before my eyes…..

[cvcalhoun]

@mstone 121122 wrote:

That happens to me more often than I’d care to admit. Better to just not admit you’re feeling weak than to look for a mechanical problem.

Last month, I biked with a friend. He was biking so slowly I had a hard time staying behind him. He couldn’t bike as far as he had managed easily in the past. He had to stop on the way, and his pulse was so high I was concerned for his health. When he got home, at my suggestion, he checked his tire pressure. It was 17.5.

Yesterday, I biked with him again. This time, I insisted on filling his tires to 60 (the maximum) before we started. Suddenly, I was having trouble keeping up with him. He biked farther than he had before. And he was less tired when we finished.

I think he thought I was just making excuses for him last time. He’s now in agreement that we check his tire pressure before any future rides.

[Author]

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