My Morning Commute

Our Community Forums Commuters My Morning Commute

Viewing 15 posts - 5,026 through 5,040 (of 6,790 total)
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  • #1046765
    Terpfan
    Participant

    First commute since storm. Nice warm weather, but annoying that some areas are still full of snow (cough, Humpback Bridge) or they’re 10′ piles of snow courtesy of VDOT. Oh well, better by bike than by car. Legs feel good.

    #1046875
    dplasters
    Participant

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]10832[/ATTACH]

    Wheel of morality, turn turn turn, tell us the lesson that we should:

    And the moral of today’s lesson is; Oh road you sparkle so nice, but are you water? Or are you Ice?

    The answer matters not. It is February and you should hug your seatpost like your life depends on it.

    #1046886
    MFC
    Participant

    Biked into DC from Belle View on the MVT. Minor ice fields on the Dyke Marsh Bridge and on the path towards Jones Point Bridge. Bigger ice fields on the big path under the WWB and towards the town homes, and just north of the power plant (river side). Not too bad otherwise.

    #1046889
    Terpfan
    Participant

    I had an 8am meeting and had to be in a solid 30 minutes beforehand for some preparation. So I left my house 0 dark thirty. All was well going down Rt 1 into OT. Then I switched over to Columbus St (was going to take it to Potomac Trail to Crystal City Connector). I made it all of like 3 blocks before I was blinded by oncoming lights and car lights behind me. Boom, hit a big pothole created by one of those sunken metal things. It was positioned just right to give me a pinch flat. No worries, I thought, I’ll flip the bike over and change it…. oh wait, I left my spare kit in my backpack I had been using since I hadn’t been in suits until for a while.

    Thankfully my wife could get me and then I just made it in on time. But damn, I now think Alexandria Bike and Ped plan should discuss getting rid of those monstrosity of holes. Also, bleep pinch flats. I think I doomed myself by not having tire fully inflated (leftover from riding through some icy spots), which contributed to it.

    Oh well, a couple miles is better than none.

    #1046899
    ShawnoftheDread
    Participant

    Opted for a road route this morning, assuming there would be a lot of icy spots on the Custis bridges. Almost got crushed by a gummint shuttle bus in Rosslyn for my troubles.

    #1046931
    hozn
    Participant

    I opted for a fair bit of road this AM to detour W&OD since I had slicks on the bike.

    Had a close call with a car turning left on green at the Oak-Gallows intersection. Completely my fault, since cyclists don’t trigger the light there, I was going at the end of the oncoming traffic’s green signal (waited until it was yellow and it *looked* like the other traffic was stopping), so BMW driver slammed on the gas to “make the yellow” (more like run the red) turning left (north) onto Gallows. He hit the brakes when he saw me crossing, but it was a bit close for comfort. So, important lesson learned; I will negotiate the huge snow pile next time to push the damn button. Anecdotal, and no way to prove it, but this is an example where I feel that being extra visible (had the head lamp on in addition to front light) could make a life-saving difference.

    #1047022
    huskerdont
    Participant

    Nice ride in, pre-rain; only saw one other cyclist, and the IoD counter was at 8. Did have another encounter with a suicidal bunny though. I guess with so few cyclists out it figured it had to take its chance when it could.

    #1047024
    Tania
    Participant

    @huskerdont 134124 wrote:

    Did have another encounter with a suicidal bunny though. I guess with so few cyclists out it figured it had to take its chance when it could.

    My bad – I couldn’t ride in today because of work obligations.

    #1047062
    vern
    Participant

    @Tania 134126 wrote:

    My bad – I couldn’t ride in today because of work obligations.

    me too. I hate it when work disrupts my bike time. And, of course, those days usually come with a stress level that screams out that I need to be on the bike.

    #1047072
    kcb203
    Participant

    I thought this was supposed to be a warm rain, not a cold rain. What happened to the forecast for 65 degrees? I’m almost half-regretting riding into work today instead of driving.

    #1047092
    Steve O
    Participant

    @kcb203 134177 wrote:

    I thought this was supposed to be a warm rain, not a cold rain. What happened to the forecast for 65 degrees?

    No kidding! I brought my sandals and shorts for the ride home. Seems it will be a tad less pleasant than anticipated.

    #1047094
    Crickey7
    Participant

    I wore my sandals, too. And my neoprene socks, plastic baggies, show covers and toe booties.

    #1047130
    americancyclo
    Participant

    First time back on the bike in a while and I got a slow leak just past Cherrydale. Had a spare tube, but no pump. I wasn’t sure if dasgeh or rcannon would be awake and hospitable enough to let me use their pumps, so I hoofed it up to Clarendon to use the Bike Arlington Fixit stand. 20 minutes of walking and less than 9 minutes to change the flat. Thanks BikeArlington!

    12446143_1676691909268058_1320848096_n.jpg

    #1047135
    bentbike33
    Participant

    @americancyclo 134239 wrote:

    First time back on the bike in a while and I got a slow leak just past Cherrydale. Had a spare tube, but no pump. ]

    I offered to let you use my pump. Or maybe that was someone else walking with a flat across the Lee Hwy overpass before the Switchback of Grave Peril?

    Although, I can’t blame you. A good floor pump does have its advantages if you know where to find one.

    #1047137
    americancyclo
    Participant

    @bentbike33 134244 wrote:

    I offered to let you use my pump. Or maybe that was someone else walking with a flat across the Lee Hwy overpass before the Switchback of Grave Peril?

    Although, I can’t blame you. A good floor pump does have its advantages if you know where to find one.

    Oh, that was you? I should have taken you up on it, but my fierce (and sometimes misguided) independence got the better of me. Next time? (knocks on wood)

Viewing 15 posts - 5,026 through 5,040 (of 6,790 total)
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