My Morning Commute

[consularrider]

@huskerdont 136244 wrote:

This morning I ran into Fast Friendly Guy and we dodged potholes down M Street and Pennsylvania. There is truth in advertising in his name.

People running into him is one of the reasons he keeps falling down. :p

[mello yello]

late commute this morning – set out across the city to 9th & U NW to borrow a riide bike for a few days… then part 2 I rode down through G’town and over the Key Bridge to the office. The riide is pretty heavy compared even to my steel fixie with racks, fenders, trunk, and leather saddle. Twist the handle and it feels like a 12 lb bike, though.

My next few commutes will be on the riide bike and I’ll let you know how it is.

[DrP]

Beautiful morning.
I think I was smelling honeysuckle on the Custis trail this morning. Lovely, albeit a bit early for it.
Daffodils along the MVT made me smile.

[Terpfan]

Last night home involved a flat, but Wheel and Nuts guy fixed it for me and pointed out my tired was on backward. You wouldn’t think it would make much of a difference, but oh it does. I swear I noticed a 10-20% rolling improvement. And it was born out by my ride into work where I didn’t feel like I put out more effort than normal, but I definitely did and was a little faster.

Beautiful morning and I left just late enough to go shorts and a tshirt. The literal only bad moment of the entire ride was a stupid pass of me by another cyclist. On the MVT north side of the airport, I was approaching a jogger. I signaled my intention to pass for a solid couple seconds, checked behind me and did notice another cyclist coming, but at this point I’m pot committed. I didn’t think that guy would try to pass me on my left while I passed a jogger in one of those few stretches that are mere inches from the GWMP. I hope it was just a dumb mistake on his part (Long & Foster kit), but damn, it’s not like I was going slow there (probably low 20smph).

[vern]

I wore worn-out thermals this morning which felt cozy. I stupidly forgot to bring shorts for the ride home this warm afternoon. Bad!

[dbb]

On my ride in this morning (which was magnificent by the way), I stopped on 18th Street getting ready to turn on Crystal Drive. A gent in a suit carrying a coffee cup was in the crosswalk.

He said “Good morning”, eyeing my bike

I responded “How’s it going?”

He said, “Living the dream.”

I said, “But you are going to work!”

He finished the conversation with the observation “Nightmares count as dreams.”

The light changed and I continued on my way. Something to ponder.

[creadinger]

So my first commute of 2016 saw a lot of the same, and some new….

Guy I passed politely going northbound on the MVT north of gravelly point said, “ooh oh oh oh a big guy”… What? Hard to tell by your tone, but you kinda sounded like that guy from Dumb and Dumber who really wanted to use the pay phone. I’d like to point out that, yes, while I am a “big guy” I did lose 10lbs while I was away.

DC waterfront is still a mess, but slightly worse than it used to be as construction guys are taking up more space than ever before.

Whoah, there’s a bike lane on 4th St. SE south of M St. now. Kind of unnecessary, but I’ll take it?

Douglass bridge still sucks balls and passing joggers on it is still a pain in the ass. Especially ones who refuse to acknowledge my existence after a few dings. You know my dog ignores things she doesn’t like or is scared of. Are you a dog? I’m passing you anyway.

And DC is finally fixing the sidewalk/curbcuts along Pennsylvania Ave SE where the 295 ramps are. That’s great! But did you leave space for peds or bikes to get around the work by NOT walking in the highway? No.

Asshole driver in the big F-ing SUV going up Mass Ave SE almost hits me with his side mirror… I’m awake now and looking for someone to throatpunch. And also see 2 cars driving in the bike lane on Alabama Ave because drivers in SE don’t give a shit about a little paint on the road.

Overall not terrible and a little weird, but I hope the return trip goes better than this morning. At least the weather could not be better!

[bobco85]

It was in the low 50’s (F) this morning, but I felt it was still quite nice for a commute today.

I encountered a cyclist on my climb up Chambliss from Holmes Run Trail who joined me for a bit. She had been hibernating for her bike commute (today was her first bike commute of the year) and was happy to hitch a ride with me in leading her on George Mason Dr to the W&OD where we chatted and parted ways (I went west toward Ballston; she went east toward DC).

I asked if I could open the windows in our office since the weather is so great today. Something tells me keeping them closed was a good idea (we’re on the 13th floor)

[mello yello]

@creadinger 136427 wrote:

So my first commute of 2016 saw a lot of the same, and some new….

Guy I passed politely going northbound on the MVT north of gravelly point said, “ooh oh oh oh a big guy”… What? Hard to tell by your tone, but you kinda sounded like George McFly.

DC waterfront is still a mess, but slightly worse than it used to be as construction guys are taking up more space than ever before.

Whoah, there’s a bike lane on 4th St. SE south of M St. now. Kind of unnecessary, but I’ll take it?

Douglass bridge still sucks balls and passing joggers on it is still a pain in the ass. Especially ones who refuse to acknowledge my existence after a few dings. You know my dog ignores things she doesn’t like or is scared of. Are you a dog? I’m passing you anyway.

And DC is finally fixing the sidewalk/curbcuts along Pennsylvania Ave SE where the 295 ramps are. That’s great! But did you leave space for peds or bikes to get around the work by NOT walking in the highway? No.

Asshole driver in the big F-ing SUV going up Mass Ave SE almost hits me with his side mirror… I’m awake now and looking for someone to throatpunch. And also see 2 cars driving in the bike lane on Alabama Ave because drivers in SE don’t give a shit about a little paint on the road.

Overall not terrible and a little weird, but I hope the return trip goes better than this morning. At least the weather could not be better!

Sounds like you have almost my commute in reverse! How do you get up to Alabama SE from Pennsylvania and 295? I hate the Penn/295 intersection on a bike, I avoid it when possible by coming up Nicholson St, or coming up Good Hope Rd to Alabama. Of course, on the VA side I’m going to Rosslyn, so other direction on the Mt.Vernon.

[lordofthemark]

@creadinger 136427 wrote:

So my first commute of 2016 saw a lot of the same, and some new….

Guy I passed politely going northbound on the MVT north of gravelly point said, “ooh oh oh oh a big guy”… What? Hard to tell by your tone, but you kinda sounded like George McFly. I’d like to point out that, yes, while I am a “big guy” I did lose 10lbs while I was away.

DC waterfront is still a mess, but slightly worse than it used to be as construction guys are taking up more space than ever before.

Whoah, there’s a bike lane on 4th St. SE south of M St. now. Kind of unnecessary, but I’ll take it?

Douglass bridge still sucks balls and passing joggers on it is still a pain in the ass. Especially ones who refuse to acknowledge my existence after a few dings. You know my dog ignores things she doesn’t like or is scared of. Are you a dog? I’m passing you anyway.

And DC is finally fixing the sidewalk/curbcuts along Pennsylvania Ave SE where the 295 ramps are. That’s great! But did you leave space for peds or bikes to get around the work by NOT walking in the highway? No.

Asshole driver in the big F-ing SUV going up Mass Ave SE almost hits me with his side mirror… I’m awake now and looking for someone to throatpunch. And also see 2 cars driving in the bike lane on Alabama Ave because drivers in SE don’t give a shit about a little paint on the road.

Overall not terrible and a little weird, but I hope the return trip goes better than this morning. At least the weather could not be better!

Douglas Bridge, or 11th Street Bridge? I am confused. edit: wait,did you mean 4th Street SW?

Yeah, the Wharf construction has reduced Maine that to one lane EB for at least a month now (maybe a couple of months?). I took the lane this AM, it was not that bad. I do look forward to things getting better on Maine at some point though.

[mello yello]

I had another fine commute on the Riide e-bike. I am not loving it, but it sure is nice on the hills. Had a jogger crazy-ivan on the MVT northbound right before it turns into boardwalk. Luckily he was far enough ahead we didn’t come all that close to catastrophe. He may have glanced over his shoulder before the U-turn, but I didn’t see it.

[creadinger]

@mello yello 136436 wrote:

Sounds like you have almost my commute in reverse! How do you get up to Alabama SE from Pennsylvania and 295? I hate the Penn/295 intersection on a bike, I avoid it when possible by coming up Nicholson St, or coming up Good Hope Rd to Alabama. Of course, on the VA side I’m going to Rosslyn, so other direction on the Mt.Vernon.

From Pennsylvania and 295 I immediately cut north on Fairlawn SE to K St. SE to Randle Circle and begin the climb up Mass Ave to Alabama. It’s a detour from my destination in Suitland, but I prefer that to the sidewalk along Penn Ave. Mass Ave has the bike lanes too. Also, I used to go up Good Hope Rd for a while, but the neighborhood over there is even sketchier than Fairlawn, and another Suitland commuter said someone showed him a gun at one point. Not to mention Good Hope Rd is a harder climb than Mass Ave SE.

If you use Nicholson, how would you cross Pennsylvania then? That’s why I brave the ramps of 295, because there’s potentially too much sidewalk riding after getting marrooned on the wrong side of Pennsylvania Ave.

[creadinger]

@lordofthemark 136440 wrote:

Douglas Bridge, or 11th Street Bridge? I am confused. edit: wait,did you mean 4th Street SW?

Definitely the Douglass Bridge. It’s hard to believe that the Memorial Bridge is in worse shape then that one. Yeah, the new bike lane is on 4th St. SW. It looks like it’s only one way though? I don’t go that way on the way home.

[VA2DC]

Marshall Dr. between N Meade St. and the drive to the circle around Iwo Jima was closed this morning. I had to backtrack to the path that cuts through Iwo Jima past the Netherlands Carillon.

[Terpfan]

I attracted two idiot drivers on Washington St this morning. One just decides to force me from the middle of the lane toward the sign while gunning it toward approached stopped traffic like two blocks ahead That one got me pissed and I held myself back from engaging the situation more. The other was someone also forcing me over because she decided to move right without looking while on a cell phone. But everything else was peachy. Loving the shorts and tshirt weather.

Updated to include a quick 23 second video showing my two idiotic suv driver friends: https://youtu.be/wHJ3SKoaPLE

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