My Morning Commute

[Crickey7]

@Terpfan 139977 wrote:

Literally I only saw one person not call and make a bad pass.

Sadly, that was not my experience on the CCT. Including two riders on racing bikes passing at easily 28-30 mph.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Crickey7 140039 wrote:

Sadly, that was not my experience on the CCT. Including two riders on racing bikes passing at easily 28-30 mph.

I was glad to be riding the CCT outbound. Passed like two joggers (called the passes, of course) and that was it.

[ursus]

@lordofthemark 139976 wrote:

I have never seen conditions on the MVT both so crowded, and so smooth. Usually the most crowded times are evenings and weekends, when the combination of rambling pedestrians, and unpredictable bikers (both slow newbies and fast Freds) creates chaos and stress. This AM was as crowded as that, but was all either BTWD cyclists, or US Army runners. It was a sight to behold.

Not true. There was me. I rode from DC to MV, turned around, took 4MR to the W&OD as far as the kennel before Leesburg, turned around and returned to DC via the W&OD and Custis to get in a century.

I have been retired for 5 years. When I worked, I had a reverse commute and never participated in BtW Day. I think that this is the second time that I have ridden on BtW day since I retired. I passed 4 or 5 meeting places along the W&OD. None were up yet when I was on the MV trail.

[AFHokie]

@lordofthemark 139976 wrote:

I have never seen conditions on the MVT both so crowded, and so smooth. Usually the most crowded times are evenings and weekends, when the combination of rambling pedestrians, and unpredictable bikers (both slow newbies and fast Freds) creates chaos and stress. This AM was as crowded as that, but was all either BTWD cyclists, or US Army runners. It was a sight to behold.

If those were same runners I passed at 7:30, they were Marines. There is a difference…

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[ShawnoftheDread]

@AFHokie 140056 wrote:

If those were same runners I passed at 7:30, they were Marines. There is a difference…

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If they were running at a good pace and all together, they were Marines. If they were all over the place and looked liked they might keel over, Army.

Come on, soldiers, you know it’s true.

[notlost]

Was there glass somewhere on the Custis? Must have passed a half dozen people with flats…

[DrP]

@notlost 140221 wrote:

Was there glass somewhere on the Custis? Must have passed a half dozen people with flats…

I didn’t see any glass on the Custis, but did see at least one on Custis repairing their tire and I thought I saw another, but I do not recall where (either Custis or MVT). I did hear the trolls grab someone hard behind me. I made a safe stop and asked if he was okay and he was already up, so I assumed yes. While the sun was shining, the ground was still very wet. Perhaps the weather made people a little less cautious with the wet ground.

[DanB]

@notlost 140221 wrote:

Was there glass somewhere on the Custis? Must have passed a half dozen people with flats…

I saw two on Custis repairing flats before 7.

[americancyclo]

@DanB 140226 wrote:

I saw two on Custis repairing flats before 7.

New cyclist with old tires and tubes inspired by BTWD

[dbb]

Rolled through the Jefferson about 0745 and US Park Police was getting cyclists to not salmon on the stretch of East Basin Drive in front of the memorial.

While I am all for improved safety, this didn’t contribute to that goal.

Additionally, the fact that the traffic cones that keep civilian motorists from pulling into the driveway to the Jefferson (which is reserved for the private vehicles of Park Police officers) keep shifting so they block the crosswalk and curb ramp onto the sidewalk.

Other pesky detail is that for inbound cyclists, there is nothing that says that salmoning is wrong. There is no indication that East Basin is a one-way street.

If they had an hour to do enforcement, how about throwing it at the buses in front of the Natural History museum in the afternoon or speeding on the GWMP any time?

[GovernorSilver]

Rode to Crystal City. Bought coffee and quagel at Cosi and walked coffee and bike over to the park – kind of a bad idea because I was spilling coffee all over my hand and steering the bike with the other hand was awkward. I just don’t have the skillz to ride one-handed yet.

I got there around 8:15. I managed to catch Chris, KayakCyndi, consularrider, and ArlingtonRider just before they took off, thus ending today’s CC Coffee Club meetup. Enjoyed the relative calm of the park while finishing my coffee.

Stopped at Gravelly Point to snap my always loose front fender back into place. A pack of at least 10 cyclists going the same way passed me by. New crowd drawn in by Bike To Work Day? After getting back in the saddle, passed a bunch of people with Navy shirts hanging out, then other Navy people running.

Quagel was kind of cold and hard by the time I ate it at the office, but I didn’t want to risk throwing up or something during the most exciting part of my commute (the climb up busy Louisiana, followed by the descent down N. Capitol St. and its unpredictable drivers).

Then I heard this happened on the Red Line, which I usually take in the morning when not bike commuting:

Red Line: Single tracking btwn Grosvenor & Friendship Hghts due to a track problem at Medical Center. Expect 45 min delays and crowding.
05/24/2016 08:44 AM

Man what a lovely morning.

[lordofthemark]

@GovernorSilver 140237 wrote:

I managed to catch Chris, KayakCyndi, consularrider, and ArlingtonRider just before they took off, thus ending today’s CC Coffee Club meetup.

So there was an almost complete second shift after we early birds had left?

[GovernorSilver]

@lordofthemark 140238 wrote:

So there was an almost complete second shift after we early birds had left?

They called themselves the “post-coffee club”.

[Steve O]

@GovernorSilver 140237 wrote:

I managed to catch Chris, KayakCyndi, consularrider,

Woah! They must have smoked there from Kindred. I left at about 7:50 I think

[Judd]

I am dubbing them the Crystal City Coffee Club Kindred Krew. Cause alliteration is reason enough.

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