My Morning Commute

[GovernorSilver]

@ian74 140699 wrote:

Did this happen on the Jamis or the Breezer? Also, when are we going to get to meet you at Crystal City Coffee Club? Your like my ex-girfriends, everyone thinks I just made her up since no one ever saw her and we only talk on the internet.

It’s on the Jamis. I can’t do more than 19 mph on the Breezer, so in that situation I would have gotten onto the sidewalk ASAP to escape the buses. My colleague rode through that after me and he had it worse – the same buses were trying to parallel park, and thus blocking the street.

I was out of town Tuesday, but last week I did meet the second shift of the club – arlingtonrider, KayakCindy, Chris, and… oh man I’m blanking on his name – sorry man! – can vouch for me! I’ll try to make next week!

[scoot]

@GovernorSilver 140698 wrote:

My normally relaxing ride through the Mall turned into a sprint as we were being chased by tour busses with hardly any safe space for letting the busses pass. Fortunately, about 21 mph was apparently sufficient to stay ahead of them.

Where was this? Jefferson Drive? The speed limit is only 15 there anyway. Regardless, there’s no minimum speed requirement for taking the lane in that situation.

[GovernorSilver]

@scoot 140728 wrote:

Where was this? Jefferson Drive? The speed limit is only 15 there anyway. Regardless, there’s no minimum speed requirement for taking the lane in that situation.

Yes, Jefferson Dr. With some kind of construction on one side, parked cars on the other, then a line of parked buses towards the end, I didn’t feel safe sharing the road with the buses. They were definitely doing over 15.

I don’t trust their drivers so I’d rather be on the sidewalk if I can’t ride faster than them. The tour buses take up more space than the Circulator buses and their drivers are not as well-behaved.

[DrP]

Muggy. And not on the planned bicycle.

After retrieving my newer hybrid from the shop last night (http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?6843-My-Evening-Commute&p=140759#post140759), I expected to ride it today. I go to the garage to roll it out and the back wheel seemed stuck on something. Well, it wasn’t rolling due to being completely flat. I did a quick check to see theat nothing obvious was sticking out of it (nothing was) and switched to my older hybrid. I am so thankful I got those brakes changed. Not a bad commute, just a different stance and a bit more of a workout (it is heavier).

Next to figure out how to remove a wheel with disc brakes…

[Vicegrip]

@Judd 140701 wrote:

I got to draft behind a large truck full of landscaping equipment for a quarter of a Hains Point lap this morning. It was my first time drafting a vehicle. I was going 17mph and barely pedaling.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Find yourself a natural gas fueled bus to draft. They will pull you right along without the diesel fumes. Dump trucks are fun too. They start out and slow down at “bike” like rates and you can draft along at ludicrous speed.

[Steve O]

@Vicegrip 140774 wrote:

They start out and slow down at “bike” like rates and you can draft along at ludicrous speed.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11890[/ATTACH]

Be sure you know your road, though.
Back in my college days I would chase the farm trucks on the plains of Eastern Colorado. One day I was cruising along at 30+ when a pothole came out from under the truck. I do not know why I didn’t crash, but my front wheel was totally pretzeled and I had to walk the 3 miles back to town. Better than the ambulance ride, though.

[GovernorSilver]

Wiped out while changing lanes on the street. I think I carelessly rode onto a slick spot.

[Tania]

Introduced someone to bike commuting today (EFC to downtown DC), paying forward dcv and Dirt’s kind efforts with me a few years back.

She did GREAT! And saw lots of examples of what not to do as far as bad cycling behavior.

[jrenaut]

There was at least double the normal bike traffic volume on R NW this morning through Shaw. That was cool, although I wish they were going a bit faster. Not cool were the SIX cyclists southbound on 11th who, after the street sweeping truck had already pulled into the intersection going west, blew the stops sign. This is why so many hate cyclists. Also not cool was the DC school bus I had to smack as the driver entered the bike lane to pass a left-turning car without first checking to see if said bike lane was occupied. Surprise, it was!

Still a lovely day to be on a bike.

[huskerdont]

Rosslyn counter was in the 70s this morning at about the time (6:30 ish) it would normally have been in the 50s lately. Looking forward to seeing the numbers this afternoon and later in the week. I saw maybe two cyclists who were a touch wobbly and seemed to be working things out.

[Steve O]

Yes, lots more people riding on the Custis this morning. By and large well-behaved, at least the few dozen I encountered .

And, from the other angle, looked like some severe traffic gridlock in Rosslyn (perhaps elsewhere, too). Hopefully the new riders noted that and are feeling a wee bit of smugness today.

[Crickey7]

Definitely more on the CCT. Including people walking with flats, which I had rarely seen before and have seen numerous times this spring. I offered to put a patch on one guy’s tire this morning, but he declined.

[dasgeh]

@jrenaut 140883 wrote:

Not cool were the SIX cyclists southbound on 11th who, after the street sweeping truck had already pulled into the intersection going west, blew the stops sign. This is why so many hate cyclists. Also not cool was the DC school bus I had to smack as the driver entered the bike lane to pass a left-turning car without first checking to see if said bike lane was occupied. Surprise, it was!

That is not why people hate cyclists any more than your interaction with the school bus is why people hate school buses.

[dasgeh]

@huskerdont 140884 wrote:

Rosslyn counter was in the 70s this morning at about the time (6:30 ish) it would normally have been in the 50s lately. Looking forward to seeing the numbers this afternoon and later in the week. I saw maybe two cyclists who were a touch wobbly and seemed to be working things out.

The counter was over 900 around 9:15am! Overall, they seemed much more well behaved, and much faster than I expected.

[rcannon100]

WOW there were so many on the trail that I could actually pass! Totally surreal!

At work the observation is not that we are having brand new bike commuters – but that anyone who has some clue about bike commuting….. IS bike commuting. So this is an interesting strategy -> not introducing people to bike commuting – but encouraging those who are familiar with bike commuting to do it more.

Todays problem is training people how to park there bikes in the garage properly without handlebar conflicts.

[Author]

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