My Morning Commute

[EasyRider]

last sighting was 22 years ago

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14968[/ATTACH]

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Car tootling along in the bike lane on 9th Street was too slow for me so I passed him. He decides the other car tootling along in the bike lane was going too slow too. So he changes lanes in front of me and yells at me that I’m supposed to be in the bike lane.

1. No, but I might give it a try if you weren’t in it,
2. With every polite fiber in my body, f that guy, and
3. You know that I gave a lecture about irony to him at the next light.

[DrP]

…was so much less crowded than usual. It was lovely.

Seeing all the cars on the GWP crawling south of Roosevelt Island was kind of fun too. Just south of the island, there was an accident that was being cleared up when I went by ~7:20. I couldn’t tell if anyone were injured (that would be less fun) or not, just cops talking to lots of people, a tow truck and a car driving on the MVT looking for a less steep way back up to the GWP (found one not too far down). Not sure why that spot attracts so many accidents. There was a pedestrian further south on the trail attempting to warn the drivers that they would need to slow down soon. That didn’t work. Peds and bikes crossing at the crosswalk had an easy time since the cars were already not moving.

I know, many are taking today off or telecommuting, but even the joggers were mostly missing. And if they are all off work, why weren’t they on the trail in the numbers they were in yesterday! I went on a ride yesterday leaving about the same time (within 5 min) of today and yesterday Custis and MVT were PACKED with peds and bikes. That was crazy busy.

[huskerdont]

@DrP 162421 wrote:

…was so much less crowded than usual. It was lovely.

Seeing all the cars on the GWP crawling south of Roosevelt Island was kind of fun too. Just south of the island, there was an accident that was being cleared up when I went by ~7:20. I couldn’t tell if anyone were injured (that would be less fun) or not, just cops talking to lots of people, a tow truck and a car driving on the MVT looking for a less steep way back up to the GWP (found one not too far down). Not sure why that spot attracts so many accidents. There was a pedestrian further south on the trail attempting to warn the drivers that they would need to slow down soon. That didn’t work. Peds and bikes crossing at the crosswalk had an easy time since the cars were already not moving.

I know, many are taking today off or telecommuting, but even the joggers were mostly missing. And if they are all off work, why weren’t they on the trail in the numbers they were in yesterday! I went on a ride yesterday leaving about the same time (within 5 min) of today and yesterday Custis and MVT were PACKED with peds and bikes. That was crazy busy.

Lots of joggers out on the Custis ~6:15-6:30. Maybe they were out earlier to try to beat the heat.

[Crickey7]

Helmets are useless. Mine totally did not prevent a ginormous bug from impacting my forehead this morning.

[anomad]

@Crickey7 162468 wrote:

Helmets are useless. Mine totally did not prevent a ginormous bug from impacting my forehead this morning.

[dbb]

@Crickey7 162468 wrote:

Helmets are useless. Mine totally did not prevent a ginormous bug from impacting my forehead this morning.

Well, the bug wasn’t wearing a helmet and probably suffered an injury as a result. You were and were uninjured. QED

[Judd]

@Crickey7 162468 wrote:

Helmets are useless. Mine totally did not prevent a ginormous bug from impacting my forehead this morning.

I agree. My helmet failed to protect me from a bug with some sort of stinger from crashing into my temple as I was going down a hill at 25 mph.

[lordofthemark]

@Judd 162473 wrote:

I agree. My helmet failed to protect me from a bug with some sort of stinger from crashing into my temple as I was going down a hill at 25 mph.

Fortunately nothing has crashed into my temple lately. I think the new bike lanes on Kenwood make that even less likely. Though the trees and the general configuration of the building relative to both Kenwood and Valley probably help more.

Banking though is another matter. But we bank at Wells Fargo, which may have customer service issues, but at least the Bradlee branch is positioned to avoid this sort of thing https://patch.com/virginia/oldtownalexandria/again-car-crashes-bank-bradlee-shopping-center-0

[Judd]

@lordofthemark 162475 wrote:

Banking though is another matter. But we bank at Wells Fargo, which may have customer service issues, but at least the Bradlee branch is positioned to avoid this sort of thing https://patch.com/virginia/oldtownalexandria/again-car-crashes-bank-bradlee-shopping-center-0

This is why I do all of my banking online, although some car somewhere will find a way to fly out of my computer monitor soon, I’m sure.

[DrP]

So when are they fixing the Rosslyn counter? I am pretty sure I would have been a low number today.

[huskerdont]

@DrP 162484 wrote:

So when are they fixing the Rosslyn counter? I am pretty sure I would have been a low number today.

+1. I left earlier to shower at work, and it would have been nice to see the count. With the departure of Tim Kelley, I fear top men are no longer on it.

BTW, I only saw two cyclists on my drenched, dawn-ish commute. Both were women, both were going the other way, and one was taking the far left lane on Lee Highway in Rosslyn. If I can find a Strava flyby Ima give some kudos.

[bobco85]

Today’s combination of warm and wet weather meant a rain jacket and swimsuit were ideal commuter gear. I made a morning delivery to my parents’ house on my way to work, so I had my mom (who was so confused to see me in my swimsuit outside the house in the morning that she thought she was still dreaming) get a pic:

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[drevil]

@bobco85 162486 wrote:

Today’s combination of warm and wet weather meant a rain jacket and swimsuit were ideal commuter gear. I made a morning delivery to my parents’ house on my way to work, so I had my mom (who was so confused to see me in my swimsuit outside the house in the morning that she thought she was still dreaming) get a pic…

Haha! I was just going to ask what is appropriate cycling wear for weather such as today until I saw this. No problem showing up at work with your stars and stripes bathing suit? I don’t know about the others, but I’m just glad that you aren’t more “euro” in your choice of swimsuit wear (aka Speedos).

[AFHokie]

@drevil 162487 wrote:

I’m just glad that you aren’t more “euro” in your choice of swimsuit wear (aka Speedos).

“euro” or “aero”?

Today is a great day for a rest day…

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