My Morning Commute

[Drewdane]

@elizsnyder 188278 wrote:

you do realize that the electricity used by electricity powered cars is made by primarily by burning fossil fuels.

… for now.

[huskerdont]

This morning on the exit ramp from GW Parkway to Key Bridge I witnessed an older “gentleman” blaring his horn at a woman runner in the crosswalk. If I were king, people who blew their horns at pedestrians in crosswalks would have their licenses taken away. In fact, any use of a horn around a pedestrian or cyclist, “justified” or not, might put you in contention.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@huskerdont 188614 wrote:

This morning on the exit ramp from GW Parkway to Key Bridge I witnessed an older “gentleman” blaring his horn at a woman runner in the crosswalk. If I were king, people who blew their horns at pedestrians in crosswalks would have their licenses taken away. In fact, any use of a horn around a pedestrian or cyclist, “justified” or not, might put you in contention.

Alternatively, implement a $5 “honking tax” that is dedicated entirely to bike/ped/transit funding.

[Emm]

I spoke to another commuter at work who commented about the “light drizzle” he encountered this morning, as I was emptying the puddle of water out of my shoes in the garage…

I’m not sure how prepared everyone else was this morning, but I was NOT expecting the blinding torrential rain I encountered 5 minutes into my ride. The weather app only mentioned light rain, not 10-15 minutes of the sky turning into a waterfall. Luckily it was relatively short-lived.

By the time I got to a point where I could hide under a bridge, I was already drenched, so I waved to the 10 or so cyclists hiding out under the Route 1/GW Parkway/Metro underpasses on 4mrt, and kept on going. It was comforting to see them though, since it meant I wasn’t the only person who totally missed the insane rain in the forecast.

[DrP]

@Emm 189765 wrote:

I spoke to another commuter at work who commented about the “light drizzle” he encountered this morning, as I was emptying the puddle of water out of my shoes in the garage…

I’m not sure how prepared everyone else was this morning, but I was NOT expecting the blinding torrential rain I encountered 5 minutes into my ride. The weather app only mentioned light rain, not 10-15 minutes of the sky turning into a waterfall. Luckily it was relatively short-lived.

By the time I got to a point where I could hide under a bridge, I was already drenched, so I waved to the 10 or so cyclists hiding out under the Route 1/GW Parkway/Metro underpasses on 4mrt, and kept on going. It was comforting to see them though, since it meant I wasn’t the only person who totally missed the insane rain in the forecast.

Luckily I was nearly at work, but I was still nearly soaked by the time I got there 5 min later. I had checked three different weather applications (weather.gov, wunderground, dark skies) at 6:40 am, plus listened to WAMU announcers and NONE showed rain in the morning nor anything on the radar. Upon logging on in the office, I checked the radar with a loop and that storm popped up out of nowhere and was quite large, quite quickly.

[Emm]

@DrP 189768 wrote:

Luckily I was nearly at work, but I was still nearly soaked by the time I got there 5 min later. I had checked three different weather applications (weather.gov, wunderground, dark skies) at 6:40 am, plus listened to WAMU announcers and NONE showed rain in the morning nor anything on the radar. Upon logging on in the office, I checked the radar with a loop and that storm popped up out of nowhere and was quite large, quite quickly.

Thank you. I seriously thought I stupidly missed something at 6:45 when I woke up and checked weather.com and the CWG forcast, but based on your research it really was an unexpected storm!

[komorebi]

I was also caught unexpectedly in the rain this morning. So was another colleague who commutes in from Maryland, so it wasn’t just a Virginia problem.

I was at Commonwealth and Monroe when the rain started pitter-pattering, so I took shelter under Live Oak’s covered patio to make sure my Ortlieb was rolled tightly and to get out the helmet cover I keep in my saddlebag for events like this. I would have taken shelter longer if I’d known how heavy the rain was about to get. By the time I passed the other bikers hiding out under the 4MR underpasses, I was already soaked, so I just kept going.

The rain had mostly stopped by the time I got to the 14th Street Bridge, but at that point the wind picked up so much that it actually blew my helmet cover off. Thankfully, the wind blew the helmet cover against the railing and kept it plastered there long enough for me to wait for another biker to go by, pull a u-turn, and retrieve it.

[Steve O]

@Emm 189772 wrote:

Thank you. I seriously thought I stupidly missed something at 6:45 when I woke up and checked weather.com and the CWG forcast, but based on your research it really was an unexpected storm!

No regrets about sleeping late this morning, evidently.

[Sunyata]

That storm did come out of nowhere. Luckily, I was warm and dry inside my office when it hit. However, this morning I apparently either misread the temperature reading on Weather Underground, or the weather station I was looking at was sorely off its mark. I thought it was it was 52F, so I dressed accordingly.

Spoiler alert.

[huskerdont]

Yeah, it said 45 at the weather station in our back yard. I actually used gloves with fingers, but refused to go back to long tights.

[jepstein]

is it possible that I saw an eagle this morning down near Hains?

[phog]

Bike to Work Day! Left my 48 volt, 1000 watt Schwinn e-bike conversion home, rode in on my 25 year old (but sprightly and lightweight) Specialized Crossroads (bought it new). The event shirt was a beautiful aquamarine this year. No bagels or energy bars in Rosslyn (that I could see) but a NYC-transplant joint called “The Little Beet” had tasty gruel that was probably better for me anyway, so thanks to them for the boost.

[huskerdont]

Yes, I like the shirt this year. The cotton seems softer than previous years, and the color matches almost exactly the shorts I wore. Previous BTWD T-shirts have been used as grease rags for bike maintenance, but this year’s I’ll maybe wear.

[Drewdane]

Got a late start this morning, found out the hard way that the Rosslyn stop pulls up stakes at 9:00 – my bad.

[consularrider]

@jepstein 190793 wrote:

is it possible that I saw an eagle this morning down near Hains?

Absolutely.

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