My Morning Commute

[dasgeh]

Yesterday morning, as I was happily rolling along the Ccustis about Adams St, I looked over at the cars crawling along on 66e and noticed a particular looking van. Fast forward to Virginia Ave, where the exit from the E St Expressway meets Virginia, and who do I see but that particular van. Win!

This morning, I regretted not going back for pants and full fingered gloves. Brr

[consularrider]

@dasgeh 64403 wrote:

Yesterday morning, as I was happily rolling along the Custis about Adams St, I looked over at the cars crawling along on 66e and noticed a particular looking van. Fast forward to Virginia Ave, where the exit from the E St Expressway meets Virginia, and who do I see but that particular van. Win!

This morning, I regretted not going back for pants and full fingered gloves. Brr

I felt the same way yesterday evening on the MVT from the 14th St Bridge to the MVT connection. I was moving faster than the car traffic on the GW Parkway and it was beautiful weather to be out and about.

This morning I did have light full-finger gloves, light wool arm warmers, and a light wool cycling jersey (but bare knees). 53°F according to my back yard thermometer or 54°F at Reagan-National per NWS!

[vvill]

@Subby 64137 wrote:

Rumor has it that vvill created it after getting M Street with all greens, but it’s just a rumor at this point.

Adele tune stuck in my head now.

@ShawnoftheDread 64141 wrote:

Strava claims I’ve never ridden it. Except every day.

Anyway, I went in and forced a leaderboard re-build. I’m guessing there was a Strava issue the day I created that segment since others from then also have that issue.

[kcb203]

Got my first flat during a commute today and realized the inflator was at home. And I was in a hurry because I have to coach my 7 year old’s soccer team today. At least the tire went flat while in the rack at work so I wasnt stranded somewhere. I hopped on the metro and all will work out ok.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

[lordofthemark]

“commuted” for my fourth time. More complicated this time. We still only have one bike in the household (long story). My daughter who is currently living with us and who is observant of Jewish law, has been getting frustrated that its difficult to get to synagogue on sabbath and jewish holidays without riding in a car. The nearest synagogues to us (olam tikvah and Chabad Fairfax – neither of which is the one we belong to, BTW) are a long and nasty walk. She is of the opinion (I can discuss the rabbinic sources if anyone is interested) that its proper to bike on Jewish holidays (and less of an infraction on sabbath than driving) The good news is she has gotten back into biking, she has a very transportation biking attitude (“daddy, why don’t we live in Copenhagen?”) and she’s exploring routes west of the beltway that I’m not familiar with. The disadvantage is that yesterday, Sukkos, she biked to Chabad, and kept the bike there till sundown (at which point she was willing to ride in a car- she is not strict on the second day of the holiday, another long story). She forgot I intended to ride to work (I usually take the 29G to the pentagon and bike to M Street SE from there) today. But I don’t have a light good enough to feel comfortable riding after dark. So the bike had to be left at LRT and Prince William overnight.

Undaunted, I accepted a lift from my wife to Prince William (from Hummer). I then took the 29X to do my commute, thinking that won’t be bad, the 29X is fast cause it goes on the beltway, doesn’t amble through downtown Annandale. Well, instead it wends through the SFH areas along Braeburn. For a long time. Despite getting to Prince William around 7:30, and getting on the bus at 7:53, didn’t get to the Pentagon till 8:30. And I was out of shape, not used to riding in the cooler weather (I wore shorts, I’d heard it would be warm) and so I went even slower than usual. Finally got here about 9:25.

Sigh. OTOH it was lovely out, no particular traffic or similar hassles. And we have all decided that buying that second bike is a priority.

[jrenaut]

@lordofthemark 64743 wrote:

…And we have all decided that buying that second bike is a priority.

Buying a second bike is always a priority. Rule 12!

[OneEighth]

…was faster than yours and probably involved more leather.
Stupid knee…looked like everyone else was out on their bicycles enjoying the awesome weather.

[rpiretti]

Not a morning post but…had a great conversation Friday afternoon with a fellow named Steve. He lives near Shreve Rd in FC. I urged him to become more involved with the forum and our happy hours and such. He and I started talking because of his Rivendell gear. He rides an orange Masi with a beautiful Sackville Rivendell bag. If you see him on the trail say hey.

[cyclingfool]

This morning was fabulous. You couldn’t have asked for better weather. And I was glad to be on the bike again after a couple mystery flats again over the weekend and Monday AM before I left home made me decide to cut my losses and take the train to work yesterday. (Of course I was promptly reminded in the afternoon why I don’t miss commuting by metro.)

I think I may have been able to nail down the cause of the recent spate of flats — a serial number (?) scrawled/etched into the rim seemed to have a few rough spots and matched the area where I had gotten the last couple punctures, so I sanded it all so it was smooth enough not to catch my fingernail or a cotton ball at all and then cleaned the whole rim inside and out with a clean rag and some Simple Green. Why this was even etched in the rim the way it was is beyond me. Didn’t think anything of it before, but now that I think I’ve ID’ed it as a culprit in flat tires… You can see the etching/scrawling just between the rim tape and the rim wall toward the top of the picture. This picture was taken after I sanded it down.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3725[/ATTACH]

[dasgeh]

It was a fabulous morning, and I biked to my new office! Exciting stuff, though I believe that will be the last time I try TR Bridge –> H St –> PA –> 15th –> PA Ave cycletrack –> Capitol. I swear the lights on the cycletrack are timed so that you MUST stop at every one. That plus the construction on H St and the DC portion of my commute took longer than the VA portion. Ugh.

For tomorrow, I’m thinking 14th St Bridge then heading east… Do people take the lane on Indepedence, or use parallel routes? I’m going from Spout Run -ish to the Senate…

TIA

[grandallj]

@dasgeh 64950 wrote:

For tomorrow, I’m thinking 14th St Bridge then heading east… Do people take the lane on Indepedence, or use parallel routes? I’m going from Spout Run -ish to the Senate…

Try Jefferson Dr. (eastbound) and Madison Dr. (westbound). Jefferson is usually one of the more pleasant parts of my morning ride.

[Arlingtonrider]

I think that almost all of us heading toward the Senate side of the Capitol take Jefferson Drive, in front of the Smithsonian Castle. There’s very little traffic there in the mornings so it’s almost like a big bike lane. I’d suggest doing that and making a left on 3rd Street. From there you can either hop on a sidewalk or continue up on Constitution Ave.

[consularrider]

@dasgeh 64950 wrote:

… For tomorrow, I’m thinking 14th St Bridge then heading east… Do people take the lane on Indepedence, or use parallel routes? I’m going from Spout Run -ish to the Senate…
TIA

I don’t commute that way, but when I do ride to that area rather than taking Independence, I prefer going up 15th St SW to Jefferson Dr SW (return via Madison Dr NW) and ride along the Mall to/from 3rd St SW/NW.

[OneEighth]

@grandallj 64953 wrote:

Try Jefferson Dr. (eastbound) and Madison Dr. (westbound). Jefferson is usually one of the more pleasant parts of my morning ride.

Definitely. Only downside can be tourists and buses in the evening, but on a bike should be fine. That and the pigeons—they’re a menace. Actually ran over one once. Not sure who was more surprised…

[Popsicleian]

I take the lane on Independence from 15th to around 10th every morning, but only because I work right on Independence. It’s really not bad at all, but if my destination wasn’t on Independence I’d definitely go up a block to Jefferson. There’s not a lot of thru-traffic in the rightmost lane on Independence in the mornings–it seems to become a de-facto right turn only lane.

[Author]

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