My Morning Commute

[mstone]

@dasgeh 66273 wrote:

Why not bus?

too close

[dasgeh]

@mstone 66290 wrote:

too close

As in you don’t get a stop? Would you ride it if you did get one?

[mstone]

@dasgeh 66293 wrote:

As in you don’t get a stop? Would you ride it if you did get one?

Correct, they won’t bus within 2 miles or somesuch in Fairfax. (Which is actually pretty reasonable–buses suck up an inordinate fraction of the school budget.) If it were here I’d probably use it, but I’m not upset that it isn’t.

[dasgeh]

What would it take to get you to bike more often?

[mstone]

@dasgeh 66321 wrote:

What would it take to get you to bike more often?

We’d have to decide that biking was more important than having all of us home for dinner at a fairly early hour or minimizing the time kid 3 spends in day care, and schedule our workdays accordingly. Once the youngest is going in the same direction as the other two, it’ll be a lot easier.

[cyclingfool]

Rainy ride in. My rain cape is draped over my bike downstairs drying after doing its job admirably this morning. Record low (I think) count of cyclists encountered on the way in to work for an October commute in my 4.5 years commuting – only 3 others seen between Del Ray and around the White House. Guess the combination of crummy weather and the shutdown combined to decimate the number of commuters this AM. It was still fun to zip past all the drivers stuck in mostly stop, a little bit of go traffic on the Parkway and selfishly, to have the trail to myself for the most part this AM!

[dasgeh]

Very wet. Very few other cyclists. But at least I could use the empty bike racks to dry my outer layer.

Speaking of that outer layer: I have a waterproof jacket and waterproof pants that are both >5 years old. I haven’t used either in at least a year. Today, they were not waterproof. Thoughts? Is there any hope of reviving them (like this) or is it time to buy more? If so, suggestions?

[ronwalf]

@cyclingfool 66366 wrote:

Rainy ride in. My rain cape is draped over my bike downstairs drying after doing its job admirably this morning.

Which rain cape? I’ve looked at some online, but nothing’s caught my fancy.

[consularrider]

Yeah, the heavy rain waited until I left home and I only saw 10 others on bikes from EFC to the airport to Rosslyn. I think this was the second lowest total I have seen on this route over the past four years. One plus, there was 100% light usage.

[TwoWheelsDC]

I took the metro…rainy ride last night, plus what is certain to be a rainy ride tomorrow, meant that I needed a break in-between.

[consularrider]

@ronwalf 66369 wrote:

Which rain cape? I’ve looked at some online, but nothing’s caught my fancy.

I’ve been using the J & G rain cape for about two years now, but didn’t wear it this morning. I just wore my O2 original rain jacket and let my bottom half get wet. When I was getting ready it was just too windy for the cape. I also have Monkey King rain cape that is not very good.

[cyclingfool]

@ronwalf 66369 wrote:

Which rain cape? I’ve looked at some online, but nothing’s caught my fancy.

I also have the J&G that consularrider linked to. I tend to tough it out if it’s just a drizzle, so the rain cape only comes out if it’s really coming down like it was this morning, but the cape keeps me remarkably dry, or at least not drenched. I’m sure there are rain jackets that might keep me drier, but I can’t imagine any of them allowing the same level of ventilation as the cape does, which means I don’t have to worry about making a trade-off between being drenched by a cold rain or drenched by sweat.

The cape’s bright yellow color is good for visibility, and there’s even a tab on the back where you can clip on an extra blinkie if so desired.

[Greenbelt]

Even my Gore Tex didn’t seem waterproof this morning. Was very pleased that I wrapped my computer and clothes in shopping bags before putting them in my “water resistant” pannier as well.

[jhr]

I think I only saw one other cyclist this morning, which is probably the fewest in months.

@dasgeh 66368 wrote:

Speaking of that outer layer: I have a waterproof jacket and waterproof pants that are both >5 years old. I haven’t used either in at least a year. Today, they were not waterproof. Thoughts? Is there any hope of reviving them (like this) or is it time to buy more? If so, suggestions?

If it’s supposed to be fully waterproof it shouldn’t leak even if the DWR coating is gone (it just won’t breath at all when wet). However, if the seams just aren’t fully sealed or something, cleaning it and applying more waterproofing stuff to the outside may get it waterproof enough for most conditions.

[Steve]

I don’t know why ArlCo does trail counts. If you read enough threads, you realize two things:

1. Consularrider is on every trail, at all times.
2. Consularrider is always counting.

They should just ask him.

[Author]

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