Pointless Prize: KOT and QOT

[ChristoB50]

As I linger in bed this morning, wondering whether to take the “unscheduled PTO” to stay home popping Advils like Tic Tacs, I’m smiling at yesterday’s work and resulting aches. I really enjoyed being part of such a vast snow clearing effort yesterday! (When I set out, I thought, “I can put in an hour or two.” But the progress we were making was just too addictive!) It felt good to help clear a section of trail that (at least in the other 3 seasons) I ride constantly. And it felt good to do lots of manual labor, instead of sitting at the office desk. I had a lucky break arriving 45 mins early without any equipment, to find two shovels left unused (by a work crew while they were on lunch break) which provided a chance to start clearing the hard pack on the wood terrace at the Pentagon side of the channel footbridge. It was also a pretty rewarding sight later to look down from Humpback Bridge at the clean black ribbon of the trail we’d cleared, amidst the gleaming white blanket of snow, with the clear blue sky as backdrop to the bare tree limbs and branches. Alas, at no point in the day did I think to take a pic.
I have to say thanks again for all the water provided… my black sweatshirt sleeves had dried salt stains from my sweat when I got home; foolish of me to do that much exertion without my own water supply! So I greatly appreciate the what, 4 bottles? I drank provided by others, enabling me to keep going!

[CBGanimal]

On my way to helping out the MTV shovelers I noticed that the plow had blocked the bike lane on Eads when they went into the parking lots so I took an orange pylon and cleared small opening for bikes.

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[CBGanimal]

I continued on to help the MVT friends and traded shovels from Columbia Island until we hit the 14TH street access…took a lot of Motrin when I got home!

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[smb9600]

All you snow-shoveling trail clearers are awesome! (How many car-drovers would shovel the streets so they -or even strangers- could get to work the next day?) Huge props, kudos, thanks, & [emoji112][emoji112][emoji112][emoji112] & sorry I wasn’t able to join you!

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[Steve O]

@smb9600 185884 wrote:

! (How many car-drivers would shovel the streets so they -or even strangers- could get to work the next day?)

Actually, I saw awitt out yesterday shoveling her street where the plows had made piles making it hard to get from hers to the secondary road. Does she count as a car driver or a bike rider, I wonder?

[Steve O]

@CBGanimal 185861 wrote:

It’s truly amazing what can get done when there are many hands helping.
From the time of this photo (sun is already getting low) before we were through, we had cleared the humpback and another 50 yards beyond virtually all the way across the trail.

[ShawnoftheDread]

A couple of forum members were out again this morning clearing snow and ice on the DC side of the 14th street bridge. Great work; thank you.

[komorebi]

@ShawnoftheDread 185893 wrote:

A couple of forum members were out again this morning clearing snow and ice on the DC side of the 14th street bridge. Great work; thank you.

That was KWL and me. It was great seeing you; thanks for saying hi.

Before:

After:

In addition to finding sore muscles in places where I didn’t know you could have sore muscles, I also found new uses for a bungee cord and some Velcro:

[CBGanimal]

I didn’t quiet make it to the Mt Vernon trail or the 14TH street bridge because I stopped on 4 mile run after the 395 bridge and attacked two ice patches to make a path for bikes to pass more safely…and all I had was a broom and a dust pan (when you live on the 11th floor of a 26 story building you do not have a stock of shovels).
BEFORE

AFTER

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[Judd]

@komorebi 185825 wrote:

I can’t say thank you enough to the extraordinary crew who came out to shovel the MVT today: caseykane50, CBGanimal, Christob50, Coppertop222, dachs6, KWL, LeprosyStudyGroup, Judd, Judd’s Twitter friend, and Steve O.

Before:

After:

Some of the group in action (and possibly Christob50’s only break during the whole afternoon):

A good day’s work:

When I first arrived, I saw that the ramp leading down to the wooden bridge hadn’t been cleared, but the bridge itself had been cleared and salted, as had the trail through the LBJ Grove. The sun had just come out, the sky was blue, and the day was warming up. “This isn’t going to be too bad,” I thought.

Famous last words. As soon as I got to the southern end of the Columbia Island Marina parking lot, I saw that the trail leading to the Navy-Merchant Marine Memorial hadn’t been cleared at all. My heart sank. Given the amount of snow, I figured we’d be lucky to finish clearing the trail circling around the memorial; the Humpback Bridge and the connection to the 14th Street Bridge would have to wait for another day.

I’ve never been so glad to be wrong. We cleared the trail all the way to the base of the 14th Street Bridge, thanks to this extraordinary crew’s hard work and strong backs. You all motivated me to keep going when I was exhausted, stepped in every time I needed a break, and kept up the good cheer throughout. You all amaze and inspire me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

P.S. I apologize for not bringing more water. I’ll bring more next time, I promise!

Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail Blog Post on this event is here: https://mountvernontrail.org/2019/01/16/friends-of-the-mount-vernon-trail-snow-patrol-takes-action/

Josephine scores 15 points for organizing a trail event. An additional five points are awarded because she brought water and snacks for everyone. Two points are awarded for writing a blog post for the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail. An additional five points is awarded for giving Judd a ride to BPAC and also home. 27 points! Josephine is in the lead for Queen of The Trail – You’re going to have to step it up Bee.
Casey Kane gets five points for participating in a trail event. Points are doubled for this event cause it was hard. Five bonus points are awarded for five hours of shoveling. 15 points!
Chris Watson gets five points for participating in a trail event and double points. Five bonus points are awarded for using her charm to get one of the guys from the DC Department of Public Works to throw a bit of salt down where we shoveled. 15 points!
Chris (christob50) gets 10 points for a double point event. 10 bonus points are awarded for showing up an hour early, stealing a shovel and putting in close to 6 hours straight of shoveling. 20 points!
Coppertop222 gets 10 points for a double point event. 3 bonus points have been awarded because I’m having trouble remembering his real name (Phil?) Two points for leaving only to go help shovel a driveway. 15 points!
KWL gets 10 points for a double point event. Two bonus points are awarded for rolling in on the Pugsley. Three points are awarded for letting me take a picture of him with the tiny shovel. 15 points!
Andy – 10 points for a double point event. Two points for doing it in cycling kit. 12 points!
Leo – 10 points for a double point event. 5 bonus points for bringing the tiny shovel which made me giggle. 15 points!
Judd – 0 Points because he’s not eligible for his own contest. 0 Points!
Collier – Judd’s friend from Twitter gets 10 points for the event. 5 bonus points are awarded because he is completely unaware that points were involved for showing up.
Steve O – 10 points for the event. Five points are awarded for being at the event but managing to escape photographic proof that he was at the event. 15 points!

Thank you to everyone that came out to this event. I’m amazed by the number of people that came out and the amazing hours of work that everyone put in. It’s also awesome to see snow shoveling grow from crazy Bobco out on the trail to a group of 10 people showing up and clearing an entire trail connection.

[Judd]

@Christob50 185840 wrote:

As I linger in bed this morning, wondering whether to take the “unscheduled PTO” to stay home popping Advils like Tic Tacs, I’m smiling at yesterday’s work and resulting aches. I really enjoyed being part of such a vast snow clearing effort yesterday! (When I set out, I thought, “I can put in an hour or two.” But the progress we were making was just too addictive!) It felt good to help clear a section of trail that (at least in the other 3 seasons) I ride constantly. And it felt good to do lots of manual labor, instead of sitting at the office desk. I had a lucky break arriving 45 mins early without any equipment, to find two shovels left unused (by a work crew while they were on lunch break) which provided a chance to start clearing the hard pack on the wood terrace at the Pentagon side of the channel footbridge. It was also a pretty rewarding sight later to look down from Humpback Bridge at the clean black ribbon of the trail we’d cleared, amidst the gleaming white blanket of snow, with the clear blue sky as backdrop to the bare tree limbs and branches. Alas, at no point in the day did I think to take a pic.
I have to say thanks again for all the water provided… my black sweatshirt sleeves had dried salt stains from my sweat when I got home; foolish of me to do that much exertion without my own water supply! So I greatly appreciate the what, 4 bottles? I drank provided by others, enabling me to keep going!

I think this is the greatest reward for the aches and pains the next day: https://twitter.com/chubbchubb124/status/1085317222485188609

[Judd]

@CBGanimal 185860 wrote:

On my way to helping out the MTV shovelers I noticed that the plow had blocked the bike lane on Eads when they went into the parking lots so I took an orange pylon and cleared small opening for bikes.

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Chris gets two points for a random act of trail awesomeness. An additional two points has been awarded because I was super irritated with the number of plows that had pushed snow into bike lanes yesterday. 4 points!

[Judd]

@komorebi 185899 wrote:

That was KWL and me. It was great seeing you; thanks for saying hi.

Before:

After:

In addition to finding sore muscles in places where I didn’t know you could have sore muscles, I also found new uses for a bungee cord and some Velcro:

Josephine gets another 15 points for organizing a trail event. Two additional points are awarded for elite shovel on bike skills. 17 points!
Ken gets 5 points for attending a trail event.

[Judd]

@CBGanimal 185905 wrote:

I didn’t quiet make it to the Mt Vernon trail or the 14TH street bridge because I stopped on 4 mile run after the 395 bridge and attacked two ice patches to make a path for bikes to pass more safely…and all I had was a broom and a dust pan (when you live on the 11th floor of a 26 story building you do not have a stock of shovels).
BEFORE

AFTER

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Chris gets four points for two random acts of trail kindness. 3 bonus points are awarded because these patches were terribly dangerous. 7 points!

[mydear_watson]

@CBGanimal 185905 wrote:

I didn’t quiet make it to the Mt Vernon trail or the 14TH street bridge because I stopped on 4 mile run after the 395 bridge and attacked two ice patches to make a path for bikes to pass more safely…and all I had was a broom and a dust pan (when you live on the 11th floor of a 26 story building you do not have a stock of shovels).
BEFORE

AFTER

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Should have asked me!! I have a shovel!

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