VASA RIDE – WABA and the Swedish Embassy

[consularrider]

@makeleleroll 43354 wrote:

This sounds like a fun event. I’m pretty new to road biking and this would be my first event. Is this event suitable for a newbie like me? Like for a level C rider? Is the path difficult in that there is a lot of car traffic passing close to riders? I’m not worried about terrain, just worried about safety. I’m accustomed to riding mostly trails like the Mt Vernon and WOD.

If you click on the link in my last post (the first one on this page), you can see my GPS track from the 2011 Korte Vasa. Of course, that may or may not be this year’s final route. I would say that about 75% of the ride is on DC city streets, some with more some with less traffic, 25% on shared use trails. Depending on the weather that day, I expect there will be several other newbie riders out there, there have been every year I’ve ridden. From one of my Meetup groups (NOVA-CBG), there are about 10 riders who are doing the short route. This is a relatively casual riding group and at lest two or three of the 10 are newbies too.

[Tim Kelley]

@consularrider 43371 wrote:

If you click on the link in my last post you can see my GPS track from the 2011 Korte Vasa.
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That link didn’t work for me, but this one did: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73727798

[consularrider]

@Tim Kelley 43373 wrote:

That link didn’t work for me, but this one did: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73727798

I was trying to imbed an image of the route, and it didn’t work. I edited it to delete that mess.

[americancyclo]

only 75 spots left for the VASA ride! I’ll do my best to wear a BikeArlington reflective cuff so’s I can be recognized. Oh, and the big, purple bike probably helps too!

[PeteD]

Signed up and ready to caravan in from Falls Church.

[bluerider]

Yep, I am in.

[ejwillis62]

Can’t wait to put some faces to names.

[consularrider]

I’m hearing that the ride is full and registrations are closed.

[Arlingtonrider]

I’m in. Made it before registration closed.

[ejwillis62]

I can’t wait. Glad I registered early

[dbb]

A grand ride today.

Outstanding effort by WABA and the Swedish Embassy.

Those stackable racks were superb. Thanks WABA. What’s with the skateboard?

The riverside start was pretty sweet as well.

At the turnaround, some chose to protect their feet with grocery bags because it was a bit chilly

[vvill]

Good to see you (and your new bike!). FWIW I found clipless pedals less scary to learn to use than toeclips.

I rode in, and then with americancyclo for a decent distance, then a bit later I found myself the lone outsider amongst a group of non-flying Dutchmen (who also spoke English) but only had one cuesheet between them. For the last leg I ended up riding with various FridayCoffeeClubbers. Drafting a tandem down hills is fun! At the finish while enjoying the blueberry soup I also ran in to JDAntos, crysb and quite a few others. Finally I spun a lap and a half at Hains Pt after seeing consularider.

[americancyclo]

Great day, although my fingers didn’t really thaw for the first hour. Nice riding in with vvill and rob o and seeing so many familiar faces. We took a bit of a detour, bit still got our 59 miles in and made it back for blueberries soup. Pretty good!

[PeteD]

Had a glimpse of dbb, but I guess I haven’t met enough of everyone yet to identify people in a crowd…

[KLizotte]

Many thanks to WABA and the Swedish Embassy for organizing and hosting. The blueberry soup was great (I love anything with blueberries). Thanks to KIND for the freebies too.

It was cold out today. Hats off to those of you that completed the 59 mile route.

[Author]

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