Your latest bike purchase?

[DismalScientist]

@dasgeh 84464 wrote:

Yes, VA law is shameful, though the new AG is less so.

Yes, pretty soon with the new AG we won’t have any need for a legislature at all!

One definite advantage of biking in Virginia is the lower proportion of drivers bearing MD plates.:rolleyes:

[americancyclo]

@cvcalhoun 84436 wrote:

One question about the pneumatic tires–have you ever had a flat? And how easy is it to get new tubes/tires if that happens? They don’t exactly seem to be a standard size.

Have not had a flat (also don’t have the stroller attachment) but the clearance for pumps is pretty tight on mine. i have to use a mini pump, my large floor stand pump won’t fit in the tiny space in the wheel.

[Emm]

@cvcalhoun 84441 wrote:

Alas, even if I could manage to steal her from her parents (who tend to be picky about that sort of thing!), it is 10 miles just to get to Arlington for me. And bicycling in Virginia is always a bit scary. One of my nightmares is having any kind of accident and ending up in a hospital in a state that would not recognize my wife as my next of kin.

Although not a perfect fix for this, the federal govt does require all hospitals that accept medicare and medicaid funding (which is virtually all hospitals) to extend visitation rights to same-sex partners and respect people’s choices about who makes decisions about their care (i.e. as long as you have documentation, your wife can make medical decisions on your behalf). At least in northern VA, hospitals should be good about this, and most have written policies in place that reflect this. Just make sure you have the proper documentation ready in case it ever comes up.

If you ever travel out of state to anywhere that doesn’t recognize your marriage, you should have the documentation handy. It’s a pain, but worthwhile if you haven’t done it already.

[dkel]

@hozn 84435 wrote:

It’s kinda funny that this thread evolved into “what is your latest cycling-related purchase”. I’m sure it’s fine, as dkel should have all the justification he needs from earlier posts to go out an N+1 with that Straggler.

Ha! There have been several tangents on this thread, and I’ve enjoyed them. I also have a long list of bike-related items that I’m considering buying, so it’s all relevant, as far as I’m concerned.

Regarding the Straggler, I’ve been to Bikenetic twice and ridden lots of bikes, but there’s no Straggler to try. Not having ridden a drop-bar bike since I was about 12 (a blue Huffy 10-speed–I think it was pretty terrible, looking back, but I didn’t know the difference then, and part of its problem was that I treated it like a cross bike, taking it all over our yard and into the edges of the woods), I’m still getting used to the feel of the different geometry and various hand positions, so it’s a little hard for me to judge what is comfortable and what fits me. I have learned that I really like steel for its ride characteristics, so that will be a plus for the Straggler. I’ve also learned that the steel bikes I’ve ridden are nice, but the details of the Straggler frame are still pretty mesmerizing to me, so that’s another plus for it. Next week I’ll go back and try some of the touring bikes to see how those feel. Pretty sure I’ll end up ordering the Straggler before too long, but I want to be pretty sure before I do it. Anyone have a Cross-Check or Trucker I could try?

[Steve]

@dkel 84480 wrote:

Anyone have a Cross-Check or Trucker I could try?

Not sure your size, but I’ve got a 54cm Disc Trucker that you’re welcome to ride. Just to note, that size makes it 26″ wheels. If you need a different size, I’d see if Spokes has any in stock. They usually have some LHTs if not the disc, which pretty much gives you the idea.

[brendan]

@Steve 84481 wrote:

Not sure your size, but I’ve got a 54cm Disc Trucker that you’re welcome to ride. Just to note, that size makes it 26″ wheels. If you need a different size, I’d see if Spokes has any in stock. They usually have some LHTs if not the disc, which pretty much gives you the idea.

An additional data point: Erin told me that the 26″ Trucker rides very different than the 700c trucker and hence, when she’s been told the differences between the cross-check and the long-haul or disc truckers, she’s usually hearing about the differences between the 700s of both. She found that most of the concerns raised by others based on the comparisons of the 700 lht/dt didn’t really apply to the 26″ one (she test-rode both sizes of lht/dt and the cross-check which is always a 700c).

Wheel size definitely interacts with the geometry.

B

[cvcalhoun]

Yeah, I’m aware of this one. However, last time I actually was in an accident, I realized that my documentation was several years old, and that the likelihood of my wife remembering where to find it in my files during the stress of an emergency was low. It’s a whole lot easier to get proof of marriage, which can actually be found on the Worcester City (Massachusetts) website.

However, things are at least much better for us than they used to be. We have been together since 2001, but couldn’t get married at all before 2008. (Massachusetts had same-sex marriage before then, but only for Massachusetts residents.) And it was 2010 before my home state of Maryland recognized our marriage, and 2013 before the federal government did.

@Emm 84472 wrote:

Although not a perfect fix for this, the federal govt does require all hospitals that accept medicare and medicaid funding (which is virtually all hospitals) to extend visitation rights to same-sex partners and respect people’s choices about who makes decisions about their care (i.e. as long as you have documentation, your wife can make medical decisions on your behalf). At least in northern VA, hospitals should be good about this, and most have written policies in place that reflect this. Just make sure you have the proper documentation ready in case it ever comes up.

If you ever travel out of state to anywhere that doesn’t recognize your marriage, you should have the documentation handy. It’s a pain, but worthwhile if you haven’t done it already.

[cvcalhoun]

Thank you! I suspect that the inner tube wasn’t so much punctured as rotting due to age. But I ordered a new one from the site you linked.

@DismalScientist 84465 wrote:

I have no idea how you could possibly puncture the thing using it as a stroller, but here is a replacement with the curved valve and all:
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-Inner-Tube-69533.html

[hozn]

@dkel 84480 wrote:

Anyone have a Cross-Check or Trucker I could try?

What size are you? I don’t have one of those, but would be happy to let you try my cx bike out with different wheel setups so you could cross-compare.

[cvcalhoun]

As someone in possession of Maryland plates, it is my considered opinion that Virginia does its best to make sure Maryland drivers will be driving dangerously when in Virginia, by setting up road signage (or lack thereof) designed to ensure that anyone not born in Virginia will be continuously lost while trying to drive there. Favorites are:

• Major roads with no signs.
• Roads that change names every few blocks.
• Multiple roads in different locations with essentially the same name. (How many Glebe Roads are there?)

And let’s not even mention the aberrations like Temporary Road (with a far from temporary sign). :rolleyes:

@DismalScientist 84467 wrote:

One definite advantage of biking in Virginia is the lower proportion of drivers bearing MD plates.:rolleyes:

[cyclingfool]

@cvcalhoun 84496 wrote:

As someone in possession of Maryland plates, it is my considered opinion that Virginia does its best to make sure Maryland drivers will be driving dangerously when in Virginia, by setting up road signage (or lack thereof) designed to ensure that anyone not born in Virginia will be continuously lost while trying to drive there. Favorites are:

• Major roads with no signs.
• Roads that change names every few blocks.
• Multiple roads in different locations with essentially the same name. (How many Glebe Roads are there?)

And let’s not even mention the aberrations like Temporary Road (with a far from temporary sign). :rolleyes:

Most of my negative experiences with MD have had nothing to do with the situations you mentioned, though I can sympathize with you on many of them, even though I now line in NoVA and occasionally drive. Most of the inane and idiotic things I have seen MD drivers do relate more to complete lack of regard for normal traffic laws and standards: ridiculously unsafe speeding, illegal turns, buzzing cyclists to name but a few, so whatever confusion may be caused by the factors you list is not to blame in those cases. Just being an arsehole is.

As a proportion of drivers from a jurisdiction, and likely even in absolute numbers, I see this more from MD drivers than VA or DC drivers even though almost all my riding in VA and DC. When I see stupid driving, I always guess MD plates and I’m usually right about 75% of the time.

I’m sure you’re a safe driver, as are most people out there, even from MD, but there seem to be more bad apples in MD’s basket than in DC or VA’s. At least that’s been my observation.

[DismalScientist]

@cvcalhoun 84496 wrote:

[*]Major roads with no signs.
[*]Roads that change names every few blocks.
[*]Multiple roads in different locations with essentially the same name. (How many Glebe Roads are there?)

A) It’s NPS’ s fault.
It’s Fall Church’s fault.
C) C’mon there’s only two. Who cares if they intersect?

[KLizotte]

@cvcalhoun 84487 wrote:

Yeah, I’m aware of this one. However, last time I actually was in an accident, I realized that my documentation was several years old, and that the likelihood of my wife remembering where to find it in my files during the stress of an emergency was low. It’s a whole lot easier to get proof of marriage, which can actually be found on the Worcester City (Massachusetts) website.

Hey! I grew up in Worcester County, MA! Went to college in “Worcesta”. Welcome to the forum!

[cvcalhoun]

Thanks! I never lived in Worcester (or anywhere in Massachusetts), but was most grateful to it for allowing us to get married at a time when other jurisdictions wouldn’t. We had only a day in Massachusetts before our wedding, so we raced back and forth between the marriage license office and the courthouse (to get a court waiver of the usual three-day waiting period). Fortunately, the judge didn’t give us a lot of grief after we explained that we hadn’t been able to get the marriage license earlier because we lived in Maryland. And the spectators who had been watching one sordid family law matter after another before we arrived actually cheered us when we got the waiver. We then drove the rest of the way up to Winchester, and got married in a lovely little synagogue there.

@KLizotte 84502 wrote:

Hey! I grew up in Worcester County, MA! Went to college in “Worcesta”. Welcome to the forum!

[KLizotte]

Wow, so sorry you’ve had to endure so much drama to simply get married but am glad you were finally able to do so. Times can’t change fast enough.

[Author]

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