[Alcova cyclist]

Monday check-in:

Starting weight – 193
Goal: <180 by end of BAFS (final goal is <170)
1/12 check-in: 189
1/18 check-in: 186.0

[Alcova cyclist]

@CWaggon 205183 wrote:

What are all yall’s strategies? I’m using myfitnesspal to count macros… Anyone doing intermittent fasting? What about something unusual like a cabbage diet?

Mostly my strategy is “freezing saddles” – going from basically no exercise to 5-10 hours a week. Seems like if I don’t scale up my calorie intake too much, this alone should give me at least a pound a week of loss.

I am making more of an effort to stop eating at “not hungry” instead of “full” and some (inconsistent) food journaling to become more aware of the amount and relative quality of snacking. Oh, and cutting down, though not eliminating, alcohol.

[Alcova cyclist]

I am in! (actually this was a significant factor in coming back to BAFS after a few years off).

Starting weight – 193
Goal: <180 by end of BAFS (final goal is <170)
1/12 check-in: 189

[Alcova cyclist]

Welcome, Cameron!

[Alcova cyclist]

Hello team nine fellows! I already introduced myself on the email thread, so I won’t belabor that here.

Any idea where our 3 lost sheep are? Hard to be a competitive team with only 62% of the people. Looks like we’re missing Caroline, Cameron and Carl

I’ve been slacking a bit the last few days, sneaking in short rides around getting my youngest to college, but plan to step that up now that I’m back in Arlington.

Enough typing, time to go ride!

[Alcova cyclist]

@secstate 202689 wrote:

I’ve been back and forth about participating this year. Last year I had a hard time keeping my motivation to ride every day… not in a bad way, just wanted to spend my time another way some days. This year, with no commute, I feel like a total slug, and I have some big ride ambitions for the summer. Can’t promise 10 miles daily but I’ll try to do something every day

I was on the fence too since I am not really riding at all, but hoping the spirit of BAFS will get me back in the saddle — so I registered last night.

I did BAFS for 3-4(?) years before taking last year off in the midst of a job change. During my previous BAFS, I had been a year ’round commuter, so was good for 60-70 miles/week just from that, with mostly short sleazy rides or occasional group outings on weekends. Now my commute is about 100 steps, counting the detour to and from the kitchen for coffee. I need motivation to get out and ride (and be social). If I can get up to 50 or so miles a week, it’ll be a win. If I crack 750 miles in total, I’ll be over the moon.

[Alcova cyclist]

Wound up taking the long way when the Wright Gate (by Iwo Jima Memorial) was inexplicably closed at 5:45pm this afternoon. Taking the route 50 “bike trail” from there into central Arlington was an adventure. It sucks at the best of times, but now has a stretch that’s closed requiring you (I guess) to ride on route 50 between Pershing and the Washington Blvd exit ramp. Luckily if cross with the light and you haul it you can stay ahead of traffic until you’re back on the trail. Of course, that trail tries to kill you repeatedly from there west, so it’s not that much of an improvement. (I guess you could go into the neighborhood and pick your way west, but there’s no marked detour).

It is shameful that Bike Arlington labels that nightmare an “off street trail” and colors it green on the comfort map when it crosses blind-curve exit ramps from a 50mph highway (along with a host of other problems). It’s just a matter of time till someone gets killed on that stretch of “trail”.

[Alcova cyclist]

@dbb 159156 wrote:

I think they shot the gap between me and an oncoming cyclist a bit further north (just south of the parking lot) with no call or apparent concern.

I think I might have seen this play out too – saw another cyclist yell at two clowns passing unsafely heading south just before Gravelly Point.

I don’t normally ride the MVT, but was riding to a kids event at Wakefield HS straight from work so was off my usual route. For the whole stretch across 14th ST bridge and then MVT down to 4MR I was thinking “How do people ride this every day? People on this trail are freaking nuts!”

[Alcova cyclist]

I am actually surprised it’s not higher – the cyclist percentage of fatalities who were legally drunk is significantly lower than both pedestrains and drivers (21% vs. 35% and 32% respectively).

Biking, to a much greater degree than driving, requires motor skills (a little irony there I just noticed), and particularly balance. I would guess that -at the same BAC- a cyclist is far more impaired at the operation of their vehicle than a driver.

Of course a cyclist is much less likely to harm someone other than themselves, so the moral calculus is somewhat different, which leads me to a second factor I thought might bump up the cyclist numbers: There are some people who are conscious enough about not killing someone w/ a car by driving drunk who will “for safety” choose to bike instead when drinking. Or, having chosen to bike for whatever reason, would be more likely to drink more since they’re not getting behind the wheel.

Finally, drivers, walkers, and cyclists alike often fail to realize that the 0.08% legal BAC limit is really not that high. With the surge in popularity of craft beers, which can be two or more times as boozy as the “standard” cheap American beers — and are more often served in 16 oz pints than 12 oz bottles/cans, I’d bet a typical adult male could be approaching 0.08 after just 2 pints, and well over the limit after three.

[Alcova cyclist]

@Steve O 157778 wrote:

Unclear
You Call That a Snow Day – Kitty
Off-Season Coffeeneuring – Bruno Moore
Horses & Hand Grenades – AlcovaCyclist

Confirming “horseshoes and hand grenades” award. By my count there are six riders who rode every day but one. I will have an award for those six. Ordered supplies today.

[Alcova cyclist]

I am planning to attend.

Thanks for putting this together!

[Alcova cyclist]

@scoot 154700 wrote:

Glad to hear you emerged unscathed from that minefield.

I assume you’re talking about 6th St S between Courthouse and Walter Reed? I hate riding on streets designed like that one. The bike lanes are entirely within the door zone, and the median prevents drivers from being able to pass you with a safe clearance unless you ride perilously close to the parked cars. Taking the lane feels like the safest option, but then drivers think you’re just being a jerk. My experience on 8th and 9th Streets is far more pleasant.

That’s the place — and I agree w/ you assessment.

I’ve tried staying on 2nd, but it’s not much better. Cutting down to 8th takes me out of my way and it doesn’t seem worth it for the few blocks (plus it’s weird to avoid 6th specifically b/c of the bike lanes). Maybe I’ll give that a try though.

[Alcova cyclist]

Can’t figure out if I was a jerk or had a ninja cyclist almost kill me…

A little before 6pm, I was approaching the Jefferson Memorial on the sidewalk from downtown and heading toward 14th street bridge and was cutting from the sidewalk into the road. An approaching opposite-direction cyclist yelled a loud “whoa!” as I cut directly in front of him. We missed a head-on or slight T-bone by a few feet at most. Never saw them until I heard them. I yelled a very loud “Sorry!” and we both continued on our way. But I am still not sure how I hadn’t seen them. So if this was you and you’re reading this, choose A or B as appropriate:
A. If you were lit up and I was somehow so spaced out that I didn’t see you – once again, I am really sorry; and nice job avoiding what would have been a nasty accident
B. If you were riding ninja – “hey man, get a light before you kill someone!”

In the rule of “bad things in threes,” on this same 6-mile commute, I also nearly got hit in the crosswalk on Memorial Drive (right-turning cab rolled right through the stop and the crosswalk while only ever looking left for cars… not to the right for peds/bikes). Then I missed getting doored in the bike lane on 6th St in Arlington by an inch or two with a bus on my left and nowhere else to go.

Here’s hoping for a safer ride tonight!

[Alcova cyclist]

Any interest in an early morning breakfast ride on Sunday?

Thinking about something like a 7am departure from somewhere around the start of the W&OD, ride up the W&OD to Vienna Inn and then return. I ride on the slow side – 12-13mph give or take, but could bump that up a bit if needed or take it more casual. This would put us at the Vienna Inn around 8 and back in Arlington around 10.

On weekends I generally try to knock out my riding early, unless I am doing a (rare for me) longer all-day kind of ride.

[Alcova cyclist]

@Steve O 153557 wrote:

Feel free to add to the FS calendar, if you don’t mind infiltrators.

This technology, it eludes me. Infiltrators welcome tho’

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