[bentbike33]

@Crickey7 130268 wrote:

The rain jacket heated me up so much, I was almost as wet from sweat as I would have been from the light rain.

Unless its a very short ride, I find rain gear pointless until the temperature gets into the 40s.

[bentbike33]

@mstone 130043 wrote:

let’s think a bit out of the box:

How about a railroad-crossing-style gate that comes down with the “no-right-turn” signal? Added benefit: it would hit the tops of cars blocking the crosswalk.

[bentbike33]

@Vicegrip 129952 wrote:

Sometime a bike is just a Bike.

Unless it’s a jock strap.

[bentbike33]

Huskerdont:

Scoot posted his, and wrote it better, while I was writing mine. I’m thinking the license plate distribution among the local jurisdictions for the IoD right turns looks different in the afternoon than morning. Understanding the source of the IoD right turners would be interesting. I’ve not tried to observe their destinations. Are any trying great numbers trying to cut across the lanes to exit onto GW Parkway, or are all basically headed over Key Bridge?

[bentbike33]

@mstone 129935 wrote:

The real solution is to ban right turns, all the time, …

Looking at the street map, it would appear that virtually every driver looking to turn right across the IoD has to be coming from Jefferson Davis Highway, unless the Whitehurst freeway and other streets are so hopelessly choked that drivers are crossing the TR bridge, then the Key Bridge to get to Georgetown (GW parkway west is directly accessible from TR bridge). If right turns from the ramp to Lynn were banned, drivers would need to be directed to stay on Jefferson Davis/Wilson Blvd to turn right onto Lynn from Wilson to access Key Bridge and westbound GW Parkway. Seems doable, but it would be a complicated traffic study since specific vehicles would need to be tracked through the area rather than just setting up counters.

[bentbike33]

@JustinW 129667 wrote:

Do I run a risk of changing the bike’s dynamics if I get “the wrong” replacement?

The key measurement you need to preserve to keep the handling of your bike the same is called “rake”. It is the distance between parallel lines running through the center of the head-tube and the center of the axle. See http://calfeedesign.com/tech-papers/geometry-of-bike-handling/ for a good explanation of the relevant concepts.

[bentbike33]

I think I may have encountered this guy too in the same general area. He was not close enough to me during his tirade for me to feel threatened, however. He should do the world a favor and take up jogging on a treadmill if he’s not going to take his meds.

[bentbike33]

I always thought these were to help trail users better judge the speed of oncoming traffic.

The zig-zags at Sterling Blvd. were removed by the recent repaving project and had not been replaced last time I rode across it on Thanksgiving Day. I wonder if they will be brought back or if their removal is part of an ongoing study.

[bentbike33]

@RESTONTODC 129348 wrote:

So, my head light signal is fast BLINK, BLINK, and go DARK until I pass you.

+1 to an audible greeting. I would reply back.

As far as I’m concerned, you don’t need to “go dark” either. If your headlight is one of those unfocused, nano-sun portable fusion reactors, I can create an adequate eclipse with my left hand, and still know where you are by your corona. If your beam is well focused and aimed like mine so the brightest part is hitting the trail in front of you rather than the infinite void, I don’t even need to raise my hand. If you go dark, especially on the unlit parts of the W&OD, you disappear until my light hits your forward reflectors (if any), which I personally find highly disorienting.

Thanks.

[bentbike33]

@mstone 129161 wrote:

This is like Car Talk for bikes, right here

Except with way more chuckling knuckleheads dispensing the (more or less) bo-oh-oh-oh-gus advice.

[bentbike33]

The return of seasonable temperatures this morning got me thinking about the meaning of the 2 warning signs posted at the approach to the MVT underpass of Memorial Bridge. The first, of course, says “trail narrows walk bike” which is nonsense that I continue not to heed despite previous admonishment. It’s the second sign I find curious. It says “bridge freezes before trail”. Why should I be worried about that when I’m going under the bridge? Should I be watching out for cars, pedestrians, and fellow cyclists raining down on the MVT after careening off of the icy bridge above? If so, it is yet another reason not to dismount and walk the bike under Memorial Bridge lest you get hit from above while dismounting or remounting.

[bentbike33]

@Crickey7 128813 wrote:

…4 flats in 1 week…

Maybe time for new tires? I find when the tread starts to get thin, the little glass shards I regularly collect can cause a large enough hole in the casing for the tube to herniate through. It never happens upon changing/patching the tube, only later.

[bentbike33]

@wheels&wings 128281 wrote:

Is it only the bright lights that bother other trail users?

It is for me, specifically the very intense flood-light types. That said, I’ll just raise a hand in front of my eyes rather than expect the oncoming riders (and sometimes even joggers!) to cut their lights (and actually prefer that oncoming riders not completely shut off a headlight as I find this frighteningly disorienting on very dark trails for some reason).

I run a pair of German-made dynamo-powered headlights all the time (no battery worries). Because they conform to German regulations, these lights have a cut-off to the most focused and brightest part of the beam, much like car low-beams. While light does shine above this cut-off, it is much dimmer than below the cut-off. I aim the cut-off at about waist-high for the average pedestrian on the trail, so the bright part of my lights can only shine in oncoming traffic’s faces if I am cresting a hill (or speed hump), or it’s a low-slung recumbent trike. Nonetheless, I get occasional complaints about failure to dim my headlights on the trail (even, curiously, from the rare intense phobophobe during daylight hours).

[bentbike33]

Saw ELFman riding east on the W&OD west of Vienna yesterday as I was heading west. At the time I saw him, he appeared to be under the escort of two cyclists wearing chartreuse shells riding two-abreast in front of him. I wondered if perhaps they were taking civil action to keep ELFman at a more normal human-powered speed.

I did not give ELFman a “thumbs-up.” 😡

[bentbike33]

What about something like this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadracycle#/media/File:Quattrocycle_with_canopy.jpg

Wider and heavier than ELFman, but no motor.

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