[bentbike33]

@Terpfan 127473 wrote:

Damnit, this was advice I needed 3 hours ago, haha. I fell on the bridge on MVT just north of OT.

Posted as soon as I got home. Sorry it wasn’t soon enough to warn you. Heal quickly!

[bentbike33]

The very high humidity today means water is condensing on surfaces that are below the dew point (i.e., did not get any sun today). Handling on the Trollheim seemed especially squirrelly even though it appeared to be mostly dry.

Be careful on the way home.

[bentbike33]

@Raymo853 127326 wrote:

I will paste in one quote: “I get a lot of thumbs-up from people while driving down the bike path.”

“…driving down the bike path.”

Is he sure he is seeing the right digit?

[bentbike33]

@ursus 126922 wrote:

Right turn on red is not allowed at that intersection. There are signs both there and earlier on the ramp. (You probably know that.)

Actually I did not know until you pointed it out. I’ve never driven down that ramp, and I’ve seen so many cars ignore the signs I figured there was no restriction.

[bentbike33]

YOU: Jogger clad in your Boss Ninja Suit shoaling me to the left at the red light for the intersection of the eastbound Custis Trail and Ft. Myer Drive.

ME: Following you as we barely jump the light as Ft. Myer Drive traffic had cleared.

YOU: Reaching the other side of Ft. Myer Drive, then after a few paces leaping across the center line from the westbound lane to the eastbound lane.

ME: Also reaching the other side of Ft. Myer Drive, in the eastbound lane of the Custis, hitting the brakes, and ringing and yelling a warning, but perhaps failing to be heard over the roar of the accelerating Harley-Davidson motorcycle on westbound Lee Highway.

YOU: Leaping back into the westbound lane of the Custis and launching into a lengthy, largely unintelligible, curse-laden tirade against me.

ME: Scooting through the IoD while I had the “No Right Turn” light and hoping whatever was going so wrong in your life to produce such an intense level of anger will get better soon. One thing that might help is wearing something reflective and/or a light when you are jogging in your Boss Ninja Suit so cyclists can see you sooner and provide earlier warnings of passes/avoid close calls. I can understand how being passed closely with little warning in the dark can be unnerving, but the good news is there are actions you can take to reduce this source of stress!

Also, if you are going to shoal cyclist at stop lights, you might want to hold whatever line you choose until the cyclists you’ve shoaled have passed.

[bentbike33]

ME: Riding west on the “Anacostia River Trail”, a.k.a, the sidewalk on the south side of Maine Ave. SW, around 5:00, slowing as I approached the exit ramp from northbound 14th Street to eastbound Maine Ave between the railroad and 14th street bridges as the east-facing Walk signal counted down the seconds: “69, 68, 67…”

YOU: Coming down the ramp in your red SUV focused like a laser beam on the eastbound Maine Ave. traffic to your left looking to roll through the red light.

ME: Screaming “HEY!” at the top of my lungs to get your attention.

YOU: Slamming the brakes and looking scared to death to see a sidewalk user coming from the other direction. Did not the very bright white Walk signal with the very long red-number countdown shining on your face clue you in that someone just might possibly be approaching from your right, and you should check?

Sometimes I wonder whether “right turn on red” might have been The Beginning of the End of Western Civilization.

[bentbike33]

@Steve O 126452 wrote:

October is the best month for bicycling!

Surprised there is not more challenge to this statement on the forum. There are any number of cases to be made for the other months. Even February: Cyclists get the MUTs (almost) to themselves; the raw physical challenge of staying upright on an ice-rutted MVT; you don’t need a headlight during a full moon after a snowfall, etc.

[bentbike33]

@Emm 126238 wrote:

*sigh* my lungs are asthmatic little babies. Apparently they don’t appreciate biking in sub-60 degree weather.

Have you tried breathing through a scarf of other winter accessory that will cover your nose and mouth? Loses style points, but might help you keep riding.

[bentbike33]

@Tim Kelley 126088 wrote:

Wasn’t Monday a federal holiday?

Yes, Columbus Day. I was riding west on the W&OD for fun, not east on the Custis to work.

[bentbike33]

@hozn 125860 wrote:

It helps to have optional tools like a tool to insert the nipples (so they don’t get lost in the rim, which can add significant time).

This optional tool is an extra spoke you won’t be using in the new wheel. Put the nipple on the tool-spoke backwards (i.e., fat-end first) a few turns, then feed it through the rim to the intended spoke. As you twist the nipple onto the spoke in the wheel, it simultaneously removes itself from the tool-spoke.

[bentbike33]

@Drewdane 125363 wrote:

Me: Riding EB on the Pennsylvania Ave cycletrack the other day, admiring the new curbstone thingies they finally put in to prevent illegal U-Turns in front of the Wilson Building.

You: Pig in the massive Suburban Assault Penis Substitution Machine pulling a U-turn OVER the curbstone thingies.

Screw you lady. Just, screw you.

Obviously, curbstone thingies were the wrong solution. What is needed are the tire-slashing thingies from the rental car garages at National Airport.

[bentbike33]

…had lighting issues.

To the guy who drafted me for about the whole Custis. Thanks for the push, and I appreciate your consideration in turning off your headlight so that it would not glare back at me from my rear-view mirror. On the whole however, I would have preferred you left it on so I had a better idea of how close behind you were by observing my shadow. I can easily tip the mirror down to reduce glare, but with your headlight off, and the mirror fogging in the humidity, it was hard to know where you were except when we passed under streetlights. Next time I’ll wave you around.

To the guy coming north on the MVT with your airport-runway-grade strobe light flashing into my southbound face: because I could not look directly at you, I failed to see the jogger you were inconsiderately passing and therefore did not leave the trail making for a close call. My bad.

[bentbike33]

Had to go home in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, and the 2 hours made for interesting differences.

Cars actually can go fast across the 14th street bridge into Virginia after noon.

Uphill Tailwind Conundrum The easterly winds promised an assist up the Rosslyn climb on the Custis, and the relatively empty conditions encouraged faster riding as well. But my ground speed exactly matched the wind, so the airspeed was zero. The high afternoon sun and dead air caused me to start overheating and forced a reduced level of effort. So tailwind ≠ speed increase when climbing in the sun.

Custis traffic is much lighter in mid-afternoon than rush hour, but the only appreciable difference in the user population was the number of elementary school boys exuberantly riding home from school.

The student pick-up at St Ann’s School is a sight to behold. All the cars are lined up four-wide and many more deep, held in position by tiny car-herds in their chartreuse safety sashes until all the students have reached their respective vehicles at which point they are released onto the streets of Arlington. It looks like a NASCAR start if the field included minivans, SUVs and Priuses (Prii?). I like to think the boys I saw on their bikes had escaped this automotive madness.

[bentbike33]

@Amalitza 124868 wrote:

There’s this weird temperature thing that sometimes happens on my commute where the temperature drops sometimes as much as 10 degrees right around miles 10-12– conveniently just as I am getting nicely warm and sweaty from a bit of climbing and then hit a 30mph descent. brrrrr. Today, according to strava at least, it only dropped 7 degrees, from 61F to 54F. I don’t know if I’m just getting far enough out in the burbs to escape the urban heat island, or if there is some other weather pattern that occurs, but I don’t much like it.

I think it is a confluence of a higher density of trees or other vegetation, calm winds and (mercifully) lower dew points. I regularly find 2 cold spots on my morning commute: at the Rt. 7/I-66 cloverleaf, and (more prominently) along the W&OD in Falls Church City, especially between Great Falls St. and Little Falls St (this one you can even get in the afternoon sometimes). The process of transpiration in plants (releasing water vapor into the air) pulls the temperature closer the dew point in highly vegetated locations.

[bentbike33]

@Tania 124536 wrote:

I have different rims but I wonder if it’s not the pro4s. I love how fast they are but they are a real pain in the as…thumbs.

I had trouble with Michelin tires in the past as well. I think their beads are just a bit smaller in circumference than other brands. The Michelin model I was using was discontinued, and the Panaracer tires I have now can be installed without levers on the same rims on which the Michelins gave me such a fight.

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