[bobco85]

“Isn’t there supposed to be a crowd for this race?”

[bobco85]

I can’t make it since I’m in the other Washington, but I’ll have a beer in one of the fancy BikeArlington beer glasses that ArlingtonRider gave me before I left. I’ll make sure to drink it at the same time (6 pm my time which is 9 pm your time) that y’all will be enjoying your beverages. Cheers from Seattle 😎

[bobco85]

It’s all part of my ongoing plot to break Steve O’s scoring system (on the FS site, go to “Alternate Scoring” -> “Steve O’s Crazy Idea” and look at the Adjusted Points for me)

On the flipside, it also means that if I don’t get my day’s ride started by 9 pm PST, then it won’t count for that day. Yet another reason (the daylight savings time chaos should be enough by itself as a reason) why the world should just switch to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

[bobco85]

Just before the end of the year, I finished the 3rd and final video in my series on biking the Lake Washington Loop. This one goes around the southern part of the lake and passes through parts of Bellevue, Renton (including the Seahawks’ practice facility), and Seattle.

The first part of this ride includes some of my favorite stretches of road for biking as they are low traffic, have nice pavement, are surrounded by trees, and get really nice views of the lake especially in the afternoon/evening (sunsets are gorgeous).

If you get time to do a 50-60 mile bike ride during a visit to the Seattle area, I definitely recommend the Lake Washington Loop.

[video=youtube_share;bpknMTon-e8]https://youtu.be/bpknMTon-e8[/video]

[bobco85]

Happy holidays from Seattle! I checked out some holiday lights on the south end of Lake Washington in Renton and made a quick little video on it.

I’m looking forward to doing Freezing Saddles again, see ya!

[video=youtube_share;CelJ0c01-c4]https://youtu.be/CelJ0c01-c4[/video]

[bobco85]

I finished part 2 in my biking Lake Washington Loop video series. This part shows the route around the north, northeast, and eastern parts of the lake and goes through Kenmore, Bothell, Kirkland, and into Bellevue. For some reason, there isn’t much signage, and there are alternate routes that people sometimes like to use, but this follows the most official-ish one as far as I can tell.

There are a couple of long climbs in this section of the loop, but they’re all doable if you can get yourself into a good rhythm. The route takes folks to the SR 520 Trail and Mountains to Sound (I-90) Trail, both of which have bridge crossings that lead to Seattle.

I hope to finish part 3 before New Year’s, but enjoy part 2!

[video=youtube_share;orzvRYa4Ip8]https://youtu.be/orzvRYa4Ip8[/video]

[bobco85]

@Boo Boo 184139 wrote:

How can you not love Mr. Bingle?!

For me, it’s the eyes. Cold, without pupils, hiding what evils it may be planning while I try to sleep at night.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18681[/ATTACH]

[bobco85]

@Boo Boo 183902 wrote:

[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/48366211_10218279145471473_5236799696403431424_o.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_eui2=AeFABODiBbxtjFyPv_oYB4VwaBg0I_KIz8DaUN2mdXz2DFm0Ho9F0NYpomc2NMS28A9qn5SSQ3zhDKk9tcm3UX2QQRU60fgdOgx9Hq6cYZqIkQ&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=ae5b7286686c7c40ce98de3d52cfd2db&oe=5C94C35F[/IMG]

That face is going to haunt my dreams 😮

[bobco85]

Where’s the concern about the potential gridlock that this is going to cause to area trails? Widening the trail is only going to lead to induced demand. Before you know it, cyclists and pedestrians are going to spill out and start using the neighborhood streets as cut-throughs, terrorizing drivers who will be fearful of rolling out of their own driveways. They also need to perform studies on the amount of traffic delay this will put on trail-users coming to and from the Arlington Loop. Perhaps Falls Church should consider congestion pricing for trail-users? (/heaping dose of sarcasm )

[bobco85]

Here in the Seattle area, the most popular loop ride involves a 50-ish (depending on route) trip around Lake Washington. There is a mostly signed route that takes riders on various trails and bike routes through the cities of Seattle, Kenmore, Bellevue, and Renton, and lots of folks like to combine portions of the route with either/both the SR 520 Trail and Mountains to Sound (I-90) Trail which each cross the lake to create smaller loops.

I’ve been meaning to do a video of the full loop, but I figured it would be best to divide it into 3 sections as there is so much to see. Part 1 of my series starts in Seward Park in Seattle and runs north along the west side of Lake Washington on a parkway (think a combination of Hains Point and Ohio Dr along the Potomac including cherry blossoms in the spring) that leads into a few neighborhoods. Then, it heads into the Central District along the west side of the Washington Park Arboretum before reaching the SR 520 Trail which only fully opened last December (runs on longest floating bridge in the world, leads to Bellevue and eventually Redmond). Then, it gets to the University of Washington campus before jumping onto the most popular trail in the region, the Burke-Gilman Trail (think a combination of W&OD rail-to-trail feel and the crowds of the Capital Crescent Trail, at least in Seattle). The rest of this part uses the Burke-Gilman Trail to get to Log Boom Park in Kenmore, WA at the north end of the lake where one can watch boat planes landing (watering?) and taking off.

i hope to finish parts 2 and 3 in December now that my crazy busy (but mostly awesome) autumn is winding down, but enjoy part 1’s video for now:
[video=youtube_share;K-F3y7HDj0o]https://youtu.be/K-F3y7HDj0o[/video]

[bobco85]

@lordofthemark 183329 wrote:

I am pretty sure electric gloves are “cheating”.

It’s okay. The warm-assist ones just get your hands up to a certain temperature and then they cut off.

[bobco85]

Awesome! When I was in town a few weeks ago, I saw parts of the trail construction along Washington Blvd. I’m really happy to hear that the trail is finally finished

[bobco85]

Just for fun, here are some historical map images of the Pentagon City-Crystal City-Potomac Yard area which have some interesting details:

Part of a 1907 map that shows Luna Park, Arlington Junction (current spot is just SE of Eads St/Army-Navy Dr), the full path of the Southern Railroad Bluemont Branch (later becoming the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad), and the fact that Alexandria County was split into 2 districts (Jefferson District and Arlington District) before it became Arlington County and the City of Alexandria.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18585[/ATTACH]

Parts of maps from 1942 showing Crystal City and the Alexandria Canal which ran along Eads St in Arlington and Commonwealth Ave in Alexandria (Eads St and Commonwealth Ave were formerly used for the Washington, Alexandria, & Mount Vernon Railway which was built on top of the Alexandria Canal towpath)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18587[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18586[/ATTACH]

@ginacico 182754 wrote:

…from the corner of S Glebe and W Glebe, where S Glebe is to the north

@creadinger 182778 wrote:

I always assumed that was the center of the universe, where time and space and reason have no meaning.

Well, it used to have a more coherent name. On this map from 1942, there is a Glebe Rd and an Old Glebe Rd. I’m guessing that Alexandria for whatever reason didn’t want to have “Old Glebe Rd” as one of their streets.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18584[/ATTACH]

[bobco85]

Delayed a week due to a family feline emergency, I am happy to announce that I finished a video on my recent visit to the DC area. I was able to see and experience some of the wonderful new infrastructure (Quincy St PBL, Holmes Run Trail bridge) and not wonderful infrastructure (3 lane crossing at Memorial Circle, 14th St NW eternally blocked bike lane). I was unfortunately unable to do a lot of things with y’all since my visit was more focused on family, but I was happy to see folks at the BikeDC Happy Hour and Monday Morning Pancake Club (I went to the old place first but eventually found the current location).

Enjoy the video, and I’ll see y’all again in April!

[video=youtube_share;wGbKsPs4Y1E]https://youtu.be/wGbKsPs4Y1E[/video]

[bobco85]

@buschwacker 182743 wrote:

0:43 of the utopian video on that page features an off-screen collision between a car and a bicycle taking the lane down Crystal Drive.

Give that cyclist some credit, they’re doing a perfect trackstand with no motion or wobbling whatsoever!

@accordioneur 182744 wrote:

While I wouldn’t take the video too literally, the animators neglected to include any of the the existing bike lanes! The cyclists on 15th St. (1:34) are riding in a traffic lane of what has become a three lane street, and the protected lane in front of the WTFCC Whole Foods is gone (2:15). Plus, they’re flying a delivery drone within the FAA no drone zone around the airport & DC (1:21).

+1000 on noticing the blatant FAA drone violation. Also, what happened to all of the protected bike lanes?

Other interesting things noticed (I’m really sleepy, so pedantry will run wild):

• No Metro buses (especially Metroway which runs on Crystal Dr) or stations shown
• No CaBi’s or bike racks seem to be there
• At 0:12, this isn’t New York City, so why are there so many yellow cabs here?
• At 0:25, 3 cars heading southbound go straight from the left turn only lane
• Also at 0:25, everyone on Crystal Dr is running the red at 20th St (look where the stoplight is, how could anyone on Crystal Dr see it?)
• At 0:43, SB driver driving in the striped median
• 0:47-0:54, world’s longest yellow light (over 7 seconds, it might still be yellow!)
• Good detail work on having the Carlyle street lights and the curved Metro entrances
• At 2:32, that car-free public space looks really nice
• At 3:01, building at lower right corner of screen has its solar panels facing the wrong way (facing east, should be south)
• National Landing is a dumb name

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