[Brendan von Buckingham]

No University Terrace this year. It must have finally killed somebody last year.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Keeping my eye on the weather heading into this Saturday. I suckerred 2 co-workers into joining me this year.

Capital Weather Gang is cautiously optimistic about Saturday:
It turns much cooler and less humid on Friday behind the front, with mostly sunny skies overhead. Highs aim for the mid-70s across much of the region. Confidence: Medium

An October-like air mass takes hold of the region this weekend, as highs only reach the upper 60s to near 70 after morning lows near 50 in the suburbs and in the mid-50s downtown (with mid-upper 40s possible in the typically cooler spots). It should be partly-to-mostly sunny on both days. Confidence: Medium

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I think that’s me catching up with you in the background. My Strava tells me the Trailer also won a Top 10 trophy for your effort. Kudos. That’s a nice climb though, isn’t it? Reminds me of the Twin Sisters under Washington-Lee if they were merged into one climb instead of two.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I work with old buildings and know the substitute materials you’re talking about. The vinyl/fiberglass boards don’t have any wood in them, but as plastic containing materials they have a much higher rate of expansion than wood. Under direct sunlight some boards get very warpy, more so then a wood deck. If you’re ever tripped on the plastic board gangplank at Cantina Marina, it’s not because you drank too much, but rather the plastic boards have warped into tripping hazards.

The other material mentioned is a wood/cement composite material. Hardiplank is a leading manufacturer. It’s made by combining sawdust and cement into stock that can be milled like wood. It’s good for siding and weighs a ton. I haven’t seen it spec’ed for boards that have to span distances under a live load and are horizontal where it could hold water.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Just camp out at that spot +/- 15 minutes from the time the incident happened, i.e. if the incident happened at 8:15, go there tomorrow at 8:00 and hang around until 8:30. Commuters don’t vary their routes or departure times too much. You’ll have a high chance of finding him again that way. What you actually do or say in that event is up to you.

I’ve found drivers this way. Usually only takes two or three tries.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Trail construction along south side of Arlington Blvd, between Pershing and Rhodes is complete.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Back from Labor Day and I biked to work on this trail today. Finished enough for me.

Likes
+ five minutes better than my regular 33 minute commute from Ballston via Clarendon Blvd/Courthouse/Rhodes Street.
+ decent entry from Pershing eastbound with a wide curb cut level and smooth with the road
+ can finally read the silver historic marker. It’s for a Civil War fortification called Ft. Cass. Can we call this new section of trail the Ft. Cass trail? Pretty please?
+ long sight line to the 4-way stop at the end of trail segment, so there’s plenty of time to pick your spot to leave the trail and enter the Arlington Boulevard access road roadway.

Dislikes
– first long down hill is notable and can give you lots of speed. It ends with a slightly blind curve to the right, though. The curve is very close to the edge of the highway without any sort of barrier, so there’s little room for error without ending up in the highway.
– just before this no-margin curve is a soil-drainage washout across the trail. Wet and silty.
– merging with traffic backed up from the 4-way stop at Rhodes/Queen & Arlington Blvd access road is narrow. So although you have a lot of time to pick your spot, if you don’t hit it right, you end up on the regular sidewalk until the 4-way stop. I don’t like riding regular sidewalks in deference to pedestrians, but that’s a matter of taste.
– at this merge point, where a cyclist should be looking left to merge into the roadway at speed, there is a blind intersection on the right where the sidewalk on the west side of Rolfe Street meets the trail.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Why do joggers run against traffic? To see oncoming cars. What’s the point of seeing oncoming cars? So the jogger can jump out of the road before being hit by a wayward car. When it’s a bike lane I’m the “car.” I don’t mind contra flow joggers as long as they follow the compact and jump out of the lane when they see me coming.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

As a woodworker and owner of soapstone counter tops (which like to be oiled occassionally) I can say that drug store mineral oil is a little different than regular mineral oil. Drug store mineral oil pours thicker; it’s sold as a laxative and is fortified with certain vitamins. 100% mineral oil without additives can be found at Woodcraft, a woodworker store with 4 or 5 locations around the fringes of the Beltway.

Johnson & Johnson baby oil is just mineral oil with fragrance. It’s viscosity is probably closer to 100% mineral oil than the laxative kind is.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Does anyone else think that with the new traffic lights on Washington Circle that, coming out of Georgetown, it’s faster to use the circle to get to New Hampshire and then turn right on L? That’s instead of the old way of turning left off of Penn at the beginning of L.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I get more contrition and logical reasoning from my 8 year old than I do from Milloy.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

My ears tell me:

the size of the vehicle overtaking me (car, european sport, hoopty beater, motorcycle, truck, pick-up, bus…they all sound different)
whether it is hauling a trailer (important so I don’t re-establish lane position too soon only to get clipped by the trailer)
whether it is accelerating aggressively
if it is braking
if the car behind me has matched my speed and is waiting to pass or change lanes
whether a car is overtaking me on my left or on my right between me and the curb (Like the sh:thead this morning. My ears were my first warning to move left and save my life).
a cyclist approaching from behind? No cyclists ever catch me

I would never ride in the city with headphones.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@Subby 92052 wrote:

Three days in jail is excessive for what he did. Any jail time is excessive if it was his first offense. Pay a huge fine, move on.

Jail time is more egalitarian than fines. $200 means different things to different people. To a working class stiff, $200 could make the difference between making mortgage/rent or not. To someone rich enough to own or drive a high-performance sportscar, $200 could be nothing. But no matter how much money you have, losing a day of freedom hurts.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I whistle like an incoming artillery shell.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Commuting almost entirely. Not many weekend rides. In and out, 5-days a week. 80 miles a week.

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