[Brendan von Buckingham]

I was confused at the end last year. I was expecting some sort of finish line in the park or some sort of huzzah. But the park was empty and I just bumbled over to the free beer and T-shirt at the bar.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I just signed up. I’ve been looking forward to 50 States ’13 since I finished 50 States ’12. It’s my one event ride all year. I went solo last time, but always managed to tuck in with a friendly group. There’s not much pace or precision until you ditch the hoi polloi of the 13 Colonies, but that too has its amusements.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Your mom speeds.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@kcb203 59800 wrote:

1) Going to DC, I’ve been going W&OD to Custis to Roosevelt Bridge to F or H Street to Pennsylvania past the White House to New York to H. I don’t want to cross the GW Parkway for the Memorial Bridge. Is this the best route, or should I add a couple miles and go to the 14th Street bridge?

I don’t mind being traffic and like 22nd Street to Lee Hwy (@Heidelberg Pastry) to Custis Trail (@Lyon Village Shopping Center) to Key/M/Pennsylvania/H. Inbound, Lee Highway is sufficiently downhill that keeping up with traffic is a breeze. Outbound, to avoid going slow up Lee Hwy, I’ll take Custis Trail to Washington Blvd and pound the humps through Westover.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

…a Boxunblocker

[Brendan von Buckingham]

What’s HTFU mean?

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I blame central air conditioning.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

As a bike and watch guy too, who has heard of the Shinola story, I was sad to miss this roll out while I was out of town. How did it go? Any raves about the bike or does anyone already own one.

I’d have to sell my great grandfather’s Universal Geneve tri-compax moonphase chronometer in order to buy a Shinola.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

… a Sculptor of Space

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Removal of political signs is a free speech issue. An illegitimate stop sign is probably more comparable to a garage sale or open house sign. In Arlington, those are allowed on weekends, but outside of that they’re illegitimate and anyone is allowed to remove them.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

The answer was mentioned before, but if the sign is not legitimate why can’t it just be taken down by anybody. If it went up illegitimately, take it down illegitimately. That “anybody” just better be completly sure it in fact is illegitimate, becuase I bet the penalties for taking down a legitimate sign are pretty steep.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

That would explain the Bikeshare bike taking the lane on Key Bridge the other day.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

You: Muir Woods north of San Francisco, Sunday afternoon, lime green Bike to Work Day 2012 t-shirt. Me, figuring out it was a DC shirt and trying to reign in my 7 year old at the same time.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Something like that happened to me at Rhodes and 14th on an evening commute. Specialized Sirrus, about 10,000 miles on it. I was at the 4-way stops before the climb up to Courthouse. I was standing in the pedals waiting my turn. On my turn I leaned into the first downstroke and my right crank arm sheared right off at the base. Next thing I knew I was falling straight down with my clipped in foot completely free. I somehow kept my balance and feet (lucky I was at a near standstill) and didn’t harm anything else.

Coincidentally, a bike mechanic from Papillon was right behind me and saw the whole thing. He hopped out said that he had never seen that happen before and that it was awesome (awesome as in crazy rare, not awesome as in good news for me). He threw my bike in his car and gave me a ride home. I brought the bike to Papillon (not my usual stop) and they fixed me up.

Juding by the carbon buildup where the crank sheared we guess that I had a micro-fissure for some time and that it just took one good final torque with all my weight on it to get it to fail completely.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

This has always worked for me; college, NYC apartment, Arlington. You need a 4×4 post the height of your floor to ceiling, a threaded rod, two sets of nuts and locker washers to fit the rod and a bike hook. Trim the 4×4 so it’s 4-6″ shorter than the floor to ceiling dimension. Measure one foot from an end of the post and cut the post into a long and short piece. Drill a hole in the end of the long piece and the short piece. Thread the nuts washers to the middle of the threaded rod. Insert the rod into the holes of both pieces of 4×4. Stand the assembly so that the gap in the 4×4 with the threaded rod is at the ceiling. Use a wrench to move the nuts in opposite directions, each towards one end of the rod. As they move out, they’ll push the 4×4 pieces away from each like a sort of car jack. The pressure will hold the post in place. Install a bike hook. You want to keep an eye on the pressure so you don’t dent the ceiling, especially if it’s drywall. A scrap piece of plywood to spread the pressure helps in that case.

I like it because after the measuring and cutting, it installs fast, doesn’t penetrate the walls with anchors, and the back tire of the bike rests on the post so your walls don’t get mucked. It can be moved very easily if the room it’s in gets reorganized.

[Author]

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