[brendan]

@Arlingtonrider 23522 wrote:

…Otherwise, I mow ’em down. Just kidding, but I like for people to leave town with a positive feeling toward cyclists.

Heh, brings this to mind…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MifyYHbnGaE

(I think most of the audience was missing the point)

Brendan

[brendan]

@consularrider 23426 wrote:

I’ll admit I’m too lazy to wade through their Planning for the Future information, but Tim has mentioned the limited amount of funding Arlington Parks and Rec has to repave their various MUPs. Then this morning taking the 4MRT through Bluemont Park, I noticed that the parking lot on the south end of the park has recently been repaved (like since last week). I go through there fairly regularly and don’t remember this area being in bad shape, and it made me wonder if this came out of the same pot of money as the MUP repaving? Certainly my impression is that many more people are affected by the moguls on the Custis Trail between the Fairfax connector and the Washington Blvd underpass than use this small parking lot.

Or cross the Massage Flats (aka Evil Tree Roots Of Doom) just east of the W&OD Wilson Blvd. underpass…

Brendan

[brendan]

I’m a bit jealous of the t200 riders this weekend since I’m still recovering from the fracture and therefore still off the bike (plus, several weeks since I last rode).

Though, with all of my heat sensitivity and the predicted elevated temperatures, perhaps it’s for the best in my case.

Brendan

[brendan]

@chuckb 23118 wrote:

One thing not mentioned so far: I have a small pair of folding magnifying glasses to help out my eyes “of a certain age”. Seriously, I can’t do fine repair work at all without them.

Oh yeah, good point. I noticed my first problems with presbyopia last year…while working on the bike.

Brendan

[brendan]

A couple of summers ago I carelessly went for a long ride in 98 degree heat. Had a lot of water with me (two water bottles, four medium gatorade g2 bottles) and still had to turn around early due to some symptoms that were freaking me out. Got home…and fainted in the shower. Turns out I was about 10lbs lighter than when I had left and therefore severely dehydrated, that’s over a gallon short…even with all the hydration along the way.

As a heavy sweater, I decided I needed to be more cautious. I also repurposed a 2.5-gallon MSR dromedary bag as my summer water holder on the cargo bike, even for solo rides. Granted, I have to stop and refill water bottles, but it’s wise to have mandatory shade/water stops every 10 miles or so when it’s quite horrible out anyway.

And maybe skip the extra long loop on days like today.

Brendan

[brendan]

Everything important has been covered, but I’ll add:

1) It’s wise to have both a tube and a patch kit, sometimes you end up needing both. And the tire boot too!
2) Double check that you got the right valve type on the tube in addition to the right wheel size and tire width…I biked about 8 months without realizing that my backup tube was a schraeder, not a presta…oops.
3) A micro-sized hiking headlamp, just in case my front light dies or breaks. It can get really dark out there…
4) Not in the bike kit per se, but: I keep a cotton bandanna tied to the handlebars, primarily to clean salt/sweat off of my sunglasses and, occasionally, my phone.

Brendan

[brendan]

@dasgeh 22895 wrote:

I didn’t think they were doing anything egregiously stupid, but it wasn’t particularly smart to post the full video of the ride, including the not-entirely-legal parts, when it’s not relevant to the hit and run. Editing software, people.

I would guess it is the case that they had to submit the entire unmodified video as evidence.

Brendan

[brendan]

@txgoonie 22865 wrote:

Bike shorts with underwear is a much lesser infraction to me however, at least aesthetically, than wearing threadbare bike shorts. Don’t be that guy — do a butt check on items you’ve worn for more than a couple of years.

Hear hear! And don’t assume those black lycra liner shorts you decided to wear without anything else are completely opaque either. They often are somewhat translucent due to the pinhole venting. Dude! You understand I’ll never be able to unsee that, right?

For my regular around town riding, I usually wear mountain biking shorts (inner liner w/ chamois connected to outer baggy shorts) *plus* one of several pairs of microweight smartwool boxer briefs. Mostly so that if I decide to go on a long ride the next day, I can use yesterday’s shorts without setting off my own personal ick factor alarm. I suppose I could technically wear the merino wool underwear on the long ride, but since I’ll definitely need to wash the shorts, why bother?

Plus, my goodness, merino underwear is comfortable.

Brendan

[brendan]

@jnva 22857 wrote:

My opinion is that on a MUP, if a pedestrian is hit and killed by a cyclist, it’s not the pedestrians fault. Sorry if that is not the opinion of others on this forum but that’s how I feel. Calling a pass is great and all but you also need to be in control of your vehicle in case something jumps out in front of you, especially if it’s a person, and especially if you see that person ahead of you in time to make multiple calls and bell rings.

Sometimes physics won’t agree with this. I can think of some scenarios where a cyclist is going a reasonable speed and something completely unpredictable happens that could not be avoided unless the cyclist simply didn’t cycle.

An example I’d mentioned before in the forum is the time a toddler ran out into my path from *behind* a much larger roller luggage bag parked on the right side of the trail with (presumably) the toddler’s parents standing next to the luggage. There’s *no way* I could have seen that child and the only reason tragedy did not happen is timing. I’d rang my bell, called my pass, slowed my bike and gone wide, having seen the adults. And I emergency stopped. But had the timing been different….

The same thing could happen with a bush or tree off the side of the path. Heck, an off-path toddler could sideswipe a cyclist. I dare say that’d be the cyclists’ fault in all circumstances.

Brendan

[brendan]

Just as an FYI, the list seems to not include the shops’ intermediate/advanced rides

Brendan

[brendan]

Friends who are female cyclists in DC say they feel much more comfortable biking in the streets than walking on the sidewalks at night. I feel the same. Granted, it can take some time to get comfortable cycling within the traffic lanes. May I suggest one of WABA’s “Confident City Cycling” classes to help get you there?

Brendan

[brendan]

@consularrider 22676 wrote:

As far a cable locks for “just a minute,” I think it goes back to the real estate adage, location, location, location. What you are doing with a cable is making sure the bike doesn’t walk away. Are you somewhere that it is likely that someone is walking around with a pocket tool they can use to cut your cable? Even after five years of riding all over the DC metro area, I’m not sure I know where that is.

That’s anywhere nice bikes might be locked up. The tools needed to get through a cable lock quickly are pretty lightweight (heavier if you want to do it faster). Cable locks are like door locks, they “keep honest people honest” (usually in this case “the kids”). On the other hand, good U-locks help keep dishonest people (the pros) moving on to the less well locked up bikes.

Brendan

[brendan]

@Mark Blacknell 22659 wrote:

Skepticalface. I doubt they keep stats like that. (Doubting them, not your recollection)

In any event, it’s really an individual judgment call with every spot. There are [secret!] places where I rarely lock my bike up with anything at all. Not a best practice, to be sure, but I think the Thieves Around Every Corner approach is a bit overwrought. That said, if you lock it up like there *is* a thief around every corner, I suppose your chances of being disappointed go way down.

(And just get U-locks, people. Cable locks are better than nothing, sure, but they offer significantly less protection for very little increase in convenience.)

I wouldn’t be *too* skeptical, Mark. I’ve noticed that Arlington County police have started tagging bikes left for longish periods of time (and I assume they are log booking them as well) with tags like this one:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1226[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]1227[/ATTACH]

I find it contradictorily heartwarming and also somewhat clever to put such a friendly face on what is, essentially, continued policing of the area for abandoned bikes on public right of ways.

But yes. Get a U-lock. Or two. Plus a cable for your wheels. And really, you don’t usually have to have the best locking strategy, you just need to not have the worst.

Brendan

[brendan]

Metroed down to Yards Park to catch the end of the event, saw tons of neat costumes, ran into several friends and was very jealous of the bike corral. Skipped a dose of pain meds so I could grab a couple of NB beers and saw Liz at the token booth. Hadn’t seen so many bike tutus since RAGBRAI! Totally worth it!

Brendan

[brendan]

@dasgeh 22439 wrote:

Actually, this isn’t true. If you go through the base and the cemetery (or around the cemetery and end up on the trail beside 27), you end up on Memorial Drive, which gets you to Memorial Bridge without crossing the GWP. You do have to cross the ramp from Washington Blvd to the Bridge, but on the South side, it’s not a problem.

I suspect TwoWheelsDC was including the Washington Boulevard crossings on the east side of the circle just before you get to the bridge. If not, I do. I usually call those crossings “GW Parkway”, even though they aren’t technically. On the south side (and coming off the bridge sometimes on the north), people drive Washington Boulevard like it’s the GW Parkway…and you still have some of those “closer lane stops, and now the other lane can’t see you waiting” issues.

Brendan

[Author]

Posts