[brendan]

@wheels&wings 105963 wrote:

Awesome that you’ve not had it this winter, even with your 40 mi RT! The weather hasn’t exactly been tropical. Sounds like a good insight on the meds. Good luck figuring that out. Hopefully your high-mileage lifestyle will help you get off the meds altogether.

Laying off the beer and pizza would help too.

I usually do the bike commute 3 days a week, but they’re moving the office (4-5 miles further away) so we’ll see if the 3 a week stays possible with 20 more minutes of riding each way.

Yesterday I rode a century in upper 30s with lake boots, bar mitts and no gloves and was super comfortable. That makes me happy. Now to figure out what other long-term side-effects I’ll need to live with (potentially including a lack of beer and/or pizza).

B

[brendan]

Slightly on topic:

For a couple of years I thought I had developed Raynaud’s disease. Well, technically I had, but it was only indirectly due to my advancing age (as explained below).

While out on the bike, my fingers and toes would go numb/white way faster than I ever remembered, even in above freezing temperatures (in particular if it was windy…or I was riding…even in the 50s). No pair of gloves no matter how high tech (or lobster shaped) worked well enough for long winter rides. On the one hand, cycling put me outside a lot more, so I thought perhaps I’d always been sensitive but never realized it. On the other hand, I had a few experiences just walking around DC where it happened in not-super-cold temperatures which led me to believe it was a new symptom.

And this even after I’d invested in lake winter boots, special insoles, bar mitts and lots of wool clothing, hats, socks…and backup gloves (to swap into when a pair got wet/sweaty) for riding. I’d started seeing minor frostbite symptoms several times a winter, which really made me nervous (and was painful).

Then…this winter the problem hasn’t happened. Even with a 40 mile round trip bike commute.

As far as I can tell, the only difference is that I’m no longer taking a certain blood-pressure medication mix. Looking at the literature, I *think* the cause of the effect was the HCTZ (diuretic) added to the lisinopril (ACE inhibitor), but possibly it was the latter or the combination. I’ll be working with my doctor to be sure whatever mix I’m on doesn’t have this effect, because frostbite is a real danger.

B

[brendan]

@Jason B 105917 wrote:

Continuing the garage clean-up,,,will her look ever end?
Anyone want a older night rider light. It is a battery bottle type (heavy). It is the two bulb type in front. I have the charger. The battery is getting low. When I used it last, it would barely last for my commute ~ 9 miles per charge. Bulbs work fine. I don’t know much about these, but it is yours for free. Over in crystal city area.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]7533[/ATTACH]

Had the same halogen light (purchased in early 1990s) back when their bike and scuba lights were essentially the same tech.

I ended up E-cycling it last year. I think the bottle battery consists of cylindrical lead-acid batteries (not ni-cad). In any case, don’t throw it out, make sure it goes to a good project (unlikely) or gets properly e-cycled.

B

[brendan]

@Dirt 105813 wrote:

I considered biking, but chose walking… the top part at least.

Those are some AMAZING bucket panniers!

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[brendan]

Flickr says no.

EDIT: Flicker said YES!

[brendan]

@wheels&wings 105511 wrote:

-Take care of your thumbs. I use surgical gloves, then wrap my thumbs in aluminum foil, then put on under-gloves or liners, and finally cover everything with my snow mittens.

…foil? Can you explain?

B

[brendan]

Yeah, I haven’t quite figured out why, but I can almost always get Schwalbe tyr…tires…much cheaper from the UK than the US, including international shipping. Odd.

B

[brendan]

Spammers can post not-really-spam, then later go back and edit their post with more spamminess. That’s worth keeping an eye out for.

B

[brendan]

@Steve O 105434 wrote:

As Dismal points out, this study does not look at the likelihood of being in a crash. It compares the severity of injuries for those who were in crashes. I suspect you are correct, that riding on a sidewalk is more likely to lead to a crash.

I suppose what I was attempting to say was that riding a sidewalk is more likely to involve a crash with a car than riding a MUP, which would lead to more severe injuries (statistically) and that’s why I found it odd that they were lumped together. Unless my gut is wrong and the level of injury seriousness is similar for both.

[brendan]

It’s curious they lump sidewalks and MUPs together. My non-scientific gut says that riding sidewalks is probably more likely to lead to a crash with a car than riding MUP, esp. if riding contra-flow.

[brendan]

@PotomacCyclist 105294 wrote:

Those threads also seem to work normally on the standard Android mobile browser. Every browser seems to handle the updated forum software except Internet Explorer. I’ve read that Internet Explorer has had issues with compliance with web standards. Maybe this is related to the problem?

For more than a decade…

B

[brendan]

@PotomacCyclist 105071 wrote:

Looks normal to me so far. All the threads seem to be here. New posts are showing up too.

…and most importantly: Elite still works!

B

[brendan]

Just an update, since I’d asked earlier in the thread: Hains Point is open and the roads clear to pavement.

[brendan]

Any word on Hains Point? If it’s open & clear, thinking of spending several hours tomorrow trying to catch up on lost miles…

B

[brendan]

@cyclingfool 100840 wrote:

Agreed, except in my case it should read, “Or if I know a hill is coming, then I wait to be dropped like a ninja sword through microwaved butter.” :p

Monday night: I passed a road cyclist near the beginning of return commute from eastern Reston, who then passed me again shortly thereafter and immediately slowed down requiring braking on my part, then more coasting for a while.

A rule: if I’m on the cargo bike and pass a cyclist and then they pass me quickly, I don’t pass them again. Either I’m unintentionally slowing down after the pass (although I consciously do a “Pass With Authority(tm)” and keep the speed up) or the other rider doesn’t like being passed. Or perhaps didn’t like how much I slow down/stopped at the next crossing.

I stayed mostly 3-4 bike lengths back, which involved a lot of coasting, until I had to turn at Custis trail, though I did fall back and catch up and slow down a few times (once due to missing the light he made).

He definitely seemed a bit too interested in what was going on behind him.

Hope that wasn’t someone here.

Hope I wasn’t doing something unintentionally infuriating that I wasn’t aware of.

B

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