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Someone should post a link to the Trollheim crash thread, so they can start getting an idea of how many victims there are. I’ll leave the honors for someone who has actually laid down hard on the slippery boards wondering “WTF?!”

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How did this thread fall to page #2? Were people being that good?

D-bag of the day on the MVT goes to the dude behind me who gave an exasperated “let’s go!” because I dared to slow down at the GW Parkway on ramp at the airport. It was fitting that soon after passing a few of us at a time, you almost caused a head-on collision with an alert CaBi rider at the 4MR turnoff. Nice!

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@petefromaus 162214 wrote:

The full story is that I will have these 4 days all to myself while my wife attends a conference and I can’t think of a better way to spend my time other than being on a bike exploring DC, so if any of you are free for any long or even short rides i would love to tag along .

Wow! I think I will be doing the exact opposite of you in a couple of months. I’ll be going to a conference in Hobart and my wife wants to tag along to make it a vacation. I hear there’s organized tourist rides to do near Mt. Wellington, but I need to look into it still. I don’t plan on going through the hassle of packing a bike so we’ll hopefully rent something. Have you been to Tasmania? Anything you consider a must do whether it’s in or outside of Hobart?

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@bentbike33 162195 wrote:

Agreed. I was driving down from Maryland on 15 last week Tuesday just after midday, and saw a cyclist get on 15 from MD 28, haul @$$ across the Point-of-Rocks bridge, and immediately get off 15 at Lovettsville Rd on the VA side. Interestingly, no vehicles tried to pass him on the bridge (there were a few cars between us).

A braver, or crazier, man than I.

I’ve done that twice so far. Yeah, you make the left at the light, haul ass over the bridge and the right turn onto Lovettsville Rd cannot come soon enough.

Nice to hear that drivers gave him some space for that short bit.

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@mstone 162170 wrote:

placebo effect is a powerful thing

Much of the reason why homeopathy still exists, leaving scientific, evidence based doctors dumbfounded.

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@gibby 162188 wrote:

Rt 15 up to the Point of Rocks crossing and Rt 28 down to your Strava route.

I don’t know when the last time you rode around this area was, but Route 15 from Leesburg to Point of Rocks is NOT bikeable. Bike suicide maybe. When you get past White’s Ferry Rd, the shoulder completely disappears and it’s high speed, high traffic, with lots of trucks and other large vehicles in the mix. The only time I’ve heard of people successfully riding it was randonneurs in the middle of the night.

To make it a loop out that way, either take White’s Ferry across ($2) and go to Poolesville. Or for a longer loop you can cross the river on Rt 287/Berlin Turnpike to Brunswick, MD. Rt 287 isn’t great, but you probably won’t die.

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Riding westbound yesterday afternoon across Douglass Bridge…. You the dude walking up the right car travel lane. I don’t know if your car broke down a little ways back that I couldn’t see, or something weird like that, but it takes elephant balls to walk across that bridge. I saw at least one car close pass you in the 10 seconds I saw you. On the other hand, given how narrow the sidewalks are, and how much of a PITA it is to pass pedestrians, I thank you for not being in my way.

BTW – Soon after I passed the pedestrian I saw a motorcycle cop nonchalantly go by in the same direction and it didn’t look like he was at all bothered that there was a dangerous situation a hundred yards back. Is that a lesson to all? MPD really doesn’t give a shit what you do on the road, as long as a traffic cam isn’t there to catch it?

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Aside from the hassle of carrying and messing up the walls each and every time, I think about how I’m always a hair’s width away from tripping or losing my balance while carrying a big, awkward bike up or down stairs. I’m just bad at it and it’s dangerous. And falling down a narrow staircase with a bike and all its point bits would not be pretty.

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@GovernorSilver 161347 wrote:

I was just told by a colleague that he takes the lane, until he can get to the start of the bike lane on Potomac Ave.

I’ll do that the next time I get caught on the road with strong wind gusts. It’s a game-time decision after I pass S. Glebe, whether to stay on the street or switch to the (temporary) MUP that goes by Target and other stores. I usually stay on the street because getting to the MUP can be a pain, when there are oncoming cars in the opposite direction, as well as cars going in my direction; and there’s no left turn lane. Once in a while I make the wrong call.

This thread is getting off topic but… oh well.

This is mostly in my own head, but Potomac Ave is one of the heated battles in the rights of bikes to take a lane and not be forced up onto the MUPs. The more cyclists who opt for the road, the more drivers will see it as a bike corridor and treat it as such. First, the road is 2 lanes and 25mph! There is plenty of room to pass, and low enough speeds that on a good day we might even be able to ride at the same pace as the traffic. Second, Alexandria PD is heavily enforcing the speed limit on it right now. They are huge allies in this right now by keeping speeders and aggressive drivers honest. I biked it and drove it yesterday and saw 2 cops each time. Third, with a wide open road to ride, it’s nice to leave the MUPs to the walkers, joggers, and families out for a stroll of which there are many. Lastly, if Potomac Ave can be established as a bike corridor then drivers will be less likely to use it as a shortcut to avoid traffic on Rt 1. They can have Rt 1. They can’t have both!

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@TwoWheelsDC 161303 wrote:

J: Yeah, but you need to ANNOUNCE…I was about to move to the right when you passed me…

Maybe she thought dinner was being served and was waiting for you to give her a napkin and utensils? If you don’t ANNOUNCE exactly everything you’re doing and intending to do, then how will anyone know what’s going on?

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@GovernorSilver 161258 wrote:

Early in my cycling experience, I ran another cyclist off the trail by accident. I rang my bell to pass a walker on the MVT. As a passed him/her (forgot, sorry), I heard a sound to my left – it was another cyclist falling off the trail. I didn’t know he was there because he didn’t signal his pass. I had been instructed in WABA classes to look left before passing so that was I was also at fault, but he really should have signaled. Of course nowadays I use my helmet mirror to check, plus a quick glance over the shoulder for confirmation, before passing anybody.

Any cyclist that insists on passing another cyclist who is coming up on or in the act of passing a pedestrian has just pulled a dick move. I don’t care if they call the pass or not. Fortunately it seems to be a rare occurrence as we all seem to get it. Unless they fell in the river, or wiped out in some fashion from you running them off the trail I wouldn’t feel too guilty about it.

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@eminva 161029 wrote:

I’m just gonna leave this here.

Love the way you dropped him! What was the message there? I mean I generally hate wheel suckers too, but is that better or worse than a guy passing you ‘because you’re a girl’, then you have to pass him back because you’re actually stronger and fitter? Neither scenario is great.

As a large guy, I think I tend to draw wheel suckers to me because my draft is like a semi compared to you 100lb dudes and dudettes. After taking a break for a few minutes they always fly by me without any acknowledgement. Sad!

Lastly – what camera is that? I’ve been meaning to get a rear view.

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@Steve O 160898 wrote:

This is what happened to me 32 months ago on Maine Ave. Now I take the Case Bridge.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14896[/ATTACH]

I’ve been trying to come up with a witty comment on you sending us nude pics (now with less skin!) for a while, but I’ve been distracted by the douchebag in chief. Covfefe! Fuck Earth, we don’t need it.

Or is it a skin pic sans skin? Flesh pic?

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So I did my first commute in about a year today and took Maine Ave to 7th St.

It was definitely an adventure! I went through around 6:45. There was moderate traffic already, but the crazy part was the number of construction workers all milling around and shit. it was like a busy NYC sidewalk except people were in hard hats and hi-vis vests instead of business suits. There were hundreds of them. I Idaho stopped the light at 9th St, as some sort of suggested and got into the left turn lane for 7th and suddenly, the craziness was over. The rest of the ride was about the same as I remember.

Thanks for the advice, all! I’ll probably try Maine Ave on the way back this evening but it’s easy to do the Case Bridge instead if it’s too crazy.

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@Judd 160850 wrote:

Some people are really motivated by points and competition, whether they matter or not. Freezing Saddles seems to have more of an effect than NBC. There are several people on my Strava feed that rode way more during Freezing Saddles than they do now.

Part of that is because FS is a totally local competition. Of the locals, by the locals and for the locals. And there’s also the fact that despite being an entirely local competition the FS website and data ingestion was handled WAY better than NBC ever did. NBC might be finally catching up now, but in the past it was too much of a hassle to even bother.

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