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Huge shoutout to the 4 drivers who almost hit me on my commute today…

1) Lady trying to pull out from a residential parking lot with bad sight lines. You almost pulled out in front of me, but I could see the situation happening in front of me and if you didn’t stop, I could have. You actually seemed apologetic and remorseful. Thanks for admitting your mistake and seeing us as humans.

2) Lady who follows the letter of the law at stop signs, but definitely not the intent…. you pulled up, you stopped, you went. You forgot to yield the ROW though and just blew on through. Love that. You’re hopeless. Also, get off the goddamn phone!

3) Dude at a backed up traffic light who after it turned red decided to blow through anyway as I was making a left. You looked awesome trying to stare me down by looking up at me from your little sedan. Whoops, while you’re trying to intimidate me by pushing your chest against the window don’t hit the pedestrians in the crosswalk across the intersection. Moron.

4) Lady coming out of the Fish Market completely oblivious to the fact that you just pulled out across a busy sidewalk in front of 2 cyclists. Not malicious, but totally clueless.

Fortunately this was just a potentially really bad day, and not the norm….

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@komorebi 191438 wrote:

Who: This no-drop ride is organized by Alexandria’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (and yours truly!) and is open to everyone.

Are you sure you don’t want to make this a keep up or be dropped ride and make everyone sprint between stops? Haha. Sorry. It just sounds funny that an educational tour-style ride could be competitive essentially.

Sorry I’m busy this weekend but otherwise I’d join. And I wonder if they’d be willing to take our monthly payment while we’re there? ours is a teeny bit late. oops.

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@bentbike33 191713 wrote:

Does the manufacturer of your fork provide a recommended max tire width spec? Some do.

It’s a custom frame/fork so not really. It’s about 10 years old now too and who knows if IF keeps that sort of information around.

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@Sunyata 191720 wrote:

I missed the boat on this one. The race sold out rather quickly. It is on my list for next year.

Whoah! WHoops! I totally didn’t realize it had already filled up. Oh well.

FWIW this race is in SW PA is still open but I will likely not be around to do it. https://www.mtdavisgravelgrinder.com/. I don’t know anything about it, but I do know that Mt Davis is less like a mountain peak and more like a plateau.

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How do I properly ensure a set of gravel tires will fit my fork/brakes?

I currently use 35mm road tires which fit fine. I was looking at Rene Herse Steliacoom TC 700C X 38, but some of you have mentioned some great tires that start at 40mm. I’d have to remove my fenders, but I’m pretty sure the 38s would fit. Not so sure about 40s.

While we’re here – has anyone done this gravel race? https://www.unpavedpennsylvania.com/ I grew up near Lewisburg and I’m excited to go back and do some rides around that area so I may give it a shot this fall.

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So is that the answer? I recognize it would be annoying given the bad connection at Mass Ave… but should cyclists just stat taking Little Falls Parkway all the way down to Mass Ave and back instead of the trail??

If the NIMBYs don’t want us on their precious ‘local, noncommuter’ trail we’ll take the road and while we’re at it maybe we’ll take the lane. Some of them may see how useful the trail actually is for everyone.

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@secstate 191603 wrote:

Yes, well this is just the tribal bikes vs. cars problem. There’s simply a ton of crap public behavior in this city.

As for overcapacity, it seems like the solution is to improve the trail rather than inconvenience users.

Yeah, it seems like when other road-type thingies exceed the user capacity they add lanes and lanes and lanes… so why is nobody talking about making the CCT, a 6-lane bikeway with specific space for pedestrians and everyone else? Why does widening only work for highways?

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So if they don’t want commuters using the CCT, what the hell route would they prefer commuters take?! Take a lane on Wisconsin? Massachusetts, River, or MacArthur? Without an alternative solution for commuters, it is a stupid stupid argument.

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@Lt. Dan 191235 wrote:

Man, that’s a sketchy section of road to be riding at almost 10pm…..

I rode the stretch from Strasburg to Marshall to Purcellville between 9pm and 2am with periods of moderate to heavy rain on a recent 400K and it didn’t seem odd to be out in rural/suburban Virginia at all.

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So myself and the other idiots would rather “kvetch” sometimes. Deal with it. Maybe you should take some direct action and ignore this thread.

Pretty simple.

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@rcannon100 191198 wrote:

Well I am sure kvetching on the forum solved this problem.

You mean like the previous 5,145 posts?? That’s what this whole thread is for!

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@Steve O 190298 wrote:

Yikes!! Did he come close enough to pound on his car? Or were you totally engaged in your evasive maneuver?

I was almost totally engaged in maneuvering. It’s not easy to move yourself and a bike sideways! I would have loved the opportunity to pound on the roof or a window though. Wake these bastards up.

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@lordofthemark 191007 wrote:

But meanwhile I will advocate for remedies, especially ones like bike lanes and parking corrals that daylight intersections that have other benefits. And I will oppose unfair criticism of scooters that appear to to criticize them for things we accept in autos.

There’s an “improperly Parked” e-scooter thread on my Del Ray, Nextdoor app right now. All kinds of people advocating to saw it in half or throw it in the street or set it on fire or call the police… Only a few useful suggestions like move it 3 feet so it’s not in your way. I had to mention that at least it was a dockless scooter and not a dockless car blocking the sidewalk because you actually can move the scooter.

It’s off topic, so I have refrained from advocating setting improperly parked dockless cars on fire but most commentors seem to think the e-scooters are the absolute devil. There also seems to be an illegitimate fear that e-scooters are universally ridden by unruly teenagers and once you get a few in your neighborhood the TPing, lighting poo on fire, and bricks through windows is sure to follow. WTF.

EDIT: I should mention that the initial question was probably innocent from someone who’s legitimately not sure – Like, “How is the city handling this? Should I I report it or not?” The replies have mostly been useless.

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@Emm 190900 wrote:

Honestly, if you so much as touch a bat on accident and can’t say for certain where you touched it, rabies shots aren’t a bad idea. Their teeth are TINY, so you can’t always tell if you’ve been bitten.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/animals/bats.html

Thanks for that insight. I’m gonna go with I’m ok this time because it was chilly and I had my jersey and reflective vest all zipped up. It would have had to bite through 2 layers of clothing in an instant with tiny teeth. Given the amount of bugs we had to deal with out in farm country we need more bats!

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@huskerdont 190874 wrote:

You could try a thicker poly sock with a bit of fluffy soft pile on the inside. And if you’re not against the concept, cycling sandals are pretty awesome in the summer. They probably break a bunch of Velominati rules though if you’re doing road rides. (One comment I got once was “What is this, the company picnic?”

I’m not against sandals or judgmental about anyone who wears them but I do like the protective qualities of shoes. My feet are REALLY sensitive to the sun, and I’ve kicked up all kinds of weird crap from the roads over the years (rocks, sticks, roadkill, etc…) that just bounce off my shoes. You can’t avoid hitting EVERYthing. And on really tight turns, my shoes scrape the supports of my fenders. Now that would hurt!

Speaking of weird stuff that happens – Not my feet this time but just on Saturday night outside of Thurmont, a freaking bat flew right into my chest! WTF

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