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In the late afternoon when I’m heading NW on Maine Ave I usually always take the left lane up to the fish market before cutting over. Yesterday the traffic was backed up on Maine, so I gave the PBL a try… yeah, it was just a sidewalk. Yesterday’s non-bike traffic included 2 separate families with strollers moseying at <1mph clip, a gaggle of people mingling at a bus stop, and other minglers while one of them was paying for parallel parking.

Yesterday, dealing with the PBL obstacles was indeed faster than Maine Ave, but it will never be the protected thoroughfare we want it to be. It’s just an extension of the sidewalk farther up. Taking a lane on Maine will usually be the best option for through-riders.

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Not that it helps you now, but FWIW, there was a lively discussion the DC Randonneurs e-mail list several months ago with a LOT of positive reviews for the Wahoo ELEMNT and ELEMNT Bolt. All have their pros and cons, but there seem to be far less software issues with the Wahoo for now.

No idea why this is such an issue for Garmin.

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Is there any benefit for non-Arlington resident to do the survey? Will they take the opinions of a lowly Alexandrian into account? Haha. Or more likely they may do the opposite.

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If it was only about speed, I would just drive. #reversecommute

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@wheels&wings 174915 wrote:

Oh! This describes well the man I saw walking along the trail near the airport yesterday as I was riding home in the mid-afternoon. He was walking southward on MVT while tearing and scattering these bits of paper. I was wondering what the heck he was up to….

MID-AFTERNOON?! As far as I know, we all thought it happened in the middle of the night, which was why no one ever saw it happening in person.

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@ChampionTier 174855 wrote:

No picture but he’s about 5’8″, W/M with a slim build. Smoking may have accelerated his aging, but I’d put him in his early-mid 50’s. Blondish-grayish hair swept back and neatly trimmed. Typically wears a vest jacket (iirc it’s dark blue). Generally upbeat gait, neither hunched over or too upright. His eyes suggest a late night compensated by stimulants (appearances only, not sure if that’s the case). If memory serves, he typically holds his smoke in his right hand.

Incidentally, I think we’re on the MVT at about the same time; I’m the guy on a black Niner with a big black backpack. See ya on the trail!

Wow! Detail! Pretty sure he’s the guy. The gait and and eyes are were the tell-tale bit. Interestingly, you all remember him as Smokey J, but if someone asked I couldn’t say yes or no if he smoked or not. How have I missed that bit all this time?

I’m the big guy on the midnight blue Surly. In general, I don’t recognize anyone on the trails. I don’t know how any of you do your low 5’s etc…. And if I do recognize someone it’s because I watch them do something dumb or annoying. I’m seriously not trying to be anti-social or anything, I just go into commuting mode or something.

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Does anyone have a picture of this Smokey character? I routinely see a guy walking south near the north end of the airport, and like Hokie said, I can tell if I’m running a few minutes ahead or behind by where I pass him. I’m gonna estimate around 6:45.

However, I haven’t seen him for much of Jan-Feb. I’m not a daily commuter though either. My assumptions were that he works at the airport. Few things would inspire such a strong routine than a good job though right?

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@ChampionTier 174258 wrote:

I found that if I don’t back-sweeten my cider it has a bland, dry taste to it. Normally I plop a can of apple juice concentrate into the keg and that works great. That plus some honey (or just by itself) has worked pretty well, too.

A parable for how to live a long, happy life!

To back-sweeten, how much concentrate or honey would you add for gallon sized batches?

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I’ve been singing this for the past 2 weeks, and probably a couple more weeks to come.

Fly Eagles Fly
On the road to victory
(Fight, Fight, Fight)
Fight Eagles Fight
Score a touchdown 123
(123)
Hit ’em low
Hit ’em high
And watch our Eagles fight
Fly Eagles Fly
On the road to victory

E-A-G-L-E-S!
Eagles!

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I’ve been making cider for a couple of years. It’s by far the easiest thing to ferment besides making yogurt by accident. That’s why I do it. I don’t have the patience nor am I exacting or conscientious enough to keep all the beer stuff clean and well maintained. I know my weaknesses.

For cider, all you have to do is buy a jug of it, make a yeast starter, throw the starter in the jug, put an airlock on top and let it sit in a dark closet for 2 weeks. It’s not great cider, but it has alcohol in it! Recently I’m adding a brown sugar mixture to up the alcohol content and whew, just 1 glass will make you tipsy. Next I need to figure out how to up the flavor. It’s pretty bland.

When I have any questions it’s good to have go to’s – a couple of friends from college are huge into home brewing. Then another friend from high school was a professional brewer – Dogfish Head, etc…. He’s a distiller of spirits now. The best advice they’ve given me so far was when I asked if I can ferment anything actually dangerous – they said, “Just try it. If you sh&* yourself, stop drinking it.”

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@sjclaeys 174024 wrote:

I believe in Potomac Phil!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16688[/ATTACH]

Cheap knockoff… Ppfftttt….

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Could someone please post a map of this route so us Alexandria people who find your Arlington streets confusing as hell can at least have some situational awareness on this? I do not want to get involved in the discussion.

At this point I can’t say if I’ve ever ridden, or driven on this road.

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Wherever I go, I always have the biggest caulk.

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@bentbike33 171860 wrote:

To determine your position, you will have to manually count down from Bob James since the “Rank” column is based on Steve O’s Crazy Idea and does not change when you sort the list by a different column.

More incentive to finish higher on the board for less manual counting I guess. My goal each year has been to finish in the top 100, so it would be nice if that ranking also worked.

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My Garmin said it was 9 degrees on the east side of the Anacostia this morning. What did y’all get? If true, it would be about equal with my coldest non-sleaze ride ever.

It did feel significant colder than the ride I did in November that was 18F. I can usually keep a pretty good bubble of warmth around my face and stuff on these cold mornings, but riding north into the wind I could feel my cheeks burning a bit from the cold and my beard wasn’t just frosty, but frozen.

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