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National just posted a temperature of 101 at 4pm so definitely take it easy out there! Yesterday I sprayed as much water on my head as I drank.

Storms are starting to pop now too so if you delay leaving keep an eye on the radar.

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@Silver 4322 wrote:

I guess I’m distinguishing between what I can reasonably to do make my own commute more sensible and what’s good for cyclists as a whole. I’m just not willing to put my body and my bike on the line for the sake of some principle, to blaze a trail for other cyclists. I’m not that brave, and the drivers around me are just not that cool.

Understood. Maybe the best way to ‘take on the cause of commuting cyclists’ is to not become a grim statistic. Your advocacy for cycling will go a lot farther if you are alive. Don’t be a hero, and no one is invinceable. I learned that this past year when this happened. http://road.cc/content/news/24512-multiple-raam-winner-jure-robi%C4%8D-dies The guy rode across the entire US non-stop multiple times and was killed in an accident a few kilometers from his home.

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Silver, I really sympathize with your situation. I used to live along Colesville Rd in Silver Spring and that, along with East-West Hwy are two more examples of artery roads that I would never feel safe riding on – especially on a daily basis. On E-W and Colesville I have seem many drivers going upwards of 50 mph.

On the other hand, I really hate riding on sidewalks. It just doesn’t feel right to me. There are a ridiculous number of potential hazards from the gap between the sidewalk edge and the grass, possible collision points at driveways, parking lots, intersections, etc… and I know you said you’re courteous to peds, but what about those days when all there seem to be are moms with double-wide baby strollers. Will you get off the sidewalk and pass in the grass each and every time?

My suggestion would be to look for a side road solution. Even if this will take you out of your way and add a mile or two onto your commute, I think it’s probably worth it. It will get you used to riding on semi-busy roads without having to be on Rockville Pike and over time you’ll probably get faster and more skilled in your cycling. This will increase your confidence and ability to ride in bike-unfriendly situations when necessary. At least for a short while.

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I’ve been riding with a rack and panniers for 5+ years now and I love having my bike carry the weight instead of my back. I think what did it for me was when I did the C&O canal over 3 days with a hiking pack on my back. After 60 miles my legs were fine, but my back was so tired and sweaty!

For commuting I usually use both rear panniers. One for utility stuff like spare tube, pump, keys, wallet, phone, and the other for my change of clothes. I know that there is a slight difference in weight having the rack and at least one pannier always there, but I’m a few pounds+ overweight myself so it’s not a big deal. I don’t carry a laptop, but I know that many cross-country touring cyclists carry them in their bags ok.

I should say that my two main bikes are a steel touring bike, and a cyclocross bike that I frankensteined into a commuter, so I don’t have a super-fast carbon bike that might look silly with a rack.

The only thing I do not like about the rack and panniers is the cost. A good rack costs $50 and then a good set of panniers with rain covers or water proofing can be $100.

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A nice little article from the CWG showing what actually happened with the rainfall this week and why some people (especially those who use weather.com) felt like the forecasts for heavy rain were a little off in localized areas.

This is one reason why I like CWG. They’re some of the few who do post-storm analyses talking about what may have gone right or wrong with forecasts. With most of the region receiving 2-4″ of rain except for the areas near DC and Baltimore and to the Southeast, the forecasts could have been better, but not bad considering it was also a pretty difficult to forecast storm. Certainly not worth the ridiculous sentiments by some above.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/the-dc-dry-tongue/2011/05/19/AFneqn7G_blog.html#pagebreak

I hope everyone enjoyed their 2011 bike to work day.

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Have you tried riding without taking a shower? Sure, I sweat a lot on my 12 mile ride in but I found that the combination of AC, ice water, a little towel, and a little desk fan can cool me down and dry me off in 10-15 minutes. In this area in the summer I start sweating as soon as I step outside anyway. I’ve never a problem with smelly pits or anything but just in case I keep an extra deoderant at work as well. I’m also a guy with short hair so it doesn’t take much work to make me look ‘normal’. I don’t have to wear a suit either fortunately. That might change how I do things.

Otherwise, good luck with the showers and commuting.

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@adamx 3603 wrote:

Ann; with these weather forecasters you could be held hostage into eternity..these weather dudes are awful…i’ve been commuting in the area for about 6 years and by stroke of pure luck and timing i’ve only been caught in rain or storms going home a few times..amazing…

Wow, so you’re obviously not a fan of weather forecasters I guess. I’d like to see you go a week or two without listening to a single forecast or glance at the radar and see how you do. I’m sorry that predicting the future isn’t quite as easy as you think it should be and that forecasting storms that cover only a couple of square miles in a local area that is tens of thousands of square miles in size isn’t an exact science. I can tell you from experience that the folks at the Capital Weather Gang and the NWS office in Sterling, VA are actually quite good at what they do.

I suggest you vent your frustrations with weather somewhere else.

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Did my first commute last Thursday and everything about the route went pretty well! I’m especially impressed about the fact that so much of it is either on trails, roads with bike lanes, or quiet roads even though I cut right through southern DC and cross 2 rivers. It’s 24 miles so about double my previous commute. Question – does anyone have an alternate route going westbound from the waterfront/Maine avenue area to the trail along the 14th st bridge? I feel weird riding the sidewalk along Maine Ave and riding against that much traffic in the road would just be dumb.

Here are a couple of things I noted in case other people are commuting in the area –

There is extensive construction along Anacostia Dr SE, and most of the road section is one-way northbound right now. There’s some weird paint markings that may be indicating a bike lane, but it’s hard to tell… this makes cycling soutbound a little scary. Also, there’s the usual rough sections that go along with construction, especially right near Pennsylvania Ave.

Randle Circle is freakin weird! It’s more of a theta than a circle with Minnesota Ave cutting right through it. Plus, the Minn Ave traffic has the right of way, and crossing it going eastbound toward Mass Ave can take a while. There’s construction in that area as well.

Not visible yet on Google street view – Alabama Ave has bike lanes, north of Pennsylvania Ave.

I’m not a fan of the large trash hauling trucks parked right near the southwest corner of the Frederick Douglas bridge. Very smelly.

There was a lot of glass around. Maybe that’s normal for urban areas in general, but it seemed like an awful lot.

If anyone else has any info about the area, I’d love to hear it.

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Thanks guys for your input! Now I just need to convince my wife that it’s safe enough. I think once we get settled in Arlington, I’ll do a couple of exploratory rides and then hopefully I can start cycling to work once/week and go from there. If all goes well I can keep my streak of 5 straight WABA bike to work days going.

One last question – While riding in that area do you always ride your “junker” bikes? I wouldn’t ever need to ride my best bike, but how about the B team, or is it always your reserves? Haha.

Dave, sometimes I drive down that road with the massive speed humps and I can tell you that I’ve often thought how much fun it would be to cruise down the hill on my bike while the cars have to go frustratingly slow.

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