[cvcalhoun]

I am jealous that you have a rack that has a place to mount a light! I had to drill holes through a steel rack for that purpose.

[cvcalhoun]

As someone who grew up in a small town in the Midwest, where as “Prairie Home Companion” puts it, “People drive around looking for people to yield to,” I’ve been known to find people in the DC area overly aggressive. Of course, since JFK referred to DC as “a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm,” perhaps it’s not just the Midwestern upbringing that does it. But I especially treasure the encounters that challenge that view. Some recent examples:

You: Bicyclist who pulled up beside me in the right lane as I was stopped at a light while southbound on Wisconsin Avenue, then asked, “Are you going straight ahead, or turning right.”
Me: “I’m going straight.”
You: “In that case, I’ll wait for you to go first when the light changes.”

Given that I am in fact the slowest cyclist in the DC area (or at least in BAFS 2014), I told him he was welcome to go ahead. But it was still nice to have him offer, instead of trying to shoal me.

You: Pedestrian walking southbound on Wisconsin Avenue, a little south of the cathedral.
Me: Cycling northbound on Wisconsin Avenue, having just made it up that long hill from K Street.
You: “Nice job!”

Hey, it’s nice to be recognized!

You: Pedestrian that I passed while out bicycling at night, who said, “Nice lights!”

Hey, I’ll take any compliment, and doubly so when they confirm my visibility at night.

[cvcalhoun]

I also wonder how they define “walking commuter.” If I take Metro most of the way, and then walk the last two blocks, do I qualify? If so, you may have a lot of people who are walking very short distances.

@lordofthemark 82773 wrote:

Precisely. I used to live in Jax. Hardly anyone walked to work there (even poor folks, as even their neighborhoods were poorly located from employment centers). But I guess some poor folks walked within their neighborhoods, sometimes. And occasionally had fatals.

DC, OTOH has lots folks who walk to work. Probably pretty high relative to total walking miles, compared with many other cities.

[cvcalhoun]

Ah, yes, you’re right. I’ve used Smartrip since it first started working on buses, so I’d forgotten they had eliminated the paper transfers.

@DismalScientist 82762 wrote:

Only works with Smartrip. You don’t get transfers with cash.

[cvcalhoun]

I think you’d only be charged the fare ($1.60 with SmarTrip®) for the first trip from one stop to the next, and nothing after that if you use SmarTrip®. All the others would be treated as transfers, which are free with SmarTrip® within a 2-hour time frame. Two hours would be plenty of time to impose massive amounts of aggravation!

For me at least, the time spent would be more of a deterrent than the fare.

@consularrider 82747 wrote:

I’m not sure it’s worth the fare money to me, but love the aggravation factor for an entitled driver.

[cvcalhoun]

The top and bottom 10 chart appear to have been taken from the full charts available at this document:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wrazoxy55lnr4hr/2014AllianceBenchmarkingReport_Web2.pdf

@Greenbelt 82702 wrote:

Do you have a source to the full report? I’d like to see where MD and VA fit in. -Jeff

[cvcalhoun]

I would agree that Capital Bikeshare should not be your only bike, unless a) you are a tourist, or b) you take Metro most of the way to work, and just want to be able to bike between Metro and your office. However, a lot of people find it helpful to have a membership in addition to owning a bicycle, so that they can:

• Take a lunchtime ride.
• Ride on days that have so much snowy salt, or water, around that they don’t want to jeopardize their regular bike.
• Do a one-way ride and not have to see the same scenery by biking back the same way.

@mnaqvi1 82668 wrote:

I’ve thought about Capital Bikeshare but the way I see it, I want to make biking part of my daily routine and so it might be best to invest in a bike that I will own.

[cvcalhoun]

Yeah, I’d really prefer to be in the WABA local challenge than in one for Maryland, because I figure I have more in common with others in the DC area than with people out in Hagerstown, for example. But I’ll be happy if we Marylanders are in any local challenge. And we now at least have our Washington DC Area league, so we can do comparisons across the DC area.

@Rod Smith 82446 wrote:

I’m glad to hear WABA, FABB and BikeArlington are going to do this. As I recall, there were no local challenges for DC and NoVa last year. Bike MD sponsored a state wide challenge last year, but that sort of duplicated the state leaderboard as far as seeing how one was placed among Maryland riders so it won’t be too big of a loss if they don’t do it again, but I hope they do. If not, I hope Maryland suburbs are included in the area WABA local challenge covers!

[cvcalhoun]

I did find a sale on EZ Up, which seems to be the biggest selling brand, in case you happen to see this in the next hour and 54 minutes:

http://www.ecanopy.com/ez-up-canopies.html

[cvcalhoun]

I’m happy to say that my two children, both born in the 1980s, got an upbringing more like that described for pre-1980s kids. In spite of the dire warnings I got from teachers and other parents (for things like letting them walk to school alone beginning in kindergarten), they failed to get abducted or murdered. And they have grown up to be independent, productive adults.

@rcannon100 82571 wrote:

danah boyd, Whether it’s bikes or bytes, teens are teens, LA Times

If you grew up middle-class in America prior to the 1980s, you were probably allowed to walk out your front door alone and — provided it was still light out and you had done your homework — hop on your bike and have adventures your parents knew nothing about. Most kids had some kind of curfew, but a lot of them also snuck out on occasion. And even those who weren’t given an allowance had ways to earn spending money — by delivering newspapers, say, or baby-sitting neighborhood children.
All that began to change in the 1980s…

[cvcalhoun]

Yeah, my wife is a member of MyFitnessPal. She was shocked to figure out how much more protein she needs when exercising. And I exercise a lot more than she does. We’ve both taken to including a scoop of protein powder in our morning oatmeal, and being more vigilant about protein the rest of the day.

@PotomacCyclist 82557 wrote:

Nutrition is very important too, for regular recovery as well as for recovery from illness/injury. The body needs amino acids/protein to repair injured tissues and calcium and complementary nutrients to heal injured bones. If you don’t eat properly, you would delay healing. Nutrition isn’t a magic pill but it is a necessary element of a solid recovery plan.

[cvcalhoun]

Thanks for that perspective. Unlike one of the member of my BAFS team **coughcoughSubbycoughcough**, I would not try working out with a broken bone. But for less serious injuries, it’s nice to have some guidance on self-care. And I’m always reluctant to believe the first article I read on the Internet, especially when it goes against conventional wisdom.

@PotomacCyclist 82541 wrote:

There is a controversy about whether ice is ideal for post-workout recovery among runners. Similar concerns as expressed in the article, that the ice may actually delay recovery and healing (from normal post-workout muscle microdamage).

I tried using ice and ice packs when I first took up triathlon and running. I never felt it doing anything. There used to be a cold water pool at the gym. It was difficult to head down there immediately after a long outdoor run, so I would only use it after some swim workouts. That was an awful experience and again, I didn’t really feel anything. (My feet would get so cold that I could never stay in there for more than 20 seconds or so, not long enough to have any effects on muscles.)

Eventually I just stopped using the ice packs and I never even considered using an ice bath at home, like many runners do.

Running websites have some articles about the benefit or lack of benefit of icing. None of them have ever convinced me that it was a worthwhile practice. Some articles say there is no benefit and others say that it has a negative effect on recovery.

Same thing with anti-inflammatories like NSAIDs. The less, the better. For the vast majority of people and cases, no NSAIDs is best. There is concern that NSAIDs delay bone healing. If runners take NSAIDs on a regular basis, they might leave themselves open to the risk of developing stress fractures. I don’t think stress fractures are as common among cyclists, but many cyclists have been found to have lower bone mineral density than even the average sedentary person. So regular NSAID use is probably a bad idea for cyclists as well. (It’s a bad idea for anyone, unless a competent doctor prescribes them for a specific purpose for a specific situation.)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3259713/

In general, people should avoid taking any type of drugs unless specifically prescribed by a competent doctor. All drugs have side effects, even over-the-counter drugs like aspirin and acetaminophen.

***
As for rest, medical professionals have long discovered that movement helps with recovery from soft tissue injury. However, it’s very important not to move an area with a broken bone until it is stabilized.

For other injuries, movement helps with circulation. That circulation pushes beneficial nutrients and repair materials to damaged tissues. (This is the case for regular post-workout microdamage too.) After tough workouts, that circulation also helps to clear out metabolic waste products from the muscles. (Not necessarily lactate, which the body uses as a fuel, but other products like ammonia.)

***
I’m not a medical professional but I have read up on the issue a lot over the past 5-6 years. If I ever broke a bone or suspected that I broke a bone, I wouldn’t move the limb (or torso) until medical staff can stabilize it properly. For a muscle injury, I would try to introduce movement as soon as possible, but without forcing too much range of motion early on. I’ve heard doctors say this many times, that they now try to get the patient moving as soon as they can (as long as there aren’t broken bones or other issues to worry about). Immobilizing an injured body part can cause problems of its own. The body is not designed to remain completely stationary for extended periods of time. For example, if you immobilize a shoulder for extended periods (days or weeks), you can develop a frozen shoulder:

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00071

[cvcalhoun]

What time? And are Marylanders allowed, or are we automatically not cool kids?

@TwoWheelsDC 82527 wrote:

Welcome! Just FYI, all the cool kids will be at the Westover Beer Garden for a post-Bike to Work Day Happy Hour.

[cvcalhoun]

Well, except that I’m a poverty stricken old person! LOL

@consularrider 82537 wrote:

Isn’t that what “aunts” (or father’s cousins) are for?

[cvcalhoun]

And here is the article from Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who came up with the RICE treatment, and now thinks ice is not a good idea:

http://www.drmirkin.com/public/ezine111410.html

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