[cyclingfool]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/tips-for-keeping-warm-this-winter,34871/

Among others: “Develop a thick layer of protective blubber through millions of years of evolution”

I got that one covered, and it didn’t even take millions of years!

[cyclingfool]

@Steve 73739 wrote:

I was really jealous of my friends in Chicago who are going with #ChiBeria. Just has a nicer ring to it….

Think Darrell Hammond (as Sean Connery) on SNL Jeopardy, and ChiBeria sounds about right.

[cyclingfool]

I’ve had a couple people here at work suggest I take metro tomorrow. For me that boils down as follows:

15 minute walk to the station
Up to 10 minutes waiting on an open air platform for the train (yes, even at rush hour, $hit happens, it’s Metro)

So I could be outside in the elements for 25 minutes just to ride a train downtown and walk the additional ten-fifteen minutes to the office.

Or I could dig out my balaclava, bundle up REALLY well, buy a couple chemical toe warmers this evening for use in the AM (?), stop in at a coffee shop in Crystal City to warm my tucchus along the way (if needed) and just ride in to work tomorrow. I’ll be exposed for a maximum of 50 minutes w/o break, assuming I don’t stop anywhere and the headwind is brutal. If I engineer a stop into my commute to warm up mid-ride, I will have no more additional exposure than I would taking metro, and I’ll be doing more to generate my own body heat than I would bundled up walking to the metro station.

So, my decision to cycle in tomorrow is not crazy. It is, in fact, well reasoned. And with the $7 I won’t be spending on metro, I can buy toe warmers and a nice warm something to drink when/if I stop mid-ride!

[cyclingfool]

@consularrider 73445 wrote:

Since Wednesday gates have been erected that can close off the trail on either side of the bridge that will be demolished.

Saw those last night, when I took 4MR that way for the first time in weeks. Was wondering how long they’d been there… now I know – not long.

[cyclingfool]

@KayakCyndi 73357 wrote:

was COLD. I hope this wind isn’t with us for the duration of Freezing Saddles!

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Nice looking rig, teammate!

[cyclingfool]

Let’s go team three! My studded tires are mounted, and I’m ready to ride in to work tomorrow AM, winter precip, 40 mph headwinds, and single digit wind chills be damned!

[cyclingfool]

@rcannon100 73240 wrote:

The winning answer to “Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything:” will be announced.

Surely nobody missed that one!

PS-Don’t forget your towels everyone.

PPS-Do you think there’s an intergalactic MUP next to the intergalactic highway that Earth was destroyed to build.

[cyclingfool]

I was surprised to see the forecast change to calling for two inches of snow overnight tonight into tomorrow, so I hurriedly donned my bike with its new studded tires. Not so much for today’s commute, but rather for tomorrow’s since a 30 mile break-in period on asphalt is recommended for the tires before use in snow and ice. I won’t get 30 miles today, but I figured 15 or 16 miles is better than zero. So, given my effort to swap out the tires this AM, I’m hoping the forecast holds and we get snow overnight and that it’s not so much as to close everything down. Although, I suppose if it does shut everything down, at least I’ll get another day off work and the studs will be more or less ready to go for the next snow and ice event.

Beginning of next week is looking COLD! Freezing Saddles will earn its title.

EDIT: Tomorrow’s gonna be cold in its own right:

From NWS:
Friday, January 3 at 8am
Temperature: 20 °F Dewpoint: 11 °F Wind Chill: 3 °F Surface Wind: NW 28G46mph

B-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-r-r-r-r-r-r–r-r-r!!!

[cyclingfool]

@seunpu 73050 wrote:

I heard that! Dark and cold are fine but not rain and anything below 45

If it’s not below 45, it’s not cold. :p

[cyclingfool]

I’d love to get back to 3,500 miles for the year this year, a mark I have hit in the past, but at a time when I wasn’t in grad school or parenting a 1 year old, which made getting out for a few hours on weekends or even to do an overnight bike camping trip more feasible. It’s not too much of a stretch… I generally get a little over 3,000 with minimal recreational riding since I am a daily year round commuter, but the extra 500 miles are easier said than done given family, work, and school commitments.

My other goal is to get out for another one or two night overnight bike trip, probably on the C&O again, just b/c it’s so accessible and so cheap (free camping and all). If I don’t get out on the C&O for an overnight, I’d love to do at least a couple metric centuries.

Since I should be completing my masters program next fall, my goals for 2015 will likely be loftier and might include an even longer, non-C&O bike trip as a graduation present to myself.

[cyclingfool]

I hadn’t been following this thread too closely because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do a happy hour… and now I glance at it and realize I was supposed to RSVP either way. D’oh!

So, my apologies for the late response, but I, too, will not be able to attend. Hope everyone has fun, and I’m excited to find out who else is on my team!

[cyclingfool]

@Raymo853 72896 wrote:

Another advantage of a GPS over a smart phone, the accuracy. […]

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Yeah, my Strava track looked something like that this AM… it cut off some serious corners and had me riding over the marshy area by Long Bridge Park instead of on MVT past Gravelly Point. My commute route is a tad over 7.5 miles as measured on bike computer and online mapping tools like ridewithgps, but Strava counted it as only 7 miles this AM. Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying.

[cyclingfool]

@KLizotte 72946 wrote:

Wow, peds not allowed?!!!

I think the beauty of it is that peds have a separate parallel trail, but NicD will be able to provide a definitive response.

Felt good to be back in the saddle for this morning’s commute, and I mean that most literally, since it was my maiden voyage on the Brooks B17 I got for Christmas. Just like my last Brooks, comfy out of the blocks and it will only get more so as I break it in.

It was nice to see a lot of commuters out this AM. More than I’d have expected to see today given the time I was riding it. People getting an early start on New Years resolutions?

I’d hoped to get in a ride over the Christmas days off, i.e., before the commute this AM, but it didn’t happen. What did happen was a round of bike maintenance done in bits and pieces over the days I had off, including a thorough cleaning of the drive train and truing up my rear wheel. I noticed it needed a little TLC — the first it’s needed in 1500 miles since I built it up this summer, at the conventional 500 miles settling in period it was still true.

[cyclingfool]

@KLizotte 72672 wrote:

Yesterday on my commute home I was shocked to see a fox searching for food in broad daylight (about 4:00 pm) by the Jefferson Memorial.

And I was surprised to see one in the dying light of dusk a few weeks ago near Gravelly Point… but by the TJ Memorial. Wow…

[cyclingfool]

@Dirt 72722 wrote:

Satan Claus brought me over a gallon of liquor in various different forms. Not sure if that means that I was naughty or nice.

It means you’re GOING to be naughty. The extent of said naughtiness will depend on amount consumed and your tolerance.

[Author]

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