[cyclingfool]

My commute had an extra stop this morning — the polling place to vote. I was surprised that the line was as long as it was. It took me 15-20 minutes to do the whole process, and that was at almost 9 AM, so I figure most people. I was glad that turnout was as good as it was. Always heartening.

BTW, interesting note on local NPR news this AM… Takoma Park is allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote in the local elections today for the first time. Thought that was pretty cool.

Rest of the ride in after voting was beautiful. Second guessed my decision to ditch the gloves after voting, but only for the first couple miles, then I warmed up nicely and was glad I’d tucked them in the panniers. Great riding so far this week.

[cyclingfool]

@Terpfan 68337 wrote:

…on the GWP south of OT at what had to be double the speed limit.

I’m sure they were just out for a pleasant and leisurely drive in a natural, park-like setting. I understand that going over 100 miles an hour helps to ram more of the fresh air into your respiratory system, enhancing the experience. :rolleyes:

[cyclingfool]

@CPTJohnC 68308 wrote:

I have one of the diffuser lenses on my clone and it distinctly alters the beam pattern, making it a wide, flat beam instead of a round spot. It still bleeds some light up, but far less than the original spot. I like it for general use in the dark, so it is on my bars. I have a more ‘spot’ like (Fenix BT20) on my helmet, which is supposed to have a ‘dual hot spot’ pattern (bright up close, and a second bright area further out) which I like for directing at potential hazards, uncertain terrain, etc… Also for cars that don’t appear to see me…

Good to know. Thanks! I look forward to seeing it in action tonight. Also good to know, topical to this thread, that it helps with some of the vertical bleed of light, so I might be a little less annoying/blinding to those for whom that is an issue with oncoming bike traffic.

[cyclingfool]

@jabberwocky 68294 wrote:

Thats one of the magicshine knocks offs. I have a similar one. The build quality (especially on the battery) has a bit of a “built in a garage” vibe, but it works fine. I find the beam very narrow to use by itself though. Its very much a spotlight rather than a flood. Some people sell diffusing lenses, but I’ve not used on personally.

I’ve currently got the same type of light as my main headlight, AND I have one of the diffusing lenses, which I picked up for $5 on eBay, shipping included. I just put the diffusing lens on at the end of last week, which means I haven’t ridden it in the dark dark yet, just but with this weekend’s time change, the evening commute today should be a good test.

Generally, these certainly are more in the spotlight category than the floodlight category. I can report back to what extent the lens helps with that. A couple customer-posted comparison pics on Amazon, though photographing lights can be deceiving, and the Amazon customer didn’t specify that they kept the aperture and shutter settings the same for both pictures, so…

[cyclingfool]

@mstone 68140 wrote:

A Luxos U is on my covet list, but I can’t justify the cost of that & a dynohub at this point. I’m looking at getting a battery version of the IQ2 optics (wider than the older B&M lights, but still shaped with a vertical cutoff) once they’re readily available (not involving a sketchy web site or ordering from germany). That should address my remaining qualm with many of the german lights (ok for urban use, but too narrow for finding critters on the side of the trail).

Christmas is just a couple months away.

I build my own wheels now, so as far as the wheel goes, it’s just the material cost of the hub, spokes, and probably a new rim, so I can keep my current front wheel as a backup. Labor will be all mine. But there’s also the light which while getting cheaper (e.g., the Cyo now compared to a few years ago), they’re still more expensive than my current cheap battery-powered headlight.

The Luxos U is on my covet list, too, but I’ll undoubtedly end up settling on a Cyo N like I had before. I really liked my Cyo and was happy with its coverage, though I will concede that it could have had a wider throw. Besides the bigger beam, the Luxos has that nifty USB connection, though are some good quality, affordable alternatives available to the built-in USB charger on the Luxos or the bulky and expensive eWerk.

Pipe dreams for now sadly. Maybe by next year this time I’ll be

[cyclingfool]

@jabberwocky 68119 wrote:

Yeah, but how often is it 70 degrees at 6am in November? I did manage to get to work right before the sky opened up. I’m hoping I get another gap to shoot home in.

Chance of precip this afternoon is 14%. We should be OK.

[cyclingfool]

@dbb 68117 wrote:

You can deliver those points to my office

Mine too.

[cyclingfool]

@dbb 68097 wrote:

The takeaway message is that I need to build up a new front wheel with a dynohub and my beloved Busch & Muller lights with their nice vertical cutoff and constant power source ASAP.

Fixed it for me.

[cyclingfool]

I wasn’t quite so lucky. I was watching the ominous line of clouds coming in from the west as I pedaled north from Alexandria. By the time I came had turned onto 14th St Bridge the National Cathedral went from visible to almost completely obscured by rain in a matter of seconds. I turned on the afterburners and probably had my fastest ever northbound crossing of the bridge, aided by the generous tailwind. As I came around the Tidal Basin and climbed 15th St by the BEP, the wind grew colder and changed direction. I clung to hope that I might still make it for a few more seconds. Then I felt my first raindrop. In the time it took to go from Independence to just north of the Mall on 17th St I managed to get just as wet as if it had been raining the entire 7.5 miles of my commute.

Still a nice ride all in all. Between the tailwind generally and my mad dash across the 14th St Bridge, I may have managed to beat a few PRs on Strava. Don’t worry if you’re a KOM, though; my PRs probably put me in the third quartile of riders at best.

[cyclingfool]

@consularrider 68042 wrote:

Is anyone doing the Tweed Ride this weekend? Here’s a http://www.demotix.com/news/2899237/around-200-participants-take-part-retro-cruise-kyiv#media-2898773 from earlier this month. If anyone is interested in the 2014 Kyiv ride, just let me know next September.

Love it! I lived in Kyiv for a year, so I was glad to see some familiar spots included in their ride. If I win the lottery between now and next September, I’ll be game for a trip to Ukraine for the ride.

[cyclingfool]

@Kolohe 68032 wrote:

Though at least the gate now opens, (which it didn’t as little as a year ago, iirc) and you don’t have to trespass onto the vet hospital anymore and squeeze through the gap.

With improvements like that, it’s no wonder Alexandria became a LAB Silver-level BFC. :rolleyes:

[cyclingfool]

@consularrider 68014 wrote:

None of the streets between E Raymond and E Del Ray/Mt Ida go through the greenway corridor, yeah, it’s only four blocks, but it would be great if the trail could be rideable for that segment to the Rte 1/Custis intersection.

It’s currently doable on a bike with fat tires — my MTB drop bar conversion w/ 2″ tires does fine on the dirt and gravel — but that leaves lots of room for improvement for bikes not so equipped.

The other major issues in that section are at the very end by the intersection w/ route 1, where a ridiculous chain link fence and gate sit at the bottom of a pretty steep gravelly slope/moundside that I have opted to walk down the couple times I’ve ridden that stretch for “shiggles” (that’s s#!ts + giggles).

[cyclingfool]

@mstone 67961 wrote:

Turns out that some people ride bikes, but not to work.

I remember a time when I used to ride my bike to places that weren’t work pretty regularly. Nowadays I feel lucky if I get in a couple miles on the weekend with the 1 y.o. in the Burley, though I do love those couple miles!!!

[cyclingfool]

The MVT is certainly the worst for this problem is, at least on my commute route. The one or two spots where the trail is below road grade between the airport and Four Mile Run are awful, so at this time of year, I sometimes feel lucky that I don’t have to go past 4MR.

My strategy is a modified version of the one I remember learning in drivers ed for dealing with high beams of oncoming cars that don’t switch back to low, and that is finding a fixed point or boundary line (such as the right edge of the trail since there are no fog lines) that is visible to me by my own light, keeping my head down, and not looking directly into the oncoming lights. Since I know the trail at the back of my hand after five years of daily commuting, this strategy serves me well enough, though it is far from perfect and and would not be as effective on stretches of trail that I was unfamiliar with.

In my opinion, it is a real safety issue along the MVT in many places, and I wish that they would do something to mitigate the problem.

[cyclingfool]

I have a pair of Pearl Izumi full finger gloves that serve me well down to around freezing (though I do tend to be a bit more tolerant of cold than most). For subfreezing temperatures, I wear a pair of wool blend glove liners that I picked up for cheap on Amazon under my full fingered gloves. This combination has been enough to keep me comfortable throughout the winter over the last couple years, and I bike commute every day.

If things were to get real gnarly, I have a pair of leather gloves I could squeeze over everything to block out all the wind and hold all the body heat, though I haven’t had to resort to that drastic of a measure with the combination described above.

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