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I bike in my glasses and throw on a cycling cap with a visor when I remember to. Seems to work fine.

I haven’t figured out a solution to the balaclava problem – when I pull the balaclava or scarf over my mouth, it steams up my glasses. If I don’t, I’m cold. Suggestions?

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@off2ride 13152 wrote:

Perhaps yellow signs along the bike trails should indicate or say “Please do not obstruct your hearing capability by listening to some BS” or “Please listen for ON YOUR LEFT”.

I would love to see more informative signs on the trails, especially at the entrances where less frequent users come onto the trail — for example the ramp down to the MVT in Rosslyn, the head of the little trail that runs beside 110 and connects Memorial Bridge to the Iwa Jima. I encounter a lot of tourists who just aren’t used to being on multiuse trails — they don’t know to stay right (and sometimes jump left!), listen for cyclists’ calls, stay aware of their surroundings.

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Back to the part of the thread about family biking, my husband and daughter were featured in Tales from the Sharrows for their “commute” to preschool. Thanks Brian!

http://talesfromthesharrows.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-blog-your-ride-grant-and-sydney.html

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@KLizotte 12957 wrote:

I have it on my calendar and plan on attending provided I can bet permission to sneak out of work.

Ditto for me.

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I think Metro does a lot to encourage bike commuting in the area (and not by installing bike parking at stations…)

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Who do we report road conditions to? I didn’t get the full name or number at ABAC on Monday.

I’d like to report Pershing b/n Rte 50 and N Barton. I realize that the road is torn up because of the construction, but it’s gotten unbearable. If they could at least put down a strip pavement wide enough for a cyclist, especially in the WB direction, that would be helpful. Lighting near 50 would be helpful too.

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Where’s the kid’s seat?

j/k Nice bike.

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It’s sticking to the vegetation and sidewalks here in Foggy Bottom. I may pull the plug on riding home tonight — I don’t trust that little trail between 110 and the Cemetery…

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@jrenaut 12799 wrote:

Speaking of which, any other parents of small children interested in kid-in-bike-trailer-friendly rides?

Yes, yes, yes, though we do the front bike seat, not the trailer. There is already a kidical mass dc (easily found on google), though their rides were all in the District last year — I found that with the kid, if the ride doesn’t start/end reasonably close to my house, the kid would be sick of it before we even got there. I have started a nice email conversation with the Kidical Mass DC lady (thanks for the reminder to write back!) and she’s open to doing more in Arlington next Spring/Summer.

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@vvill 12802 wrote:

It was nice indeed, I took my daughter for her first bike ride. She cried

Hopefully they were tears of pride.

I cried when I saw the snow this afternoon. They were not tears of pride.

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A lot of the recent posts on this thread seem to me to be more about the divide between what I’ll call “transportational cyclists” (people using bikes to commute, run errands, go out, etc) and bike racers. The former are often less interested in the mechanics and gear involved in bicycles. The latter are more interested. Both care about the “look” but in different ways (racers like bikes that “look” fast, others like bikes that fit whatever look they’re going for).

I think there are lots of parallels to cars in the relationship of these cyclists to the mechanics of their bikes — some drivers just want the car to work, and take it to a pro to do everything else; some drivers like to do the tinkering themselves. The big difference is that the proportion of drivers who are in the former category is much larger (in the U.S.) that the proportion of cyclists with similar attitudes. So while non-mechanic drivers also have a hard time at the repair shop, there are a lot of them, and consequently repair shops catering to them. There are also retailers catering to them (selling low-maintenance cars, like automatics v. sticks). If transportational cyclists start growing in numbers/proportion of cyclists and becoming more visible, I think we’ll see more LBS’s like you see in Europe that sell low-maintenance bikes (internal gears, belt shifters), cater to maintaining bikes for those who don’t want to do anything, etc.

And while more women cyclists might fall into the transportational category than the racer category, I don’t think it’s a gender issue. I think there are plenty of guys out there who would prefer not to lube their own chains, and plenty of women who like changing their own cassettes.

@KLizotte 12723 wrote:

And I’d feel equally goofy trying out a carbon racing bike given that I seriously lack six pack abs (I have enough blubber to keep a polar bear happy) even though such a bike would probably help me acquire that desired six pack.

I don’t actually think a carbon bike gives you a better workout. It allows you to go faster for a given effort. So if all you’re looking for is the hardest workout, then you want the heaviest bike around. Getting the best fit possible will help you stay on the bike longer, which will help with the fitness angle.

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One thing that’s not covered on the pdf – because you would expect this to be obvious – is that the priority in the sidewalk goes to pedestrians then cyclists.

I’ve been involved in or seen far too many instances in the last 6 months where drivers coming out of driveways (either short ones from a house or long ones coming out of a parking lot) almost run over pedestrians, strollers, cyclists because drivers simply don’t look who’s in the sidewalk. I’ve also seen a surprising number of cars blocking sidewalks, forcing pedestrians and cyclists into the street. A friendly reminder that blocking/running over people in the sidewalk is illegal would be helpful.

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@jrenaut 12703 wrote:

Wouldn’t the legal thing to do be to wait for the car to turn?

I believe it is legal to enter the traffic lane if the block lane is blocked, but only if it is safe to do so. So whether the bike should move over depends on the rate of speed of the van.

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I’m planning to propose a set of cyclist benefits to my agency. My hope was to allow people to sign up as “fair weather” cyclists, where they get the biking benefit in the summer (April – September) and metro benefit the rest of the year. I know a lot of people who would sign up for it, if I can make it work. Of course, I need to actually read the law and stuff…

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@americancyclo 12673 wrote:

I rode this yesterday and didn’t really like it. I was stopped for 2 minutes at the gate and made to dismount and produce two IDs. apparently my agency badge wasn’t good enough.

Pershing is in horrible condition. potholes and uneven pavement everywhere.

That’s so weird! I ride through the base every day, and have never been made to dismount (once was asked to open a bag). By agency badge do you mean agency of the federal government, having an ID card like the ones the military use? That’s what I have and again, no problems. My husband used to ride through the base, and he showed his driver’s license. There was a delay as they wrote down some info, but not that bad – still faster than going around.

And I agree that the pavement on first block of Pershing beside the new construction is HORRIBLE, but after that I find it to be fine. I took the road/path along 50 yesterday for the first time in months, and found that pavement to be equally as bad as the pavement on Pershing. Maybe it’s just what you’re used to.

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