[Dickie]

I’m planning on being there rain or shine.

[Dickie]

Sorry, I don’t recognize him but I will certainly keep my eye out for him. He also has a mirror on his helmet which apparently is solely for vanity reasons… what an asshat!

I hope the two riders are recovering from their injuries.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6451[/ATTACH]

[Dickie]

…. should have been animated by 1950’s Disney artists; Singing frogs, sun bursts following me the entire way to work, a soft gentle wind keeping me cool, a bubbling brook escorting me for a few miles, turtles marching, and I swear a butterfly landed on my head… then I visited with Dirt for a while.

[Dickie]

I always name my bikes, seems only fair;

Bianchi road bike – Priscilla (pretty but probably still a dude)
Cannondale Caadx – Ollie (only happy when it’s cold and raining)
Daily Globe 1 – Stratford (best ridden while smoking a pipe)

[Dickie]

@culimerc 92296 wrote:

I would think that the overall health benefits of cycling a couple hours a week would prompt your Doctor to look for solutions or alternatives. Seems odd “stop exercising if it hurts”. Exercise helps lower blood pressure (the purpose of the statin to begin with), and lowers the chances of diabetes and heart disease.

Completely agree and exactly why I questioned the doctor’s response. My cardiologist had me try every possibly life style change before eventually prescribing a Statin. Actually Statins do little to help lower blood pressure, they are designed to inhibit the liver from overproducing an enzyme known to increase cholesterol. High cholesterol generally goes hand in hand with high blood pressure, but they are not connected.

[Dickie]

@hozn 92269 wrote:

Yeah, Dickie’s flask is mounted like this:

yep, that’t the one…. the 126 proof Willet is a great sterilizer

[Dickie]

This is part of my daily commute and I have been riding it for years. I do as Culimerc does when the bike lane ends at Cottage… I tend to take the foot path over 66 as Gallows really does narrow there and in the morning traffic is pretty crazy… I have had too many close calls especially with busses and cabs. The footpath spits you out into Dunn Loring’s Temporary Kiss and Ride lot which can also be a bit of a cluster, but I have had few issues as long as you take your time and a deep breath. The Kiss and Ride dumps you back onto Gallows just before Prosperity. I have stopped taking the Prosperity route at this point. The left hand tun signal from Prosperity onto Merlilee never triggers for cyclists and the traffic can get busy, I am also not a fan of the construction and the inevitable bottle neck with busses and construction trucks. Also, in the morning Contractors are rushing in and out of their various vendor parking lots on Merillee and I have had many near misses. So, most days I come out of the metro parking lot onto Gallows (with the light musually) and go directly into the closest through lane. I take the lane until I cross Prosperity and then head over to the right. From here Gallows has no bike lane but it is very wide and the right most lane is actually built wide enough to accommodate a bike lane. I follow this all the way to Strawberry lane. I actually find this the safest and less stressful route, it also helps that most of that section is down hill. There are also enough lights timed well that keeps traffic at a slower pace. I have never had an issue on this part of Gallows…yet!

[Dickie]

Welcome back to riding, and welcome to the forum. I have been taking Lipitor for four years due to a congenital heart defect. I occasionally feel aches beyond what I consider normal for the amount of riding I do and this has been explained as a possible side effect of the medication (as well as my heart issue), however it was never bad enough to prevent me from riding so I might be lucky in that regard. It is pretty common for people taking statins to have occasional muscle soreness, but it is much rarer (less than 1%) to have debilitating pain…. did your Dr. suggest anything else other than not riding? Did he prescribe a different statin or do additional blood work, kidney tests, etc?…. just worth investigating if in fact your pain returns. I do take a daily dose of Coenzyme Q10 to combat the muscle soreness but the evidence it not clear if this helps or not.

Hope that helps a little, and I hope to see you out there riding.

[Dickie]

I went to Home Depot and bought a small emergency kit. I carry it in my back-pack all the time and it has come in handy more than once. I also added some handy wipes, a roll of the mesh wrap, and some latex gloves. I have only ridden 5 times this year without my back-pack but I should still come up with an alternative.

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[Dickie]

@rcannon100 91705 wrote:

Strange British Men chasing young boys on the WOD this afternoon apparently

I’m pretty certain that young boy took it upon himself to chase me down before bonking during the last few miles. Granted, he was just finishing a 50+ miler and admitted he hadn’t had enough sugar (ahh to be young), but we kept a good pace and had some good conversations. Nice riding with the whipper snapper, and I believe we both filled our trophy cases a little.

[Dickie]

@dasgeh 91667 wrote:

Why are cyclists allowed to filter? I’d say:
1) Safety (weren’t you the first one to bring that up)
2) Cost (usually won’t slow cars down much, if any, because generally cars can pass soon after) < benefit (safety + encouraging cycling)
3) Makes turning safer and easier for cyclists

I promised I wouldn’t stick my neck out as it always gets chopped off, but this is an area I am always confused by. I am assuming we are talking about filtering in traffic? As a rule I never filter for the simple reason that I find it far more dangerous. Drivers are not expecting it, and I never really know what they are going to do even when stopped. I hate being next to a car, I can no longer see it’s turn signals or assess the drivers intentions. I also don’t like reducing my margin of error by squeezing myself into a space, and I have never understood the increased safety benefits. Perhaps I don’t understand what filtering is, or I have not witnessed it performed correctly. When I am in traffic and approaching stopped vehicles at an intersection I act like traffic and sit in the lane with the rest of the cars and wait my turn. The car(s) directly behind me are very aware of my presence, and when traffic starts moving I roll until I feel balanced and then move to the right to let cars pass. Rarely has a car buzzed me in this situation and generally they wait for a safe time to pass. I have not been barked at for this practice, and in fact quite the opposite…. been thanked for being predicable. The idea that you are safer by filtering to the front is lost on me… all those cars you just passed now have to pass you again, at speed I might add, and possibly annoyed.

A few weeks back I had to drive my 3 ton truck to a job site, it required a stint on Fillmore road from Columbia Pike to HWY 50 during rush hour. As you might know, this road narrows terribly in a few places. A line of vehicles I was following approached a cyclist…. we all waited until each of us had the required 3 feet to pass (I was amazed). Eventually we came to a stop light, the cyclist squeezed and filtered back to the front of the line…. actually having to brace himself against my truck mirror to get by. Apparently this is completely legal and endorsed by many of us… but at the end of the day, that law did little to help the cyclists safety as all those same drivers (pissed off I can only assume) became frustrated and irritated, passing the cyclist with far less room. I was equally annoyed but waited again. The point being (and not a popular idea on this forum); although filtering is legal, it certainly wasn’t the safest choice in this situation.

[Dickie]

@Rod Smith 91556 wrote:

360

…and Rod throws the mic down and walks off stage.

[Dickie]

I work 7 days a week, and thus I commute 7 days a week. For the last few months I have tried to take the longer way in (20 miles), and the more direct way home (12 miles). Since June I’ve been averaging 200 miles a week, give and take. Every Sunday I take an extended hilly ride to work up Walter Reed, across to Military Road, around Ditmar and back to the WOD at West street… this is usually the only day without a backpack, but still commuting.

[Dickie]

No pics sadly, but Consularrider, KayakCindy, Dread, and Hozn all blessed my morning with their presence….happy Tuesday.

[Dickie]

… was lovely for most of it….I’ll take a headwind at 61º any day. Nice low five with Kayak “she’s like the wind” Cindy, and then another with Dread. Came upon Hozn pulling his trailer and chatted for just a while before I went ahead. It all sort of went pear shaped at that point. I lost my head a pulled a dumb pass heading down the WOD hill after Virginia lane, and then at the Gallows light Hozn catches me back up…. without trailer…. he had enough time to pull off the trail, un-hitch, and then catch me up all in three miles….I’m such a slug!

[Author]

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