[Dirt]

I rode past at 5:30pm and it wasn’t there. It was hit last night.

[Dirt]

It was nice to meet Consularrider on the trail last night. I’d seen you a few times, but didn’t put a name with the face. There’s something poetic about someone riding up to you and saying, “That’s a big dummy and you must be Dirt.” Music to my ears.

Catch up with you again soon.

Pete

[Dirt]

I’m pretty good at distorting reality at any speed.

Definitely pleased with the job they did. It is a huge improvement over what was there. And that isn’t a distortion.

[Dirt]

Bike valet is an awesome option. My office is right there, so I tend to just use EPA’s bike facility.

Thanks for the ideas Tim. Great photos too.

[Dirt]

Work is completed now. They beautified the sides of the trail, painted a new line and have replaced the post that keeps cars off of it.

Love,

Pete

[Dirt]

They carted off all the equipment, so perhaps they were just going to pave the right lane. That part appears to be done.

[Dirt]

Busy Mondays?

http://www.crystalcity.org/do/crystal-screen-star-trek

Might see me there… and dragging myself into work on Tuesday morning for that matter.

[Dirt]

@Mark Blacknell 693 wrote:

From elsewhere:

They make a cool sound when a 200 pound guy riding a 80 pound cargo bike hits them @20 mph.

JUST KIDDING!!!

Love,

Pete

[Dirt]

Paving is coming along pretty well. They’re scraping a lane, then paving it… starting at the bottom of the hill in Rosslyn and heading up toward Veitch. They’re most of the way done with scraping the right lane, they’re about 1/3 of the way done paving it. Be careful as you ride through. I had a dozen bottles of water in my buckets and the folks doing the work were extremely appreciative for a cold beverage from a passing cyclist.

Extremely nice people doing the work under some seriously disgusting conditions.

Happy trails.

[Dirt]

Arlington has become so great for bicycles that I don’t feel like I have to do anything special to arrive by bicycle. I think “what suits my fancy?” to pick a destination, I look it up on Google, take a quick look at my Arlington bike map and then start pedaling.

Lubber Run Park has a great amphitheater where they do live performances on summer evenings: http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/parksrecreation/scripts/parks/LubberRun.aspx

BonAir Rose Garden is still in bloom. It is located right off the W&OD trail in Arlington.

Gravely Point is a great place to sit back and look at the underside of airplanes taking off and landing at National Airport.

One of my long routes home is through National Harbor (Maryland). I know that is a bit ridiculous… to ride from the White House to Falls Church via Oxen Hill, Maryland, but the ride through Old Town Anacostia and South East is enjoyable, I’ve had no trouble with traffic… even when there are a lot of cars on the road, and it is nice to have a bite to eat in National Harbor before crossing the Wilson Bridge and heading back via Arlington’s wonderful bike trails.

enjoy!

[Dirt]

Despite their lack of wheels, I love and respect them. Their carbon emissions are acceptable to me. I’ve even been known to walk or run places from time to time.

[Dirt]

I dove into that on Lee Hwy on my ride home yesterday. Added a bit of variety to the ride. We’ll see if they finish that lane before digging up the next or if they’re gonna dig up the whole road before they start re-paving.

[Dirt]

I was in the barn by 7pm Monday. I did a Dummy Motivated shopping spree through Arlington… cat toys, baked goods and girlie fruit beer. I was likely well into consuming baked goods and Beer #2 (I gave up eating cat toys) by the time you were out running.

I’m pretty easy to distinguish. I’ve got sleigh bells on the handlebars so people turn around expecting Santa and they see me. They’re less than thrilled. I also think I’m one of the few drop-bar dummies that I know of. Normal humans put flat bars on their cargo bikes for stability.

[Dirt]

My only hesitancy with a 9-speed MTB derailleur is that the jockey pulleys might be too wide to really mesh well with the 10 speed chain. Those things are soooo dang narrow. I haven’t tried it though.

Weird that Shimano puts a 28t max on the Ultegra long cage. My guess is that they wanted to keep the geometry of the derailleur close to the cogs, yet have the long cage able to take up the slack of the granny gear. Since they don’t make a 10s cog set bigger than 28, I guess they didn’t figrure anyone would use it.

I won’t talk about the 2 seasons that I raced my mountain bike in the early 1990s running a DuraAce short cage rear derailleur and a 30t cog.

[Dirt]

Shimano makes an Ultegra long cage, 10-speed derailleur.

[Author]

Replies