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Commute in was quite nice. Skipped the Custis (as per my trail conditions report) and took the W&OD to work. I rarely take that stretch in that direction – usually I do a loop from home – office – home. Not bad and definitely fewer steep hills when I wasn’t sure of the conditions. Clear, cool, and a beautiful sun rise.

Only problem was group of folks with their large dogs off leash. They tried to reign them in, and I could pass them all slowly, but why are you on a major trail with unleashed dogs?

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Given the evening commute description of the Rosslyn hill by Brendan (http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?6843-My-Evening-Commute&p=132783#post132783), I decided to alter my usual route. In this case, Custis to W&OD to 4MR. They were just fine. Appears to have been less snow east of Columbia Pike – or there had been more wind. If the sun and warm Ts today melt and DRY it off, it should be fine this evening. If not, the W&OD was beginning to rut up a bit. 4MR by the sewage plant was completely clear – excellent neighbors! Even the switchback from 4MR to Potomac Ave was easy to ride up. My access to Custis, Harrison, had been salted overnight, so much of that was pavement (unlike last night when I fell on it). Potomac had snow, but not much and was easy to ride.

In general I went slower than I would have were there no snow, but not a lot and mostly just for caution and a few crusting up areas.

I am on a hybrid with the stock 38×700 tires.

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Well, that was unexpected. All reports yesterday and this morning were for slight chance of flurries and only for about an hour. Not an inch or more. Trails were good, plesant, and empty. Roads really bad, especially hills. Slick in car tire tracks. Lost traction up one hill badly. Luckily I was going uphill and slowly. Had to scoot to side or road for enough traction to stand and pick up the bike and finish ride home.

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W&OD and bluemont were fine and nice to ride on at 6:30. Custis between Ballston and St Anne was good too. Roads, especially hills are bad. Fell twice due to slick conditions, but I wasn’t moving fast. Cars are nearly at a standstill, especially on hills. This was unexpected. Agree – tomorrow will be “fun for all.”

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Windy. Very windy. Mostly head winds, but some from the sides, making for nearly comical riding. No following a line tonight.

And drivers changed their minds several times. Left turn signal until I get to the intersection about to make my own left and then changed to a right turn signal to move back in the regular lane and go straight. Another had a right turn signal and as I reached that intersection to go straight and stay to the left of the car, changes to a left signal and crosses in front of me. At least they signaled all them. Better than most.

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@consularrider 132519 wrote:

That section is always wet close to the retaining wall, seems to seep out and usually only on the trail after a rain.

Exactly – only after a rain. Since there had been some rain on Saturday (and not a lot), I was not overly concerned seeing it Sunday. There was no rain yesterday – only snow flurries that did not stick and dried up by late afternoon in most places. This was just odd today and it will ice over given the temperatures (not quite 20deg at the moment).

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CUSTIS TRAIL by STAFFORD St ~7am Water flowing across trail – Ice expected underneath it

There is water flowing across Custis on the eastern slope of the the eastern-most of the two sisters (about where it goes under Stafford St). It was doing this yesterday morning, but since it had stopped raining a few hours earlier, I thought maybe it was leftover from that. I would guess this will become a giant ice slick on the hill. And where is it coming from? That is just a retaining wall. Is there a gutter of sorts that goes to the wall that is leaking onto the trail? I will attempt to report to the county.

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Clear.
Chilly.
Desolate.

I was 40min into my commute before I saw another cyclist (four total, all Gravelly point/along airport). And only about 8 joggers/walkers, but those I saw all along the trip. I know it is a holiday and it is cold, but this surprised me as to just how few there were out. And I was 5 on the monolith, probably at ~7:10. I am wondering how many of the previous 4 were actually late last night. I did pretty well on the clothing selection – only occasional periods of fingers or toes too cold.

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@PotomacCyclist 132478 wrote:

The forecast indicates a chance of snow around midday today, even though temperatures will be in the mid to upper 30s.

At 10:40 am is started snowing on me as I left Hains Point for the 14th St Bridge and continued to snow (getting heavier) on the MVT, 4MR, W&OD, and CT. By 11:40, snow was starting to stick to a few of the wooden bridges and some cyclists. But not a lot.

(Once home and warm, I see snow sticking on some of the trees, despite being above 32degF).

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@bobco85 132361 wrote:

Here’s a link to the proposed amendment: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+ful+HB126

Here is the text of the bill (proposed amendments are in red):.

Isn’t this an amendment to an existing law which would place a min 45mph on a max 55mph road? Or was the law retracted at some time (some of the statements were not quite clear)? If it is an amendment to an existing law, then it sounds like every road with a max 55mph would have a min 45 mph. Most 55mph roads (or such sections of roads) are limited access or nearly so. Thus most would not have a bicycle on them (some would as it may the the only road in the area), but I bet it would annoy folks with farm equipment in those parts of the state (driving in rural Spain and Italy and there are tractors all over going about 20kph on 90-120kph roads. They, at least, usually try to drive half in the shoulder).
The problem with min speeds (which many roads used to have) is that they do not ticket when the traffic is jammed.

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Just looked at the hourly weather predictions for today from weather.gov. By 4pm the wind gusts are to be 40mph and going up from there. I hope that was a mis-entered value as a few hours ago they didn’t predict that until quite late tonight. The ride home will wither be really fast or really slow (and possibly not in a anything resembling a straight line.).

This will be fun*!

*For some definitions of fun.

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@Tania 131793 wrote:

I’m not familiar with Arlington neighborhood names – are you talking about (heading east) right before the bridge over Lee Highway where you then make a bumpy right to go down the spiral that’s always covered in wet leaves (right before you get to the shopping center with a bike store and a BGR and The Italian Store)?

I saw vines hanging down into the path this am (it was a “wait! what the?!?” moment in the dark). I meant to put in a trail report but forgot until you posted! It was too dark to see the tree (kinda glad I didn’t).

That is the location dasgeh is describing. I didn’t see it when I went by at about 7:15-7:20am today. It was dark, I suppose. Or I am too short to notice.

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Hello team members!

Does the team name have to have the number in it? I am amused by the name suggested by the thread name – Thundercats.

Anyway, looks like we are not the only ones missing people on Strava (assuming all teams have about 13 people). Hopefully the missing are all spending too much time riding to make sure that they have joined the Strava club.

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@huskerdont 130908 wrote:

I have this half-baked theory that cold temps make the bike go slower. It’s not me; it’s the bike. I’m going with that.

I came up with that theory about two years ago. So we almost have enough data to publish.

Beautiful ride, albeit a tad chilly. I did wear one layer too much, which I could tell by my first downhill since I wasn’t cold enough. Oh well.

On the northern part of Trollheim, as I was crossing the stream there, I looked down and saw a beaver swimming. First time I saw one of them on my commute.

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Very Windy. Felt like a headwind no matter which direction I went.

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