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I’m cruising Takoma to north Arlington (Marymount University in particular) by way of Georgetown Branch and Capital Crescent Trail.
Happy to ride with anyone! Just know I go slow (average 13/14 mph, unless I get my curvy-bar bike before then…at which point
i’ll magically ride 5 mph’s faster and can be ELITE) :cool:!

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@rcannon100 49943 wrote:

Heh – I always walk up that hill.

Ditto. But only cause I don’t have a curly handlebar bike…:p

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@TwoWheelsDC 49921 wrote:

If I ever start a bike company, I’m naming the bikes after Full House characters. The “Uncle Jesse” would sell like hotcakes!

You’ll have to compete with the “bikes from Saved By The Bell company”. The full line is ready: mountain bike (AC Slater), hybrids (the Screech – men’s, the Jesse Spano – women’s), beach cruisers (the Belding – men’s, the Lisa Turtle – women’s) and of course the road bikes (Zack Morris – men’s and the Kapowski – women’s).

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@culimerc 49852 wrote:

I Heart My Vaya its a little on the heavy side, but for a commuter-light tourer, its great. It works as a CX racer, but only barely.

Looks nice, but I think its out of my price range. The Volpe actually is at 1299. I’ll just have to do a lot more housework to convince the wife that I need it :p

I could really use that study I read about on a thread about how people on CX bikes are like 85% safer on roads…Maybe I’ll write it under a pseudonym…Sir Bikey von Cyclepants…

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@vvill 49844 wrote:

I have 1000 miles on my 2013 Jake I haven’t had a steel bike in ages so I can’t really compare, but I will say with an all aluminum fork it’s less comfy than my road bike with carbon fork and seat stays, assuming you have the same tires on each – I have run 23s on the Jake before. With 32s/lower PSI though it’s not as big a deal.

Interesting to hear. I’m wondering how much I can smooth the ride on the Jake with slightly fatter lower PSI tires. I’m liking the idea of a lighter, more “racy” bike with disc brakes that I can abuse a little bit more. Plus its $150 cheaper than the Volpe and includes a lifetime frame warranty. Oh first world problems of shopping for new bikes!

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@DismalScientist 26832 wrote:

I can’t say I see the advantage of taking the TR bridge. You’ll be walking with you bike over your shoulder for some of the distance from the CCT to the Key bridge over the canal, but it takes a good two miles off from going over the TR bridge.

Speaking of walking with you bike over your shoulder, this is the path from the Chain Bridge directly to the CCT. http://maps.google.com/?ll=38.930504,-77.111921&spn=0.056019,0.035148&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=38.930615,-77.111987&panoid=3xh1mliTHLM9SppnanO-zg&cbp=12,55.26,,0,5.77 Not pleasant, but doable if you don’t have gear.
On the Arlington side, you want to go up 41 St., but coming back, take Glebe (the entire lane). It may be hard to maintain control on 41st Street downhill and you will have no problems keeping up with traffic on Glebe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrfDqoILHjw

Resurrecting a dead thread from the ashes, but thought a video of the connection might be helpful should any intrepid beginner (like myself) stumble upon this thread!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrfDqoILHjw

I regularly take the Capital Crescent Trail on my Takoma to Arlington commute. Many moons ago when I first asked advice on here about routes someone mentioned and showed a picture of a fabled crossing between Chain Bridge and CCT that avoided that rocky, bumpy towpath.
Today, I present, that fabled path. I made it just fine in regular running sneakers, carrying a shaky iphone in one hand (I promise I was going for that “Lost” shaky camera aesthetic…) and a Trek 7.2 FX Hybrid with a loaded pannier in the other. If I can manage it in my infinite
scrawny-osity, i’m sure most of you elite athletes here can too!

The only really dodgy part of this approach is the occasional car (BWM today, Mercedes yesterday) that decides they need to be as close as possible to the car in front of them at the red light and can skillfully do so while checking their
blackberry. The big yellow blob that looks like a 5’10” scrawny bearded guy holding a big black bike is just a figment of his/her imagination so they can pull forward as though I don’t exist. Either that or i’m actually invisible in my biking outfit…in which case I can now understand why
bike gear is a bit pricey.

Cheers!

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In honor of Earth Day:
Commuting by bike = 29 miles
Dessert for me and my wife = 2 Georgetown cupcakes
Commute still being cheaper and faster than Metro = priceless

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@TwoWheelsDC 49769 wrote:

One thing I regret when buying a new CX commuter was buying one without disc brakes. If you’re going to be riding in the rain, try to at least test ride something with discs and see how you like it.

I really liked the disc brakes on the kona rove, but way out of my price range. This is why I’m hunting for a 2013 Jake. In my price range, with disc brakes and good components from what my feeble research suggests! Just need to see if its much less comfy compared to the Volpe.

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More test rides! On today’s menu a Kona Jake (59 cm…blech) and a Kona Jake the Snake (53 cm…nice geometry, more than my budget). First of all, the shop shall remain nameless, mainly due to their lack of service effort. No attempt to fit anything to me or discuss my needs, not cool. They put me on a 59 cm that was clearly too big (though I did get a decent idea of the components. Tiagra and 105 mix felt super nice!). Also rode a Jake the Snake at 53 cm. Probably the right size for me. Nice components and a good deal (around 10% discount for their 2012 model) but I learned that I really do like having a triple. Perhaps its the familiarity from my current hybrid.

With all this test riding i’ve determined that:
1) I think I want a triple ring (double would be fine, triple is more comfy)
2) My size is narrowing down to a 53/55 cm.
Next step is a test ride in my bike gear with my GPS.

My test ride journey so far:
Jamis Nova – Nope. I’ll just stick with my hybrid.
53 cm Jake the Snake and 53 cm Kona Rove felt good. They were super light and I felt like I could accelerate nicely but too pricey. Need to find a 53 cm Jake the Snake.
55 cm Bianchi Volpe felt super smooth. A little heavy but very comfy. Perhaps a smidgeon too big. Need to try a 53 cm Bianchi Volpe.

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@vvill 49296 wrote:

In my experience I would also include Lexus SUVs.

For some reason it always seems to be the cars that cost more than I make in a year that are the worst. And Prius’s…those guys are sneaky. Can’t hear them coming at all. I think they’re jealous of bikers’ MPG’s.

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@acl 49573 wrote:

AH-HA. I believe I have detected my mistake. I rode the wrong bike! If only I had ridden the one with the curvy handlebars, I would have been passing everybody!

Eventually when my dream monies turn into real monies and I upgrade to a curvy handlebar bike (so sexy!), I’m sure I’ll have to think of another excuse. For those in that situation, I’m thinking of some reasoning gathered from my Astrophysics course:

Older folks want to recapture their youth. They ride fast. By riding fast, special relativity tells us that time for them slows down, therefore they age less. Consequently, those speedy folks are really just trying to stay young and are therefore cheating time. I am a distinguished professor and therefore am not permitted to cheat. I have to set a good example for my students. No cheating time for me. So, when I really think about it, in order to maintain my professional credibility I HAVE to ride slow. Its all by my own choice. Its certainly not my weak legs that only commute on average 3 days a week.

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Slow leak at the office for me today. Went to ride home tonight and it was flat. Couldn’t find any reason for it either! Gonna pump it up tomorrow when I get in and hopefully ride home without incident.

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@acl 49532 wrote:

My morning commute was by car again today, after 3 whole days of commuting by bike. In those 3 days I learned that 1) I do, in fact, covet y’all’s commutes just as much as I thought I did; and 2) I am slow. Very slow. In 3 days of 26 miles per day during normal commuting hours, I passed a total of one (1)* cyclist. I was passed by many. Weekends may be more crowded, but they are better for my delusions of speed. I actually get to pass people sometimes.

*I am not counting the family of four with two 5-6 year olds on bikes that I passed on the way home yesterday afternoon, or the commuting couple I passed yesterday morning only because they stopped to gawk at nature.

I’m slow too. But I blame my bike for my slowness. Always passed by people on those curvy handlebar things. I’m piddling along on my flat bar hybrid. It has to be the bike…right? If only I had one with curly bars I could pass all of them! To make myself feel better, when I get passed I just sit up straight on my upright hybrid and start humming to myself like I’m just out enjoying nature. Nobody needs to know that inside I’m angrily seething that I was just passed by someone twice my age going twice my speed with what looks to be half the effort.

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Best Sunday EVER! On a whim I test rode some bikes at Proteus!

First and foremost, how do people in this area NOT buy exclusively from those folks? Nicest people i’ve ever met. Fit me on three bikes (2 the “correct” size, one good enough to test), Jamis Nova Race, Bianchi Volpe and Kona Rove. The test riding area has a nice mix of hills and flats so I got to really ride the bikes. Much better than the typical parking lot tests i’ve gotten at other places.

To my surprise, my preference was the Bianchi Volpe, the one bike I had NEVER heard of. Just need to find the Kona Jake in my size to test somewhere to see how that one gels, but right now a Bianchi Volpe from Proteus seems like the perfect bike for me.

Unless of course Mr. BMW in Arlington does hit me. Then its a new Kona Rove with all the fixin’s! Such a nice bike and you have to love that green color.

If anyone wants to contribute to the “buy-bubar-a-new-bike-fund”, there is a fantastic physics course and astronomy course you can take at the University I work at 😎

Thanks to Laurie and the Proteus folks. I’ll definitely be back once my imaginary funds start turning real!

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