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This is the “Bike Room.” It doubles as “the laundry room,” the “camping gear storage room,” the “wood shop,” “the boiler room,” “the bar” and “general storage.” The work stand is folded up and under the stairs. The tools are all in the left of the frame, just behind the sawhorses and other assorted junk. One has to be careful where they set up the work stand, especially when laundry is in progress.

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This is the auxiliary bicycle storage room, a.k.a. the spare room. Also apparently where piles of laundry waiting to be ironed and framing projects go to die.

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Liz

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Holy OCD, Batman! That is beautiful!

I’m going to take the contrary view, however, and say there may be people on this forum who can top this.

I’ll take a couple of pix tonight so you can see what the opposite kind of set up looks like. Which I’m sure some of you have never, ever seen in your life. Outside of a hoarders show.

Liz

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TYLER

(See Strava if you need a hint).

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You all laugh, but as some of you long timers know I had a near miss almost two years ago when many in my company were moved to our campus in Rockville (really Gaithersburg). Two bike commuters continued to commute from north Arlington to the MD offices during the first National Bike Challenge. It takes a toll commuting like that — at least for mere mortals. Both ended up either with injuries or needing to cut back for schedule reasons.

It would actually be a pretty straight shot there from Vienna where I live, but the infrastructure is so far from existence it almost feels pie in the sky to me.

Liz

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@Mikey 74904 wrote:

Is Liz going for the steal?

NO. I am a Slacker — I’m not riding 15 miles out of my way for that.

Liz

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@cvcalhoun 74900 wrote:

Hey, it’s not easy finding a way to distinguish John Quincy Adams from John Adams!

Try 2020 19th St., NW Washington, D.C. 20009 (which, yes, gave the neighborhood its name).

Liz

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madison

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@jrenaut 74695 wrote:

This is really disappointing – I thought that area was heading in the right direction in terms of density and walking/biking rather than just figuring out ways to move more cars, faster. That Metro station is already in a terrible spot where it’s not much fun to get to using ANY means of transportation (At least it wasn’t last time I was there, which was 5-7 years ago).

@MattAune 74697 wrote:

I think they still are moving in the right direction. But getting there requires massive construction which is causing some headaches, especially for pedestrians as evidenced by the photo.

Okay, now you’ve gotten me started . . .

I agree they are moving in the right direction and understand that the construction would make things worse before they are better. But I think they made some bad choices about how to accomodate users in the meantime (which is years, not weeks or months). They eliminated the bus turnaround but left the kiss ‘n ride, taxi stand and for a while, a small surface parking lot (!) right next to the entrance. People transferring between metro and bus are forced to cross Gallows Road as a result, which has resulted in at least one pedestrian death that I know of (and I’m not really paying attention). I think they should have preferenced users NOT arriving by single occupancy vehicle, but they did the opposite.

I confess I haven’t studied the plans closely and in the end it may be wonderfully convenient for the classes of users I’m concerned about. I hope so.

@cyclingfool 74696 wrote:

For me, it’s not about riding in the dark. I love riding in the dark actually. It’s about not having to get up as the arse crack of o’dark thirty. (Bit of a night owl here…)

You can both be winners! There are pointless prizes both for most riding time before sunrise and most riding time after sunset.

Liz

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@americancyclo 74685 wrote:

Riding through the drizzle wasn’t so bad, but arriving at the Dunn Loring metro station to find that there was no bike parking (at least not where it used to be) right by the entrance, I slowly pedaled towards the massive parking lot, grumbling the whole way. I found sheltered parking under the stairs, but then had to make the walk of shame like a car commuter a quarter mile back to the metro entrance.

http://instagram.com/p/jJiWu1A33q/

Yes, I had to go there a few weeks ago — I think I rode around for about half an hour looking for the bike racks (which are wedged between the giant garage and I-66). I would run out of @#$%^&! characters if I had to give my opinion about what they have done/are doing to access at the Dunn Loring metro. On the plus side, it has forced me to completely abandon the metrobus/metrorail mixed mode commute I used to do on metro days and now I just ride my bike to Vienna if I’m taking metro.

Liz

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Go Slackers! If Bob just gives us a few more busy people and casual riders for our team we could be threatening those serious teams.

This might only work for boys, but when my son was on the trailer cycle we used to play a space ranger game. I would call back for a “power boost” on the hills. He would enthusiastically respond, calling out, “more power!” You had to be strategic about it because the burst usually didn’t last too long.

Liz

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Yesterday’s commute exposed a few shortcomings in my rainy weather wardrobe. Does anyone have a recommendation for women’s rain pants? Endura doesn’t seem to feature women’s pants. Showers Pass has several models; any recommendations there?

Also, what can I do to keep rain from seeping into my Northwave Arctic boots? Even allowing a lot of water in, they did keep my feet warm, but they didn’t dry out by the end of the day. A google search suggested cutting the cuffs off of rubber kitchen gloves and sealing that around the top. I was dubious; anyone try that?

Thanks!

Liz

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@Jason B 74370 wrote:

Soooooo jealous on the Rapha jacket, waiting for my PI to die before i take the plunge.

I love it; well worth the $$ spent. Never too hot and keeps the water out, even today. My only gripe is that I don’t like the offset zipper that is so popular on cycling gear — although others love that. I finally figured out the reason I don’t like it is that I’m left handed and it’s really awkward. If you are righty, no problem.

They have sales every so often so you should get on their mailing list to get notice of those.

Liz

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@sethpo 74387 wrote:

Nice! I’m trying to avoid the canal as much as possible and keep this a road bike adventure. I don’t (yet) have the right equipment for that gravel that I’d be willing to ride this far.

I was going to say, what bike are you riding? The towpath will be very muddy after all this rain.

Liz

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Well, that was . . . brisk? bracing? stupid?

I had studded tires unlike some others so I had no trouble staying upright. The Rapha rain jacket lived up to its ELITE pedigree and my core stayed warm and dry. The same cannot be said for most of the rest of me. I have no idea if this stuff will dry out by the end of the day, but the space heater is working valiantly.

I got to FCC II long after most had left but DismalScientist helpfully showed me how to commute the rest of the way on the bus with the bike on the front. I had never done this before so thanks to Dismal. I’m not sure it saved any time but it did save another hair raising ride down a steep hill, of which I had had enough by that point.

Liz

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@Dickie 74358 wrote:

FCCII had some hearty members this morning, I arrived with sjclaeys just before Fast Friendly Guy showed up and we all sat outside under the awning sipping our coffees…. then Dismal showed up soaked to the core but not defeated. All in all a good showing!

Sorry I missed you — only Dismal was still there by the time I rumbled up on the studded tired MTB. My own fault.

Hope you have a good commute, Dickie — I only saw three cyclists the whole way in and I didn’t think you were one of them.

Liz

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