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I’ll concede a possible cultural difference (but see below), but not class — most of the permanent residents of Ashland are associated with the university, theater or are wealthy retirees from other parts of the west coast. There were even McMansions on the hill where I was lodging. It is a very affluent municipality.

Re: possible cultural difference: a bit more hippie-fied, but all in all it reminded me very much of our region — affluent, well educated and generally tolerant. That’s why I was struck (and made hopeful) by the different attitude to various transportation modes.

Liz

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@vvill 60892 wrote:

Trying to limit self to n+1 per year. Not 100% sure I want to use up my quota yet!

Sounds like with the right marketing pitch, you could flip it right here on the forum if you find something else later in the year you’d rather have!

Liz

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@Tim Kelley 60825 wrote:

Also, this is a very Elite segment: http://www.strava.com/segments/5110660

And people say the Washington region doesn’t have a velodrome.

@Tim Kelley 60825 wrote:

Reminds me of this: http://www.strava.com/segments/4493745 (change it to satellite and zoom in to see an R/C car track
.

What next, KOM riding down the Pinewood Derby ramp?

Liz

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@Dirt 60821 wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJLDF6qZUX0

I didn’t say that.

Welcome home, Liz!

Okay, let me clarify:

Pete kindly loaned me his bike shipping crate to get my bike out to Oregon and back. I was there last week on vacation.

I sent it home via FedEx and according to their efficient systems, it is now somewhere between Oregon and here.

Liz

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@TwoWheelsDC 60810 wrote:

I may ride out for this…given my schedule, I’ll probably have to ride straight there, so I’ll be that one weirdo on a fully-loaded commuter…

Several of us have done that; doesn’t look weird at all. At least not on this ride.

My road bike is in Pete’s box on a truck heading east at the moment, so I won’t be able to make it. Fully loaded commuter is one thing, mountain bike is another. (As dcv observed when he caught me on the commute this morning, I have s-1 problems.)

Have fun!

Liz

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@mstone 60772 wrote:

I like how the ad calls it a great commuter–it’s the Ford Excursion of bike commuting.

Well, part of my thinking is that my kid has music rehearsals three times a week and I want to get out of the business of dragging him there and back in the minivan. With this, he can get himself and his instrument there on his own. So in a sense, it would be a commuter for him. Would that alone justify the trouble and expense? No — but there is also grocery hauling, the occasional weird thing I have to transport to the office, etc. Plus the coolness factor.

Liz

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@americancyclo 60781 wrote:

Why not build your own? My brother in law just did and in the process persuaded Bikenetic to become an official xtracycle dealer!

This is what I had planned to do — already have a Trek mountain bike in the fleet that doesn’t have a lot to do. According to the Xtracycle website, it fits all the required specs. I had no idea Bikenetic is a dealer — will stop by there on my way home — thanks!

Liz

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I have suddenly decided that Vienna, VA needs a cargo bike rolling around and why shouldn’t it be me to pilot it?

If any of our Craigslist stalkers see one of these for cheap, NOT attached to a Huffy, let me know!

Liz

P.S. Also going to need some sort of cheap but extra long storage bin. This monster is not going to live in the house.

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Just wanted to add the exciting news that there will be door prizes! Bringing my whole gang. Hope to see you there.

Liz

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[ATTACH]3437[/ATTACH]

My commute this week.

Liz

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I’ll be there! Hopefully with my cool kid and cool husband. I invited the FABB folks and in lieu of non-existent FABB swag (hey, this ain’t Arlington), I’ll bring some Oregon souvenirs.

Liz

[eminva]

I rode my bike there in May and parked at the racks in Justin’s first photo. I left it just two or three nights. I used a u-lock but nothing else. I took my low end mountain bike (with the lowest of the low end saddle, since replaced) and there were nicer bikes parked at the racks so I wasn’t too worried.

I came from work downtown so I wasn’t too sweaty. The hard part was fitting all my stuff in my messenger bag — that bike doesn’t have a rack and I was too lazy to move one from another bike.

Liz

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@KelOnWheels 59681 wrote:

Nice! I really want to get the Space Horse out on some dirt and I have no idea where to go!

Kel — have you tried the Cross County trail in Fairfax county? Lots of variety there for the Space Horse!

Liz

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@jrenaut 59656 wrote:

A good reminder that much of what really irks drivers about cyclists is when we can go faster than they can.

Yes, I suspect so.

Along these lines, I didn’t post this because I attempt not to dwell on the negative, but it’s actually funny, so here goes . . .

I was riding a CaBi to meet a friend for lunch yesterday in the G Street bike lane. There was a WMATA van double parked (or paused) in the middle of the bike lane, so another cyclist and I swung around to the left to pass him. Just as we did so, he pulled out to the left without waiting for us to clear out of the way. The other guy sprinted ahead of danger and I fell back although I did manage to catch the driver’s attention in his rear view mirror. As I came up to him (back in the bike lane) at the next light, he rolled down his window and I said, “You almost ran into me. Be sure to look in your rearview mirror before pulling out into traffic.” He replied, “But you are supposed to be over there!” (gesturing to the bike lane). I said, “But you were parked completely blocking the bike lane!” He looked astonished and said, “Oh!”

Now I’m not sure what’s worse: a motorist blocking the bike lane, or a motorist who doesn’t even realize he’s blocking the bike lane!

Liz

[eminva]

I got a Cannondale Synapse 14 months ago and like it very much. I’m not sure if there are different models, but I got it at Freshbikes for well under $2K (WSD, aluminum frame, Shimano 105).

We’ve had many Trek products in our house over the years and they wore well, too.

Sounds like you can’t go wrong.

Liz

[Author]

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