[eminva]

@KayakCyndi 48366 wrote:

Then as I was cresting the first of the two rollers I passed two ACPD officers riding the other direction. Needless to say I thanked them and said I appreciated their presence on the trail.

I saw two officers on bikes, too, down near Bonair Park. Thanks, Arlington Police!

Liz

[eminva]

@brendan 48264 wrote:

In my experience, sometimes the traffic on the Whitehurst Fwy is moving closer to 45. And I worry about the merge at the bottom of the on-ramp. It’s not entirely blind, but coming down the ramp it can be hard to see far enough back into the lane you’re merging into, esp. if someone is speeding. I tried it once on the road bike, didn’t particularly like it. Since I ride a slower bike most of the time, I avoid it.

Brendan

I did go through at rush hour, so the sheer volume of cars reduced the speeds at which they could travel. This also made the merge less problematic. Also, I had a car coming down the ramp right behind me, so we kind of merged at the same time.

@ShawnoftheDread 48265 wrote:

Did you have any trouble getting over one lane near the end to get to K Street instead of the E Street ramp?

No trouble at all. Traffic was slowing down for a back up at the light ahead by then.

Liz

[eminva]

@Steve O 46422 wrote:

Okay, I’m sure you will think I am even crazier, but I commuted across Key to a final destination at 1310 L St. This was my route:

Key Bridge
Whitehurst expressway. I know this seems crazy, but I think it’s actually safer than M St. No intersections, good sightlines for the cars, downhill start to get speed, traffic often stopped anyway towards the end–so it’s not like they are zooming by.

Then straight and UNDER Washington Circle. Also seems crazy, but if you wait just shy of the tunnel until the light on K turns red, then you get your very own, private tunnel to ride through. All by your lonesome. Nice. Here’s where you wait ( in the faded triangle):http://goo.gl/maps/hRksN

I tested this route to get to my K Street office yesterday, and it is faster and not scary. With the downhill on ramp, you can pick up quite a bit of speed and you will be going almost as fast as the cars by the merge. The speed limit is 35 and the cars seemed to be going no faster than that. I stayed in the lane and the drivers were respectful.

I also waited for the light to turn red to enter the tunnel under Washington Circle. It worked exactly as Steve describes, but the cars were backed up in the tunnel and not moving too fast, so I probably could have gone without waiting for the light.

Things were slow for the three blocks between the end of the tunnel and my office. But over all, I saved about four minutes. And as Steve notes, you avoid the intersections and other nonsense on M Street.

Liz

[eminva]

Tim’s advice is all good (although he didn’t mention obtaining a Bike Arlington safety vest!). There are also bike lockers at East Falls Church.

I had a bike stolen five years ago at Ballston. It looked like a brazen mid-day heist — when I got back in the afternoon, the bike parking area was strewn with destroyed locks (all varieties) and suspiciously few bikes. The bike parking area is right next to a taxi stand and a bus circle, so there must have been witnesses. If you have an old “beater” bike, you can park it anywhere with a good lock, but if you have something worth protecting, I’d advise you get a locker at one of the stations where that is available.

Liz

[eminva]

I concur with the routes proposed by DismalScientist and FFX_Hinterlands and they are all paved (and less stressful, as FFX points out).

But it looks like your office is near the trail you are inquiring about; could you go out for a quick look see on foot in the evening after work one day?

Liz

[eminva]

@Dickie 47729 wrote:

Chatted with dcv this morning. Good to meet you and thanks for stopping, made my morning! I might have spotted Eminva as well, were you wearing a light blue jacket this morning? I was stuck behind the hipster with the skinny jeans so I didn’t see you until the last minute

No, that wasn’t me — my employer zigs when others zag and I have a holiday today. Went out on the CCT with the scouts instead!

Liz

[eminva]

@Dickie 47434 wrote:

Eminva and I crossed paths reluctantly in front of “Helpy Helperton the garbage man” this morning… good to see you, hope my squeaking cleats didn’t alarm you?

Nice to see you! No, your cleats didn’t alarm me; I only saw it was you at the last moment because I was so focused on what Helpy was going to do.

Also happened upon vvill and Rob (?) on Pennsylvania Avenue this morning.

Liz

[eminva]

Thank you, Pete, that was very helpful! (although acc and I might suggest you also pack champagne for post-ride festivities).

Good luck Bilsko!

Liz

[eminva]

Sometimes my iPhone wants to take pictures, and sometimes not. For the last five miles of my commute this morning, I couldn’t really shift. When I got to the parking garage, I wanted to take a picture of the ice/slush encrusted cassette, but the phone wasn’t cooperating today.

Liz

[eminva]

Yes, I believe those are my tire tracks in Jim’s photo because it appeared my bike was the first one through that segment of the trail. Perhaps my first time ever as the early bird!

I passed two westbound commuters shortly thereafter, rolo and Dickie (saw you where the trail parallels Shreve Road).

Dickie, I’m sorry about your fall! Hope you aren’t injured too badly. I’ve had two falls on the ice this winter so I can relate. Luckily, today I stayed upright.

I was on the MTB with studded tires and it worked well. Hopefully it warms up and some of this will disappear by the evening. If it freezes again either today or overnight it will be a mess because of all the footprints, etc.

Liz

[eminva]

Team FourCuatroPho:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2586[/ATTACH]

Another configuration of Team V — at the Phoenix Bike Event, receiving their first place trophies:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2587[/ATTACH]

Finally, thanks, Dickie, for my Dirty Mustache award!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2588[/ATTACH]

Sorry for all the red eyes and closed eyes, and sorry I didn’t get all the teams.

Liz

[eminva]

Some team photos:

Team Ocho/The Underdogs:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2581[/ATTACH]

Team 9 Bollard Busters (2nd place):

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2582[/ATTACH]

Team V is for Victory (1st place):

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2583[/ATTACH]

Team S and M:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2584[/ATTACH]

I Crit My Pants:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2585[/ATTACH]

[eminva]

I had to ELITE this post because although your new ride does not involve white bar tape or any other ELITE trappings, you will be making money riding your bike, which even most ELITE riders don’t do.

Congrats on the new gig! Hope it goes well.

Liz

[eminva]

@ShawnoftheDread 46888 wrote:

On the WOD I met a man with devious plans.

Someone going home by way of Pittsburgh tonight?

Liz

[eminva]

@DCAKen 46707 wrote:

Me: Fleet footed vigilante

You: First time fixie thief

Next time you attempt to steal a bike, make sure it’s not a fixie. I’ll bet you didn’t expect me to react so quickly when I heard you break the lock on my upstairs neighbor’s bike out in front of our building. You were just mounting the bike when I ran out of the building (without any shoes on, no less) and started chasing you. You just didn’t have the muscle power to accelerate before I caught up to you and grabbed onto the seat, making you lose your balance and fall. And you certainly were drawing attention to yourself as you kept cursing me as you ran off.

Finally, only try to steal one bike at a time. You left the other bike behind with its broken lock as you tried to ride off. The police have added it to their collection of recovered bikes.

Is DCAKen participating in Freezing Saddles? If so, I nominate him for the Dirty Moustache award. Paging Dickie!

Liz

[Author]

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