[eminva]

@acc 31930 wrote:

I lack the skill and balancing ability to carry two six-packs home on a bike. So I will keep my car for now. :p

Aww, man, how did you miss learning that essential skill?!

In all seriousness, I got a “teachable moment” today. I had hoped to be car-lite. My son had a concert this afternoon in Chantilly — not exactly bike friendly territory. However, I saw an opportunity. My husband and son were leaving directly from the concert to go elsewhere. I actually mapped out a route so that I could put my bike on the car and ride back home myself. At the last minute, I realized the plan would be impossible because I would need to bring the electric bass home. I can suffer with that thing on my back for five blocks, but not 15 miles. So I had to drive separately. While out there, I reconnoitered my planned route and it appears it would have been even less bike friendly than I had imagined, and I had imagined it to be really bad.

Lesson learned: while I’m lucky that bicycling for transportation is feasible for me five days a week, the other two will be really tough. Suburban and exurban infrastructure has a looooong way to go. While my husband and I never set out to construct a car based life for our son (we only have one car, after all), you’d almost have to forego all extracurricular activities to make that work.

So I guess it is just as well that I never got the pizza coupon, as I didn’t really succeed at this!

Liz

[eminva]

Wow, that is fantastic that you are sponsoring a school bike club! Thanks so much for that. Would love to hear more about it.

One thing to consider is how you want to pay for the jerseys — my understanding is that with a lot of manufacturers, you order xx jerseys and have to pay up front. So somebody has to figure out how many to order, front the money and go through the hassle of collecting from everyone else. If you want everyone to be able to order and pay individually, Voler does that and we had a good experience with them when the cyclists at my company ordered jerseys.

Good luck.

Liz

[eminva]

The caps under the helmet don’t make your head hot in the warm weather? I’ve always just bought a helmet with a visor, but that kind of limits your selection of helmets, so I might consider other options next time. I just thought the cap would make my head heat up.

Thanks.

Liz

[eminva]

To WMATA’s NextBus System:

1. I usually don’t complain about Metro. I use it for only 20% of my commutes, but I understand how it plays probably THE most important role in our regional transportation network and don’t expect perfection.

2. I accept that an accident at the beginning of the bus route can prevent a bus from making its appointed rounds.

3. But WHY did the NextBus feature keep ticking down as if all were well, telling me a bus was 30-29-28-27 . . . . 5-4-3-2 minutes away when no bus was even moving on the route?? I waited through three cycles of this (yes, I am a slow learner — but I didn’t really have another option, besides my feet).

To my commuter bike:

Please save me!

Liz

[eminva]

Certifried, you will have no trouble finding riding companions. I also found that the course marshals tried to space themselves so that each little group had support. The last 10-15 miles last year I was by myself, which was my own doing — I stopped at a friend’s house along the way. After our visit, I probably could have waited for another group to join, but I was okay to finish on my own.

In terms of pace, I suppose if you set your Garmin to auto-pause, you would sustain that sort of average. But bear in mind there will be a lot of stop-and-start, and if you include your stopped time, your average would be a lot less than what you are used to in your leisure cycling (and this applies to everyone, not you specifically). I found it best not to even focus on that and just have fun in whatever time as it took.

Liz

[eminva]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1719[/ATTACH]

I saw a jogger trip on it as I was getting ready to take the photo. It’s that bad.

Liz

[eminva]

Check out 2:57 for Hains Point KOM this afternoon!

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

[eminva]

@mstone 31270 wrote:

Re: the little rain comment. We were in a freak weather event last Saturday while not biking, and I’m glad I was able to jump in a parked car and hunker down. Wind came up pretty much out of nowhere, carrying dirt fully horizontally like a sandblaster, then the rain came in (also horizontally) and brought visibility down to zero. My wife couldn’t carry our youngest against the wind, and I had a tough time of it. If it’s something like that again, I’d want to be inside–at least for me, there are too many stretches where I’d be hard pressed to find adequate shelter from trees falling over, branches flying, etc. (Full disclosure: I wasn’t going to ride tomorrow anyway, for unrelated reasons.)

Yeah, I was on a bike for the WABA Confident City Cycling Evaluation (so I can become an LCI) during that “weather event.” I could barely see anything (and I imagine I wasn’t real visible to others, either) and the gusts made bike handling dicey. Large limbs were falling into the street before us. I was also thinking, “um, isn’t this what the weather is like just before a tornado?” I wouldn’t want to be too far from shelter when something like that blew up. So be careful and pay close attention to the forecast tomorrow, everyone!

Liz

[eminva]

@KelOnWheels 31008 wrote:

Look! There is my new jersey.

I got the same one!

Liz

[eminva]

@acorn 30995 wrote:

Ladies, our numbers are terrible! Let’s get out there more.

Yeah, women were way underrepresented at my counting location, too. I am doing a stint on the W&OD for FABB tomorrow; I hope more women come out on the weekend.

I understand Nelle Pierson of WABA is at the Women’s Cycling Summit in Long Beach this week, making a presentation on a proposal to increase ridership among women in our area.

Liz

[eminva]

Look, a pony!

[eminva]

@Terpfan 30939 wrote:

I thought a lot about wearing my old timberland type boots last winter.

I did wear my old Timberland boots all last winter. See 6pm.com. They have tons of Timberland boots, men’s and women’s, starting in the high $50s. As well as a host of other brands, all at discount.

Liz

[eminva]

I got two and missed two!

[eminva]

To those of you who passed through the Custis/Ballston Connector intersection this morning, thanks for stopping by or waving! I was wearing a Bike Arlington jersey, but it was covered with my yellow wind breaker for most of the shift.

I counted 365 cyclists through there in my two hour shift. I think most of them were commuters, based on amount of gear (I realize some people commute without panniers or backpack, but most of the people through this morning did have them).

I have one more shift on Saturday, not in Arlington, but back out at Gallows and the W&OD in Fairfax County. I will be there from noon to 2. So, weekend warriors, come say hi and remind me to take a photo.

Liz

[eminva]

Hello — Saw a few of you while counting trail users at the Custis and Ballston Connector this morning.

Here I am with Dismal Scientist and dcv:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1702[/ATTACH]

I also took a picture with RESTONTODC, but it didn’t turn out because we had our backs to the sun. Doh! Between that and forgetting to photograph Guy Continental yesterday afternoon, I’m batting .500.

Liz

[Author]

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