[eminva]

Thanks for the timely thread — I will be a bachelorette early next week, and was thinking of a nice ride for Fourth of July morning that would keep me away from the hoards at all the usual tourist spots. I had already settled upon a circumnavigation of as much of the CCT from Pickett south as I could manage (before getting lost or tired). I’ve only ever gone as far as Wakefield.

I would do this on ye olde entry level mountain bike.

Liz

[eminva]

@mstone 23478 wrote:

note: it is never good to pick up speed in this spot

Agree completely; just noting what I have observed!

Liz

[eminva]

@dasgeh 23420 wrote:

Do you mean near the W&OD?

Yes, near where the Custis intersects with the W&OD. I vaguely recall that “Mile 0” of the Custis is in the underpass? If so, then I should clarify and say that the work is being done on the connector between the Custis and the W&OD.

Liz

[eminva]

I was very sorry to hear the news. Jill is a tremendous asset to the local cycling community. I hope the circumstances change and they can both be back in Maryland again soon.

And best wishes to Laurie and Ben! Glad to know Proteus will continue in good hands. Do keep us informed of farewell festivities.

Liz

—
I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?gg0pk2

[eminva]

@Bilsko 23299 wrote:

Delta cleats are getting harder and harder to come by since Look made the switch to Keo so I’ve been giving thought to switching. How has your experience been with the Look’s so far? I assume you’re on one of the Keo models – which one?

Thanks for the info and for the photos — very helpful. I will just plan to replace them every six to ten months (and be pleasantly surprised if I get more life). I got the cleat covers that Dirt mentioned. I put them on in the garage at work for the walk to my office (which is a little longer than you might think because the garage is in a different building).

I have the Keo Classic and so far, so good. Clipping in took some adjustment switching from SPD to Look, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. Otherwise, I very much like them.

On a side note, I had my first ever failure-to-clip-out-in-time fall on Thursday. Unrelated to the pedals. I was coming to a near stop and at the last second decided to go left rather than straight. Boom. Only my son saw me and no harm done, other than being the proud owner of a scraped knee. And my son got to hear me use vocabulary he’d only ever heard in Boy Scouts.

Liz

[eminva]

@Greenbelt 23285 wrote:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1238[/ATTACH]

You also seem to have gotten very lost from your usual route home!

Liz

[eminva]

If you have a car and they have mountain bikes (or at least something that can ride on dirt), I would suggest the Accotink Creek Trail. It is pretty, shaded and gets very little traffic.

A bit farther afield is the Indian Head Rail Trail in Maryland. It is paved, flat and gets very little traffic.

Bring a picnic and lots of snacks/drinks.

The W&OD: Not so good. Maybe on a weekday in the middle of the day, but not a sunny Saturday morning or afternoon. The traffic volume is stressful for both kids and the adults shepherding them.

Have fun!

Liz

[eminva]

The place I am staying is not on Disney property. I did a Google Maps search and looked at Streetview — DaveK is right; there is no place inviting to bike there. The website advertises the mother of all pools, if you can even call it that (more like a series of interlinked football field sized bodies of water). Not that I can swim, or aqua bike, or anything of that nature.

Yes, my colleagues and I from Team Finra are doing pretty well, if not up to Bike Arlington standards. We are divided by jurisdiction as are some other local teams. However, our #1 and #3 cyclists both reside in America’s smallest county (is it really?).

Liz

[eminva]

@DaveK 23168 wrote:

Orlando has some nice off-street paths but I would hate to see you (or anyone else I like) mixing it up in traffic down there. It’s terrifying. Stay safe!

Right — it’s a huge resort (or so it appears from the website), so I was hoping there would be some trails I could ride around on without even going out into the larger world. As a side note, I took my son to Walt Disney World late last summer and was impressed with the wide roads throughout the Disney property (which was as big as some small cities I’ve been to). Though traffic moved fast, it was somewhat sparse when we were there, so cycling through would have been doable. Nonetheless, I only saw a couple people cycling while there. They may have been employees, because there really isn’t anywhere to go around there besides the parks and hotels. It makes sense that they don’t have any infrastructure — I’m sure the only people interested would be a tiny percentage of their employees and diehard fitness fanatics because not many people want to exercise while on vacation (aside from wandering from Space Mountain to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad).

But they will probably be keeping me too busy to think of recreation. Plus it will be hot. Oh well.

Liz

[eminva]

That turned out wonderfully, Arlingtonrider! I have to go to Orlando in July for a conference for five days and I searched the hotel’s website for info on rental or loaner bikes, but the situation looks hopeless. Maybe I just need to find a friendly employee to help me out!

Liz

[eminva]

@Tim Kelley 23102 wrote:

Heading up Military and doing varied loops along 35th to Glebe. Should be about 15-20 miles without any real flat sections.

The things some people will do for beer and food.

Liz

[eminva]

@DismalScientist 23078 wrote:

I don’t think there is even a stop sign at Quinn.

You are right; I was thinking for the cars coming from Quinn onto Lee Highway.

Liz

[eminva]

@dasgeh 23067 wrote:

Heading WB on the Custis from Rosslyn in the afternoons, I’ve come to accept that I’m the only one (wheels or walking) who’s going to wait through entire reds, especially at the little streets (Oak, Quinn, etc). When I see that the light is turning, I stay right, even coasting behind peds, then I pull all the way right while I wait at the intersection. The way lights are timed, I usually hit at least one light red.

It’s been 3 weeks of commuting on the Custis. I don’t think anyone’s following my lead. Though I agree that the design of the trail there (timing of lights, length of reds, lack of Idaho stop) is stupid.

I do this, too, and like you, I pull as far to the right as I can lest someone behind me run right into me.

But isn’t Quinn a stop sign rather than a light?

Liz

[eminva]

Well said, Mark.

I love that one commenter thought the bollards would slow down some of the speedier cyclists. Fat chance. My worst near miss on a bicycle was at the W&OD and Sandburg last summer — while going eastbound, I was rolling slowly behind a jogger through the intersection, with the plan of passing him after the intersection and bollard. A couple of faster cyclists behind me decided to blaze through, despite another cyclist coming from the opposite direction. One of them ran over the bollard, it detached from the collar and went flying into my front wheel.

Now that I am noticing them, I see quite a few out in Fairfax County, too, although I suppose we have bigger challenges around here.

Liz

[eminva]

@DismalScientist 22689 wrote:

I know all about this. I’m number 3 (in full dress khakis! (non-military)) on the Roosevelt Bridge after 1 real attempt and about 15 aborted ones.

In some ways, age has its privilege — I have a routine and I do the same segments day after day after day. Once in a blue moon, I hit a segment without any other cyclists, joggers, strollers or zombies the whole way. Yesterday was like that — I guess the heat scared them all off.

Liz

[Author]

Replies