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@PotomacCyclist 17448 wrote:

Interesting, except no one uses Blackberries these days. (At least none of the cool kids do.) BB is the Alta Vista or MySpace of the mobile phone world.

Well, that may be true for the cool kids, but those of us handed devices by our old school employers still carry Blackberries. Which probably accounts for a lot of the Very Important Person Distracted Driving going on in the downtown DC area, at least.

Liz

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I was wondering for a sec if you donated the RHINESTONE BIKE! Glad to see you didn’t, although it doesn’t stop me from wondering if they have Carnival in Panama or Uganda. What joy it could have spread.

Liz

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@DSalovesh 17367 wrote:

Basic commuter helmets are $45-65, enthusiast helmets are $100-120, and it’s hard to spend over $200 on any helmet.

I’ve always wondered: what does the more expensive helmet get you? I’ve always bought the cheaper models — I’m not setting the world on fire with my blazing speed and I have little hope of winning any style contests. What I have seems remarkably light. My only complaint is that the straps are cumbersome to adjust. What would an upgraded model add?

Liz

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@rcannon100 17343 wrote:

I am thinking strongly about getting an ebike. I am old; I have a blown hamstring. I am facing months of recovery – months off the bike – months of either driving to work *bleh* or riding public trans *double bleh* As I get older, I realize I cannot push my body as hard as I use to. But I still want to ride a bike and I would rather commute on a bike than by car or WHAMATA

I am very sorry to hear about your injury, but I applaud your efforts to stay on the bike. During an earlier discussion of ebikes, it occurred to me that they could be very helpful in situations like this. I was off the bike for eight and a half months in 2009 due to health problems. I had to work (no life of leisure for me) but couldn’t ride Metro due to compromised immune system so I adjusted my schedule and got a ride from a kind friend. In retrospect, I probably could have ridden an ebike until I was recovered enough to go back to my own bike. Would I have spent the money for what I knew would be a limited time? I dunno, but it would have been good to consider that option.

@rcannon100 17343 wrote:

there an ebike that people like? I saw this specialized. I mean the price tag is a joke. I have talked to a number of commuters on ebikes. They love them. Two guys did conversion kits. Saw a woman on the custis with a nice bike. Another guy last week on a trail on a bike he said he bought on Amazon. Currie lead batteries I think. Would rather not have lead batteries. Any recommendations?

Are you interested in a do-it-yourself project? My brother-in-law has built two ebikes himself (he is an engineer) and I know there are resources out there, possibly even boards like this. I can contact him for info if you are interested.

Liz

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Here’s what I found:

http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/northernvirginia/lee_highway_and_gallows_road.asp

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/bike/gallowsroad.htm

Looks like half a loaf, at least south of Cottage. Still, better than the status quo.

Liz

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Not that this will solve Metro’s vast revenue problems, but when I was last in Berlin, my sister and I took our bikes on the U-Bahn and we had to pay a fare for the bikes, too.

My memory was that they didn’t have any restrictions on when you could take your bike on the U-Bahn, but I just looked it up and apparently they have a rush hour prohibition, too. So I guess we are not alone.

Liz

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Another intersection that seems to invite scofflawery (is that a word? If not, it should be) is the W&OD and Gallows intersection. I am eternally grateful for the light there, but it is timed so that the wait seems interminable. Indeed, many cyclists don’t wait. I admit, on those rare days when I get a LONG break in traffic both ways, I will cross against the light. However, I’ve seen cyclists go when a line of cars is stopped at a light further down the road in either direction. This seems kind of dangerous to me, because if the light changes and traffic starts moving while you are in the middle of the intersection, they might not necessarily be expecting you to be there when they hit the gas pedal, to say nothing of the two lanes of traffic issue (e.g., a car may stop for you in one lane, but who knows what the driver in Lane #2 will do).

Liz

P.S. I saw no signs of the big law enforcement push this morning.

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You want the MVT or Custis Trail all to yourself? Revolutionary new technology makes it possible!

[eminva]

@americancyclo 16950 wrote:

If this competition is anything like the strava competitions, you’ll be blown out of the water. as will I. Some guy in England climbed 15,000 ft in one ride. http://app.strava.com/rides/5389979 then again, he was in England, so maybe you have a chance!

I think the Strava competitions attract pros, maybe some of them sponsored by Strava? Hopefully this is geared more toward us commuter/recreational types.

I also signed up. Does anyone know how the points are calculated? I entered data for this week so far (but not today yet) and I only have 48 points. I’m letting my team down. You all have a bunch more points.

Liz

UPDATE: Wait a minute. It said 48 points and now it says 154 . . . well, maybe it’s a moving target to keep things interesting.

Also we need a few more teammates! Join us.

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Weren’t we talking a couple weeks ago about a junk food alleycat race? Maybe we need to have a race between pit stops to see who can work in the most free breakfasts and gather the most swag!

Liz

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I’ll add one picture below. Also, I don’t have a Garmin, and I can’t run Strava that long on my phone without the battery dying, but here is my Cyclemeter data. I didn’t do any Hains Point loops, and on my way home, I just looked at that hill on George Mason from the trail and thought, “No Way.”

[ATTACH=CONFIG]842[/ATTACH]

Liz

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I have a Dahon Speed folding bike from Bikes@Vienna. I won it in a contest several years ago, but I think the retail for the bike was about $500 or $600. I like it and find it very sturdy. I took it in for recall service, but never had any actual problems before or after. I find the ride quite different from a full size bike, but it feels safe and comfortable. It fits a niche because of its portability. For example, if I’m going to a baseball game after work I can take that over from my office and fold it up for the metro ride home.

Liz

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Just a quick response before I head off to evening duties — it was great to ride with everyone, and I’m sorry I’m not on Twitter to publish my thanks more publicly.

I rode from Vienna to DC this morning, met up with Mark Blacknell, vvill and elcee and later with DaveK, jrenaut and dbb and his colleague. We all rode out to Proteus and I do believe we did not make a single wrong turn! It was exciting when the “through riders” arrived and after a brief visit (which included the through riders inhaling cookies), we took off for DC. It was sort of like a snowball rolling downhill, as we picked up riders here and there and had an estimated 100 riders as we reached the US Capitol. Amazingly, the group mainly hung together on the streets of DC.

There are already some photos on Twitter, but I will post some of mine later tonight if they turned out okay.

I had a great time and it was very exciting! It was nice to meet all the cycling dignitaries and Tim was so nice. Richard was very funny. If you haven’t already donated, feel free to donate to me, or even better, Pete.

Liz

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@KLizotte 16783 wrote:

Are the hills easier than taking the Custis (heading west)?

It may be the novelty of the route, but I found them to be more challenging. But then there were some places where I got to an intersection at the bottom of a hill and had to check my cue sheet to see where to go next, so I didn’t have the advantage of momentum like on the Custis.

The brief stretch on Washington was a fun downhill, though.

If you want the least hilly route west from Rosslyn, I would suggest cutting off the trail at Veitch, taking that to Wilson, then Fairfax to the Ballston-Custis connector. At least that’s the smoothest I can think of.

Liz

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@consularrider 15487 wrote:

I guess my recommendation would depend on which section of the Custis you find most annoying and where you are ending up. Here’s an almost all on street route from Rosslyn (Key Bridge Marriott) to the intersection of Columbia and Little Falls in Falls Church. It’s just under a mile longer than the more direct Custis/W&OD combination with a couple hills. The one section that I don’t like is the “trail” from Scott back to Key Blvd alongside Colonial Village.

I took this route home today. It was great. Nice scenery, nice hills and it wouldn’t have taken much longer than my usual route if I hadn’t been checking my makeshift cue sheet 21 times.

No matter what the weather over the next couple of weeks, I will repeat it four or five times to get it firmly planted in my head.

Thanks.

Liz

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