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. . . And you are a blogger, too!

He put others at risk, too. Do you suppose in his blind rage he was really checking the sidewalk before going off-road to prove his point? Hopefully no pedestrians were in the vicinity, or they would have gotten the fright of their day.

Your point is well taken, Pete — we all need to listen to the angels of our better nature.

Liz

[eminva]

Wool is also a good insulating layer and something that most people already have, or can easily get at discount or a thrift store. The nicer merino wool items make good base layers (e.g. Icebreaker, Smartwool), but any wool sweater can be used as a mid layer if you have something softer against the skin.

Liz

[eminva]

jrenaut, that brings back memories. You just need to get a Burley Piccolo (or similar) when she gets a little bit older. Then she can help you with the work. When we lived in DC, I remember lumbering up Sherrill Drive with my son on that thing after our visits to Rock Creek Park. He was a pretty unreliable stoker, but we made a game out of it and I would yell “more power!” when I needed his effort, too. Still, there were times we had to get off and walk. No shame in that!

Liz

[eminva]

@dbb 13794 wrote:

Looking upstream from the Virginia side of the Key Bridge?

Right you are!

Sorry I didn’t include my bike in the photo. Sometimes the Key Bridge is a three ring circus in the morning between bikes, pedestrians and random folks walking three or four abreast so I didn’t want to add to the chaos by setting up a shot with bike. Also, then you really wouldn’t have been able to see the river in the background.

I do have some shots with bike — will try to dig them up here . . .

Liz

[eminva]

@CCrew 13790 wrote:

Here, I’ll play.

Well, you said you went to the Silver Comet Trail last year, no? I’m guessing that based on the tall pines that are fairly common in the southeast US.

Liz

[eminva]

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I thought I’d give you one that some of you may not have seen during daylight hours.

Liz

[eminva]

Oh Ann, if you have emerged from a couple of weeks of bike commuting with your sense of humor intact, you are halfway there! Because you DO need a sense of humor some days.

I’ve been at it for seven years and I can’t say I always love the hills. The percentage of days where I hate them has gone way down, though. I also cheat and have several routes home, some more hilly than others, for days when I feel like making a little less effort.

i have a book by Bicycling Magazine’s “Fit Chick,” Selene Yeager, which has a brief section on climbing that is not bad. You are welcome to borrow the book if you are interested (I don’t necessarily recommend you buy it — it is a good book, but it has a lot of info about conditioning, etc. you probably don’t need if you are already as athletic as you are).

Good luck!

Liz

[eminva]

@Greenbelt 13756 wrote:

The Custis trail is a pretty amazing bit of engineering! I’m envious. Why don’t Maryland highways have trails like that?

Great video!

The history of the Custis Trail is interesting — as I understand it, it was the quid pro quo (or one of them) for the neighborhood when I-66 was routed through there. Every so often, I see a pedestrian of a certain age walking right down the center line of the trail — I feel like he or she can be forgiven for having a sense of entitlement to the trail, given what those neighborhoods had to live through 30 or 40 years ago.

Liz

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I’m probably preaching to the choir again, but . . .

If another cyclist had offered you help, would you have accepted?

I always carry a pretty well stocked tool kit, including a chain tool and a link corresponding to my cassette. Anytime I see someone stopped along the trail, I ask if they have everything they need or if everything is okay. I’d guesstimate that 90% of the time the response is, “I’m fine.” Sometimes they look like they know what they are doing (but I ask to be polite, or in case they are missing a particular tool) — them I don’t worry about. Other times the cyclist is looking very puzzled and sort of staring at the bike. I can’t help but wonder if pride prevents them from accepting help?

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in a bind and I happen along, don’t hesitate to avail yourself of my toolkit, or, worst case scenario, cell phone.

Liz

[eminva]

We live in Vienna and my son will be going to Luther Jackson Middle School (corner of Gallows and Route 50) next year. I am sad that bicycling to school is not even a remote option for him for the two years of middle school.

If there is a silver lining, I hope when they finish with all this, the area is more bikeable than it was before they started.

Liz

[eminva]

Clever!

As a chronically homesick Gulf Coast expatriate, I will definitely be checking this place out on my commute home one evening. Perhaps many evenings.

Will try to remember to post a review when I do (which reminds me, there is another review I’ve been meaning to post).

Thanks for the info.

Liz

[eminva]

Then there is always this response.

[eminva]

Yay, Ann! Welcome aboard!

Re: traffic, when I first got my driver’s license, I lived in Texas and distances were great, so I thought, “wow, freedom!” Years later, when I started bicycle commuting, I thought, “wow, freedom!” Funny how things came full circle.

Liz

[eminva]

@StopMeansStop 13114 wrote:

I hate wave racks. They are useless for mini u locks

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[eminva]

Thanks. When we first moved to VA, I got a locker at EFC so I could work up to commuting the full distance. After a while I didn’t use it so much, so I gave it up when they raised the rate. I wonder if they have given any thought to daily rentals? I could see demand for that kind of flexibility. One of the last times I used my locker, I was experiencing technical difficulties with my bike that were beyond my trailside expertise so I just parked the bike at the locker to deal with later. It wouldn’t be worth renting one annually for such eventualities. CaBi has daily rentals, so the technology exists . . .

Liz

[Author]

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