[eminva]

All good advice, and make sure you have the sales staff in the bike shop check the fit and go for a test ride on all the finalists.

You might also seek the advice of the sales staff — when I bought my last bike, I made a list of what I needed the bike for. I’d give that to the salesperson as well as my budget. I never specified what type of bike I was looking for. Various shops had me try everything from townie type bikes to touring bikes to road bikes. It helped the decision making process, made me consider some things I hadn’t thought of and was fun to boot.

Good luck.

Liz

[eminva]

Hello —

My son’s bike is a 24″. You are welcome to borrow it. I’ll send a private message with contact info.

Liz

[eminva]

Let me check when I get home — I can’t remember what size my son is in now, but if it’s a 24″, you are welcome to borrow it. He is going camping that weekend and can’t participate.

As long as she doesn’t mind a black and red mountain bike.

Liz

[eminva]

They just wanted to make you feel like you were riding in the Giro d’Italia on the famed “Strade Bianche.”

All joking aside, glad it was not more serious.

“Corridor of carnage” — ?

[eminva]

Very sad; very sorry to hear it. My condolences to the family.

Liz

[eminva]

Since the weather got warmer, I’ve seen some crazy stuff on the trails/streets, and I’m wondering whether any of you try to do any “education” in a constructive manner with other cyclists. On the one hand, I want to encourage anyone who decides to get on a bike. On the other hand, I often observe someone just having a narrow miss (or about to have one) and is completely oblivious. I’m sometimes tempted to say something (assuming the chance doesn’t pass too quickly), and I would try to do it in my stern-but-friendly-mother persona rather than crazy-dragon-lady guise. So far I’ve been unable to think of a way to offer anything that would be constructive and well-received. Maybe there isn’t any way to do it. Anyone else have any experience with this?

Thanks.

Liz

[eminva]

I think the solution is to build some apartment buildings at 14th & G. And some office buildings in Adams Morgan (or wherever folks are coming from).

Liz

[eminva]

Thanks for alerting us to these. I am envious of those of you who work for employers that encourage bicycling and other methods of transportation. I am waiting to hear if my employer is moving me out to Rockville in a year. I don’t like to think about it, because it will surely doom my bicycle commute, barring the highly unlikely development of sharrows on the beltway or something. You have no idea how devastating this would be for me (well, maybe some of you do!).

I signed up for the Clif 2-Mile Challenge, so let’s see how well I do at logging my results. It raises an important point — while I do a good job with the bike commute, I often take the car to the grocery store (less than a mile away) so I don’t have to worry about how much bulky/heavy stuff to buy, etc. Also, for some reason I perceive the car to be faster. This weekend my husband and son were out with the car and I went shopping by bike. It was really no less convenient than car, and I should make it the default mode for short trips. Hopefully this challenge will encourage me.

Liz

[eminva]

Interesting. Going outbound in the afternoon, I rarely see cyclists stop for the red at Oak Street (same for pedestrians), assuming traffic is clear. I guess there is a sense that sightlines are good and traffic coming out of that street is light. I see more people stopping at Scott Street and waiting for that light — maybe by then they need to catch their breath.

The one I worry about is Quinn Street coming eastbound in the morning — sometimes cars turning from Quinn on to Lee Highway don’t stop to look at the trail to make sure it is clear (especially with distracted drivers on cell phones, etc.). They just turn their head left and not right. For that reason, as well as the heavy pedestrian traffic, I take the Roslyn hill quite a bit more slowly than most on the inbound trip.

Liz

[eminva]

Hello —

Thanks everyone for your help. I ended up bringing the 10-speed home and my mother is keeping the three-speed a little longer. It was in pretty good working order so my father and I tightened things up and cleaned it up so she can ride it around the neighborhood. She is okay without having working gears (go figure).

So now I have the 10-speed to play with and I’m looking forward to adding to my tool collection as I puzzle this out. I have a couple of manuals and I might get another.

Liz

[eminva]

Thank goodness you are okay. That is the most important thing, especially with a little one at home (right?).

I have the helmet religion already — my head did hit the ground while bicycling to high school over 30 years ago, before we put kids in helmets, and I was seeing stars and moons for a while. My brothers insisted I lost a few brain cells that day, too. I am not eager to repeat that event. We all need all the brain cells we have.

Liz

[eminva]

I’m sorry to hear about this, but don’t give up, we’ve all been there, unfortunately.

Do take the WABA Confident City Cycling class. It sounds like you have all the right instincts, but I’m sure the instructors can respond to your concerns and make suggestions for negotiating these hairy spots.

Another suggestion is to look at the bike map of DC — usually there are multiple ways to get from one place to another, and maybe you can find an alternative that will be quieter and less stressful. The bike map notes which streets have bike lanes, which are okay for cycling and on which cycling is not recommended.

My similar incident was very early in my bike commuting days — I was riding around Thomas Circle and the car behind me kept his (or her, I never looked back) hand on the horn the entire time it took to negotiate the circle — at least three or four minutes because traffic was at a complete stop and I couldn’t have moved any faster because I was going exactly as fast as the car in front of me. I got to work shaking and freaked out. Over the years since then, I have decided not to let someone else foist their problems and stress off on me.

I do agree we need more biking infrastructure! I think it would encourage even more people to try pedaling around.

Good luck and don’t give up.

Liz

[eminva]

Another possibility is to take Roosevelt Bridge to New Hampshire, but turn right on H Street. Take a left on 20th, then right on L Street down to 17th.

This avoids Washington Circle if you find that a bit intimidating — which you might if you are new to city cycling.

H Street is a more quiet street, but the downside is that it goes through the GWU campus so you will have more than your share of jay walking pedestrians to look out for. It is quiet in the summer, though.

Liz

[eminva]

Hello —

Did you try contacting any bike shops directly? I am on the email lists of several and judging from the mailings I get, they do tend to host lots of events and this would probably fit in someone’s niche. I’m just not sure if people from bike shops tend to monitor this message board, however. I would hate for them to miss an opportunity because they didn’t know.

Liz

[eminva]

I use a locking skewer set to keep the wheels and seat secure (of course you need to carry the “key” with you in case you get a flat).

90% of the time I’m riding to my office, where we have a bike cage in the parking garage. You have to request that your key card be activated for the bike cage, so access is limited. I lock my bike up in there with a u-lock.

For brief errands in the neighborhood I also use the u-lock.

If I’m leaving the bike at the metro, I take my least attractive/valuable bike and lock it with a u-lock and cable. Once I had a bungee cord stolen from my bike at the station! So you are smart to take anything that can be removed with you.

No method is 100% foolproof. Just trying to make my bike less attractive to thieves than the next one. And hopefully I won’t get as distraught as Pee Wee Herman if the worst happens.

Liz

[Author]

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