[Emm]

I totally want a messed up gaiter! Those are great. Happy to meet you somewhere, or let me know when you’re around my neighborhood.

[Emm]

I never met David, but I donated. Everyone deserves the opportunity to spend their final days at home with family, and it pisses me off so f*cking much that this isn’t a basic human right in this country.

[Emm]

From Facebook’s MVT Trail Users Group:

Just a head up that some…very special…person posted on Nextdoor in my area that they will be open carrying a firearm on the MVT this Saturday at 10:00 for a gun rights protest walk that starts near the Dyke Marsh, South of Alexandria just near Belle Haven (around mile 4 or 5 I think). He is trying to enlist other…special people…to walk with him.
It’s perfectly legal in VA and on National Park land.
Just a heads up, in case you run across them!

A few other posters responded that they knew of this specific individual, and he was known to be very confrontational. So please, regardless of your political views on this, stay safe and don’t confront.

[Emm]

That’s great news! This was where my last crash was– I’ve always hated this bridge.

[Emm]

Are you on facebook? if so, check out the Contes Old Town Roll facebook group. There are some good route options for that neighborhood. I lived there for awhile, and still go over there to do road rides since it’s a GREAT area for road riding, esp on weekends.

Here’s part of a route, minus the worst hills:
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/47729541

I usually take Fort Hunt down to Sherwood hall, and THEN start my ride with GPS, since that’s when I forget the route, hence the ride cutting in and out. For all the fun hills, try this: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32291935?privacy_code=hTnevyB1aRD6Ksw3

Those routes are easily modified, and only have a very small piece of the MVT included.

[Emm]

@Fairlington124 202025 wrote:

Not the best place to live as a rider, unless the super-steep Valley Drive hill is your thing.

Maybe Nixon’s “I have never been a quitter” line was coined after pedaling his way to the top…

Valley Drive is the easy one. Martha Custis and Gunston are the painful ones (Preston can be fun too, but it’s shorter). I lived on Valley for a few years and loved it. The neighborhood is also super bike friendly.

[Emm]

That thread is amazing. Great work Judd. I learned alot, and it was a ton of fun to read!!!

[Emm]

@drevil 201969 wrote:

How did F escape going down? He shoulda warned you!

That man hits a small curb, blows 2 tires and goes down hard, and yet somehow gets through actually treacherous conditions with no issue. I have no idea what magic he uses.

[Emm]

It took me 7 years of regularly riding on the MVT wooden bridges, but I finally went down on one.

The final bridge just north of Mount Vernon got me Saturday morning. That bridge for those of you who don’t ride it often has a lip, AND requires a turn once you get on it. You also come at it from a slightly curvy downhill. I was heading south, and hit a slick spot from the recent rain and my bike slid out.

I can’t remember how I landed since I immediately jumped back up to evaluate my injuries (yay adrenaline, but this is a habit I need to fix in case I really do break something someday), but I do know my palms had bruises. I’m worried I put my hands out to brace myself, but I honestly can’t say for sure since it also could be from jerking forward into the hoods when I fell. Both of my knees are bruised, my elbow is torn up (only injury that broke through ALL the layers of skin), and my left shin is torn up. My right hip got it the worst though with a cantaloupe sized bruise and some road rash. Also lots of other random bruising on both my legs.

After falling I got off the trail to evaluate my injuries and my bike, only to watch 2 more cyclists go down on that exact same spot moments later.

My bike’s right brake level got shoved over on impact which was an easy fix, but it is now acting up (shifting fine, but when I brake it acts normal, and then suddenly pulls ALL the way in), so it may need to get to the shop to get looked at. Otherwise, my pretty new pink warbird survived without a scratch. I had an ortlieb on the side that went down which I think cushioned the blow a little.

On a positive note, no broken bones, and my garmin watch sent an SOS immediately to my boyfriend when it detected the fall, although he was really alerted due to me screaming for him (he was ahead of me) and not the text. I was able to finish the last 12 miles of the ride, and clean off after. PLUS my expensive new manicure survived the crash!

Bruisey fun:
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That one is the size of a cantaloupe on my thigh/hip

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Elbow–only place I went through ALL the layers and had to bandage.

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Knee. This one snuck up and arrived a day later.

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Left shin. Didn’t go through all the layers of skin though luckily.

[Emm]

@Steve O 201719 wrote:

This drives me frickin’ crazy. Citizens should not have to research who owns what, yada yada. The County should have said, “thankyouverymuch” and then worked with NPS on your behalf (and the behalf of everyone who uses that road). For one, they more likely know who to reach out to and how to reach out. Making the citizens do the work is sucky government.

Welcome to my life. I once contacted Arlington, who said a trail was NPS, then NPS said it was Arlington, and then Casey let me know it was likely Alexandria…only to have David B (a wonderful mvt volunteer) fix it within a few days saving everyone the effort, even though the issue wasn’t on the MVT. I spent over a week back and forth until it was sorted out.

Alexandria did agree it was theirs though if future issues arose.

[Emm]

@KWL 201666 wrote:

Oooh. Look how many things you can bolt to that front fork.

It also came with space for 3 water bottle cages in the triangle, BUT I have no idea how on earth you’d actually fit 3 water bottles, since the 2 along the down tube are very close together…

[Emm]

@TwoWheelsDC 201665 wrote:

And the pink is the Di2 model right? If you haven’t already checked it out, the Di2 wifi module (WU111) is super handy. It lets you program the shifting with your phone (for example, I have mine set up to auto shift the front chain ring depending on the gear I’m on on the back) and it lets your Garmin display your gearing, and I think also make minor adjustments to derailleur trim and things like that. It’s totally plug-and-play and you can install it anywhere along the Di2 wiring.

Yes, it’s my first DI2 bike! It’s sooooo nice. I will totally look into the wifi module, that seems super cool.

[Emm]

OMG LOOK AT MY PRETTY NEW PINK BIKE!!!

After months of staring at pictures of the pink Salsa Warbird online, my S.O. finally commented that I needed to “stop illicitly looking at pictures of the damn bike and go buy it”. So… I did! Thanks to Bikenetic for making the whole process go smoothly.

One thing I found that kinda annoyed me is that Salsa’s geometry changed a bit from 2018, when I had last tried the Warbird. Back then, the 55 was the perfect size for me. This year, I was at the high end of the 54.5 sizing recommendations, and the low end of the 56. The 54.5 was a more comfortable standover height for me, but I hit my knees on the handlebars when I got out of the saddle to climb, and the whole bike felt awkwardly small. The staff at Bikenetic warned me they thought the 54.5 was smaller than it should have been (and they had some theories about some weird sizing issues at Salsa…), so at least I got a fair warning that it likely wasn’t the right fit. So the 56 was purchased after a test ride, and we checked it by measuring my favorite-fitting bike for comparison to make sure I wasn’t doing anything crazy. Per my usual, I will shrink down the handlebars, and I may just shorten the stem a little if I need to. It rides wonderfully, and I can’t wait to ride it to Harpers Ferry this weekend on it!

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[Emm]

@bentbike33 200197 wrote:

Is it actually illegal for bikes to ride on the GWMP? If not, and it’s really this empty, we might as well go for it.

Yes, they will ticket you. There are signs posted on the parkway (mostly in the southern section) banning bikes, and I know of at least one person who got a ticket. They list the prohibition on their website (https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/planyourvisit/mtvernontrail.htm), so I assume they have some enforcement mechanism based on their past ticketing.

[Emm]

Steve O and I did the Contes Alexandria ride (on our own) 2 weeks ago. If you check on their facebook page, people have posted numerous route variations, all of which go through safe neighborhood streets in Fort Hunt/Alexandria. You can go from 23-55 miles depending on the route/hills you want to tackle. I may try to go out again this weekend and do one of the rides.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/758318671296278/

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