[Emm]

Today was the first morning I left home and it was legit dark outside. Fortunately, my cygolite arrived in the mail last night, and it is BRIGHT. All I needed was the medium and low setting, but I can see the high setting being good for evening commutes after daylight savings time ends. It was really useful to have it installed today though. I didn’t realize how dark the streets are in my neighborhood.

I felt bad for the dead rat on MVT this AM (a little south of gravely point). Looked like he got hit by a car last night and crawled onto the trail. Didn’t look like a fun way to go

[Emm]

Name and location of the building: Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Ave SW (HHS)
Are there bike racks on the property that are available to the public?: yes, although they’re pretty close to the building so unlikely the public would use them.
Are there bike racks on the property that are accessible only to employees or others?: yes, underground, although getting a pass to use them is HIGHLY restricted–typically only SES get the passes.

Name and location of the building: Switzer Bulding, 330 C St SW (HHS and GSA currently have offices here)
Are there bike racks on the property that are available to the public? yes, outside on the sidewalk. Not very secure.
Are there bike racks on the property that are accessible only to employees or others? no

Name and location of the building: Patriots Plaza 1, 2, 3 (355 E St SW and adjoining addresses. HHS, Dept of Ag, and maybe others have offices here)
Are there bike racks on the property that are available to the public? Yes, free to use in the public parking garage below the building, although they are not advertised outside anywhere so I’ve only seen employees use them.
Are there bike racks on the property that are accessible only to employees or others? no

[Emm]

I wonder if you can get points for accidentally putting your water bottle in your backpack, and your coffee thermos in your water bottle cage

(rough morning today…)

[Emm]

@jrenaut 96216 wrote:

I’ve fallen into the role of Bike Guru at the kids’ school, but without all of you I actually feel a bit unprepared for all that. I was asked yesterday about how to transition your kid from training wheels. The child in question is a 1st grade boy, but I also need to work on this with my daughter and I suspect other parents will be interested to know as well.

Any good methods that worked for your kids?

just watched my neighbor do this for their kid. They took the pedals off the bike, and had the kid use it as a balance bike for a week or two, then put the pedals back on, and the kid began using those (somewhat successfully…). LOTS OF PADS were used in this process (knee, elbow, and gloves), and I definitely heard some wailing in the morning coming from their house when he fell. Their toddler would never have training wheels they said–they started him on a balance bike and said he’d go right to a big kid bike once he was older.

Key part–kid was NEVER alone during this process. I always saw a parent with him, either just watching from the porch while reading the paper, or actively showing him how to balance, use the pedals, and stop (how they taught him how to stop without pedals on a bike with coaster brakes I don’t understand, but I think part of it was the “put your feet down so you don’t fall over once you slow down to a certain speed” training).

My parents raised my training wheels slowly without telling me, which meant they helped with falls, but didn’t offer balance. Then one day they took them off and “surprise”! I was riding a bike. And having a panic attack because they set me down a hill to start. But it worked out in the end

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@Steve O 96202 wrote:

Slightly late on the starting gun: Saturday was the first day. See Chasing Mailboxes blog for details.

This is perfect timing for post-NBC and pre-Freezing Saddles.
Also seems like another excuse to arrange a friendly group ride or two.

Due to distance (a few are under a mile away) I’ll have to combine a grocery trip into some of these, but off the top of my head I can already think of the following local coffee shops that are within 2 miles of my house:
1. Swings
2. St elmos (worst coffee ever so maybe not worth the pain)
3. Starbucks
4. Caboose
5. Grape and bean
6. Starbucks #2
7. Seva
8. Dunkin donuts
9. Buzz bakery
10. Starbucks #3
11. Dunkin donuts #2

…I must live in the most caffeinated neighborhood EVER (del ray). And Google maps tells me there’s another 5 or so I’m missing…

[Emm]

And fiance just chimed in to an email I sent and said to get this one: Cygolite Expilion 800 USB Bicycle Headlight, on amazon for $99. And it has a helmet mount. Looks like out of the bontrager, light and motion, and cygolite, the cygolite has the best reviews and highest lumens rating for my price range.

[Emm]

@mcfarton 96028 wrote:

The bontrager 700 is a better value at a 100 bucks. I am sure a trek dealer isn’t far from you. You can also check out the cree lights on amazon. They are much cheaper but the battery is external.
For a 100 you could have 3 cree lights.

sent from your mom’s house

Ohh thanks. The bontrager light may be better. I just don’t like that it lacks a helmet mount . I switch back and forth between the road bike and hybrid depending on road conditions, so switching the light every few days may become a pain.

[Emm]

Nashbar has 15% off lights today, just in time for your nightly fall commute. Discounts are taken in your cart.

I think I’ll get the Light and Motion Urban 550 light. Based on the “how bright is that light” website someone on here shared once, it seems like the best light for my ~$100 budget. If you think I have a better option though, let me know!

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I only salmon there when the NPS cars or the cones block the sidewalk. Last week I was so ticked about the cone blocking the sidewalk AGAIN that I got off my bike and moved it. It was in the dead middle of the sidewalk ramp–blocking cyclists, wheelchairs, or strollers. DUMB DUMB DUMB.

Going home (DC to VA) I actually tend to keep on the sidewalk through this area too (I cut in around the Washington Monument). I just got sick of cars passing me with 4 inches of space, or honking at me for being on the street. The sidewalk is usually much more peaceful on this stretch.

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@cyclingfool 95841 wrote:

Those fitness tests or whatever the H-E-double hockey sticks they take over the MVT for are often a PITA on my commute when they’re taking place. Today’s group was small and well behaved enough, but I still wish they’d pick a better time to do it than morning rush hour. I feel it’s the MUP equivalent of one of those Army/National Guard convoys of humvees and personnel trucks using 395 or 66 at peak rush hour, i.e., it wouldn’t happen on the highway, so why should they foul up trail traffic? Like I said, today’s group was pretty well behaved ITO trail etiquette and common sense, so I didn’t care than mcuh, but this is often not the case.

When I used biked around Iwo Jima in the AM I love seeing the army guys. They were always very polite about moving over when I was biking by. Seriously–in biking 4x a week by them during their morning runs, not ONCE did they block the trail over a 3 month span. The ones by Gravely point were well behaved today, but it probably helped that the cyclist in front of me was furiously ringing his bell the entire time.

I much prefer to see a group of Army people than a regular fitness group. Regular fitness groups I have had block the trail entire trail while staring right at me. Army people are always super polite about moving over once they know I’m coming.

[Emm]

Police officers were approaching all the cyclists at Braddock Road metro’s bike racks today. Not sure what they were doing, but it looked like they were asking for IDs, and then bringing some crazy huge U-lock they took out of a box. Maybe giving away free locks? Or doing an example of how to properly lock your bike? I was kinda confused, and in such a rush I didn’t stay to look long. I’m not aware of a big bike theft problem there, but I’m sure it happens. Those racks are PACKED by 8am, and bikes aren’t always secured very well.

Sadly, I saw all of this because I have sick fiance and the resulting dog-walking chore led me to run VERY late this morning, and it is quicker for me to metro . This fall has just not been good for me and my bike. Argh.

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Thanks dasgeh! I submitted an edited/personalized version of what you have. It covered all the points I wanted to cover so I feel no shame stealing most of your work

[Emm]

@chris_s 95633 wrote:

Yay, just made Platinum before the challenge ends!

me too! I wasn’t expecting too after having to take 3 weeks off due to illness and then moving, but I came in right under the wire. Maybe next year if I can get through the summer without a 3 week vertigo spell I’ll make diamond.

[Emm]

Finding a bike-friendly home was one of the reasons we rented a house in Alexandria close to the MVT. Has anyone else ever choose to live (or not live) in a building due to their bike facilities?

At the house I’m renting now I have an entire garage for my bikes, hoses and a driveway/yard to wash them, and if there’s broken glass in my driveway, it’s my own fault. I lived in River Place East in Rosslyn for 6 years prior to this, and their poor bike facilities ultimately led me to move out even though my landlord and apartment were great. They had a huge bike room, yet it had zero space for bikes. Bikes were locked to other bikes, or just left unlocked (I just kept mine in my living room). It was just super disorganized, and the space was used very inefficiently (I believe the South building redid their bike room though, I heard good things from the tenants there). There was also no place to wash your bike unless you used your bath tub, and you had to take your bike in and out through the loading dock–which was ALWAYS–seriously, every single day for years–covered in shards of broken glass. Not to mention drivers in the parking lot never paid attention to bikes or the speed limit, leading to some downright frightening commutes. Since it’s a coop my landlord couldn’t fix those issues for me, and the building mgmt couldn’t have cared less.

[Emm]

Lovely morning, and a very empty trail. If it was one of you who kindly said hello and waved, I apologize for my confused look. I’m on the only white bike with hot pink handlebars I’ve seen recently so I’m guessing it’s recognizable enough, but I’m in a “generally confused state” in the morning until I get my coffee at work. I appreciate all friendliness on the trail in the AM though, it makes me cheerful!

During the section of my commute in DC I saw something that made me less cheerful though. A female cyclist did not even slow down before crossing all 5 lanes of traffic against the signal on 14th st this morning by the national mall. I assume she looked both ways while approaching the intersection, but she clearly didn’t look closely as she made at least 3 cars slow down to let her by. She then did this AGAIN at 7th street, blowing right through the red light. I kept passing her since she was biking somewhat slow. AGAIN she came up behind me at 4th and C, blew through a red almost getting hit by a car, and nearly hit 2 VERY pissed off pedestrians who had the right of way. All without acknowledge what she was doing. She turned into the garage next to mine–had she worked in my building I would have said something since this was ridiculously bad cycling and she could have gotten alot of people hurt.

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