[Emm]

@DrP 189768 wrote:

Luckily I was nearly at work, but I was still nearly soaked by the time I got there 5 min later. I had checked three different weather applications (weather.gov, wunderground, dark skies) at 6:40 am, plus listened to WAMU announcers and NONE showed rain in the morning nor anything on the radar. Upon logging on in the office, I checked the radar with a loop and that storm popped up out of nowhere and was quite large, quite quickly.

Thank you. I seriously thought I stupidly missed something at 6:45 when I woke up and checked weather.com and the CWG forcast, but based on your research it really was an unexpected storm!

[Emm]

I spoke to another commuter at work who commented about the “light drizzle” he encountered this morning, as I was emptying the puddle of water out of my shoes in the garage…

I’m not sure how prepared everyone else was this morning, but I was NOT expecting the blinding torrential rain I encountered 5 minutes into my ride. The weather app only mentioned light rain, not 10-15 minutes of the sky turning into a waterfall. Luckily it was relatively short-lived.

By the time I got to a point where I could hide under a bridge, I was already drenched, so I waved to the 10 or so cyclists hiding out under the Route 1/GW Parkway/Metro underpasses on 4mrt, and kept on going. It was comforting to see them though, since it meant I wasn’t the only person who totally missed the insane rain in the forecast.

[Emm]

@ImaCynic 189712 wrote:

No. Hydraulic brakes should work in any orientation. Sounds like you have a leak somewhere (o-ring, seals, screws, pinhole in the line, etc.) and air got into the system. Did the shop tell you what the problem was? What exactly did they replace?

ehhh Shimano’s dealer manuals appear to disagree with you. I think they know air getting into the brakes is a regular issue.

https://si.shimano.com/pdfs/dm/DM-BR0008-08-ENG.pdf

• The disc brake is not designed to work when the bicycle is upside down. If the bicycle is turned upside down or on its side, the brake may not work
correctly, and a serious accident could occur. Before riding the bicycle, be sure to operate the brake lever a few times to check that the brakes operate
normally. If the brakes do not operate normally, stop using the brakes and consult a dealer or an agency

• When turning the bicycle upside down or on its side, the brake system may have some air bubbles inside the reservoir tank which are still there when
the bleed screw is closed, or which accumulate in various parts of the brake system when it is used for long periods. This disc brake system is not
designed to work with the bicycle upside down. If the bicycle is turned upside down or on its side, the air bubbles inside the reservoir tank may move
in the direction of the calipers. If the bicycle has been turned upside down or on its side, be sure to operate the brake lever a few times to check that
the brakes operate normally before riding the bicycle. If the brakes do not operate normally, adjust them according to the following procedure.

[Emm]

@rcannon100 189525 wrote:

Did I mention that Lost Dog Rescue also has cats for adoption??

Just emailed the cat email address about a cat on the site who I might need…

[Emm]

@dbb 189512 wrote:

I’d think that morning rides would be the best times as the evening is when the scooters get collected, charged, and repositioned.

hahaha thats a joke, right? The same 3-4 scooters were on one of the bridges by the airport for over a week, and may still be there. Pretty sure some of the scooters I saw on the 14th st bridge this morning have been there all week too.

I actually think scooters are a great idea in theory, but I’m getting pretty annoyed by how they’re getting strewn all over the MVT and 14th St bridges. They’re creating some unsafe conditions on my daily commute.

[Emm]

That move was so creepy I’m not sure I can handle watching it a second time…

[Emm]

I didn’t mind the cap, but agree it could be a little higher. It actually got me to bike bit more on a few weeks–my mileage from just commuting is only ~45 miles, so it pushed me to do a few extra weekend rides when I may have otherwise stayed at home. I don’t think it helped keep things much closer though–the top few teams pulled away early on and no one really ever got close.

I HATED the lack of regional teams. To the point if they aren’t brought back, I’m not sure I plan to do FS again next year since it really seemed to reduce the number of happy hours and other local rides that made FS fun for me to participate in. It was also really hard to figure out team rides and events when people are scattered all around the DMV. I don’t know if we ever really had a good team ride for my team, or a happy hour…which is sad since in prior years all my teams did. We can always scatter DC people among the arlington/alexandria/close in MD areas if they want to be part of teams that earn more points. They’re close enough making it out into VA or MD wouldn’t be too tough.

[Emm]

I saw a cabi riding down 66 in that same area about a year ago. A few days later I saw an abandoned cabi bike on the side of 66, possibly from the same person…

[Emm]

As my final request for QOT points I submit this: I have to miss the freezing saddles closing happy hour so that I can become a better advocate for cyclists and pedestrians. I’ll be hanging out with Bike/Walk Arlington’s @Henry and Katy L that night, learning all about pedestrian safety issues. I’m hoping to use the info I learn in this course, the smart cycling class, and the LCI course that are part of the program I’m in to help me better contribute meaningfully to BPAC and the Friends of the MVT.

Chris W is also attending this training with me, so she deserves all the points too.

[Emm]

@ImaCynic 188632 wrote:

In this particular situation, how about crossing at the crosswalk on the OTHER side of the intersection? Cars on this side can only make a right before the crosswalk, so right on red should not be an issue. In fact, looking at this, I almost want to say the east bound from FM road should use the north crosswalk and west bound from FMR should use the south crosswalk.

Possible, BUT then I’d have to cross Four Mile Road to go straight down it, which at that moment would be illegal since I’d have a do-not cross signal for crossing Four Mile Rd, and in all honesty, I’d be facing drivers at that moment leaving Four Mile Run Road turning right onto Mt Vernon Ave. And they’ll have a green light, so if I get hit there it might even be worse–there’s currently a court case going on in Alexandria where a driver’s insurance company is saying since they had a green light to turn, the walk signal shouldn’t have been on, therefor it’s not the driver’s fault they hit and injured a pedestrian. The lawyer defending the injured pedestrian is a member of Alexandria’s City Council, hence me hearing about it. Needless to say it’s pretty absurd.

[Emm]

@ChristoB50 188618 wrote:

I’ll jump in on 4/27… counting on those instructions ahead of time! — or else, shift me over to “Registration/Sign-up”

I promise you’ll get some–I was freaked out last year when I volunteered at my first rodeo, but it ended up being super easy, and a ton of fun. Now I’m volunteering at like 7 of them, so CLEARLY I enjoyed the experience .

[Emm]

I need to hold onto my third place spot, so I’d like to request points for attending the FOTMVT meeting on Sunday, and can link to my strava ride if needed (although I’d hope you’d remember I attended, Judd…).

[Emm]

I agree with the prior 2 posts–I’ve had great work done at both shops. The last time I was at Conte’s to get tubeless tires installed they even washed my bike for me because “dirty bikes aren’t allowed to leave my shop” according the mechanic (…it was after a weekend of gravel riding, I swear it’s usually clean…ish).

[Emm]

@ChristoB50 188527 wrote:

Crazy! I wonder how it was done — ie, I’d think if by car, the white posts at the perimeter of that bike-rack-zone would have been destroyed as well… Which made me wonder if it was vandalism (without a car).

I am guessing based on where this was that 2 things happened:
1) Car turned right too tightly off Quaker and crashed into the racks (2 on the left side of the photo that went down). They’d have had to fit between the still-upright bollard and the sidewalk which would have been tight, but a smaller vehicle making a very sharp right turn at a high speed could have done it.
2) Car trying to parallel park backed into another one of the racks (damaged one on the far right, no bollard to protect this poor innocent rack)

[Emm]

@ChristoB50 188499 wrote:

{Not a caption… Wow – is that at Spokes Alexandria? How recent/old is that photo?}

I took it Friday. I think that the damage occurred sometime over the last month or so.

[Author]

Posts