[Emm]

I’m teleworking tomorrow since I have to leave early for a trip. I had originally planned to do a ride in the early AM just to get out of the house for awhile since I’ll be stuck in a car 6-8 hrs during the day. I figured if I ride in a loop from my home in Rosslyn, to DC, then back home, it’s kinda like biking to work since my work tomorrow is at home… If the weather is really bad my morning ride may just be 3 blocks each way to the pit stop instead of the 10-15 mile loop I had hoped for

I plan to be at the Rosslyn stop at 6:45/7 am tomorrow. I hope to see some of you there. If it’s raining I’ll likely be the cranky looking female with a white helmet and a blue trek hybrid

[Emm]

@dkel 85091 wrote:

Yesterday I experienced a large, buzzing thing entering my helmet at high velocity, through one of the vents. It creeped me out so much I had to stop.

I pulled a spider off of my face yesterday on my ride home. Had I not been biking on the street in busy traffic I probably would have completely freaked out. I do NOT like spiders

[Emm]

I hope the biker here is ok, and finds a good lawyer. Like most people on here, I’ve seen too many near misses at this intersection when cars turn right without looking at the crosswalk. It’s about 2 blocks from my apartment, so I go by it almost daily, even if I’m not biking.

I’ve now begun to always stop when I’m at the corner of Lynn and Lee coming off of the Mt Vernon trail. I slow down if I see it’s a walk signal when I’m approaching the intersection, so I catch it when it changes to the do-not-walk sign. I’ve never once had a near miss when I cross right when it turns to walk–drivers seem to see the large group of cyclists/runners and give us time. It’s not a perfect plan, and a pain if I’m in a rush, but so far it’s worked well during rush hour (but not so well during the weekends…don’t ask me why).

And on the topic of black SUVs…one nearly clipped me on N. Fort Meyer in Rosslyn on Tuesday. The lane next to them was completely empty, so I have no idea why they didn’t give me any space. And yes, they had MD plates…

[Emm]

@cvcalhoun 84441 wrote:

Alas, even if I could manage to steal her from her parents (who tend to be picky about that sort of thing!), it is 10 miles just to get to Arlington for me. And bicycling in Virginia is always a bit scary. One of my nightmares is having any kind of accident and ending up in a hospital in a state that would not recognize my wife as my next of kin.

Although not a perfect fix for this, the federal govt does require all hospitals that accept medicare and medicaid funding (which is virtually all hospitals) to extend visitation rights to same-sex partners and respect people’s choices about who makes decisions about their care (i.e. as long as you have documentation, your wife can make medical decisions on your behalf). At least in northern VA, hospitals should be good about this, and most have written policies in place that reflect this. Just make sure you have the proper documentation ready in case it ever comes up.

If you ever travel out of state to anywhere that doesn’t recognize your marriage, you should have the documentation handy. It’s a pain, but worthwhile if you haven’t done it already.

[Emm]

I just received the captains package in the mail yesterday. The pack included bright orange bike seat rain covers for all team members, which one person found also worked as a helmet cover, some “I bike” buttons for everyone, and a few stickers that said “give cyclists 3 feet of space”. Cute stuff. It also had some posters to hang up, but I don’t have space for them (all glass office…).

Now if I can just get more team members to log their miles…

[Emm]

@cyclingfool 84286 wrote:

Thanks for the heads up. Just reauthorized MMR and everything seems to be working swimmingly again.

MMR is still not working for me…In fact, it appears to have deleted a number of rides I had in there . I’m about to give up and start manually logging my miles.

Question–if I start manually logging my miles and then MMR suddenly starts working, can I remove my manually logged miles? I don’t want to accidentally double-count trips.

[Emm]

@bobco85 84311 wrote:

So far, that trail is shaping up to be very nice. I’m looking forward to them finishing the Braddock Road connection.

I usually take the newly paved section of that trail until it ends and crosses the street (I then take the road). One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that the area around the playground is turning into a miniature Gravelly Point with little kids and/or other people wandering aimlessly onto the trail staring at the minivans/SUV’s they are about to board, not realizing the 200+ lb force of nature coming at them (I slow down, but still).

I wish they’d post signs by the playground to watch for bikes and kids. It might help make people more aware that it’s a mixed use trail, and not just pavement in front of the park (which is how many of the parents seem to treat it). It’d also remind bikers to slow down–I’ve seen a few blast through crowds of kids by the park. I’ve begun riding on the street around that area on weekends. The trail is really nice and great for my weekday commute…but the playground is filled with toddlers on Saturday and Sunday. They’re too unpredictable, even when I’m going super slow. So far the parents have controlled their kids around my bike, but I watched a few get knocked over by joggers last weekend, so I’m trying to avoid the path on weekends.

[Emm]

I finally figured out how to register, so I’m signed up (under my name–Erin)

You’ll have to forgive me for not being very good about biking this week–the area outside my building in Rosslyn has flooded, to the point you can’t walk or drive through it. Once that clears up I’ll be back on my bike (I’m hoping by Saturday).

[Emm]

@dasgeh 83692 wrote:

I’m imagining a Top Chef challenge to design a gourmet picnic that meets those criteria…

Thought I’m not sure what kind of “single-serving bags” aren’t plastic… I guess the cloth ones?

I recently brought in grilled bbq chicken, pasta salad, and regular salad. They let aluminum foil slide usually, or at least those aluminum foil tins if kept within the cooler. Worst case they just ask to see whats inside it. You just bring in paper plates and forks. Also the “single serving bags” can also be larger than a sandwich bag. I used something between a sandwich bag and a gallon bag. Each bag was enough of the dish for 2 people.

[Emm]

@Terpfan 83680 wrote:

The valet is pretty good. You still pretty much lock your bike up, but it’s covered, sort of caged in area, and they sit there all game. They also have a pump to boot in case your low on tires and the one staffer had tubes one year (although I think he was selling them himself, nevertheless, it was helpful).

Thank you SO MUCH for that info. I have season tickets to the Nats and was wondering how the bike valet worked–the boyfriend and I want to bike down there, but leaving nice bikes outside of Nats stadium seemed risky. This sounds like a much safer option. Hopefully we can bike to the next weekend game and try the bike valet out

(Note: I also just learned you can pretty much bring all the food you want into Nats Stadium, in a smallish collapsible cooler. I am super happy I bought a cooler I can bungee to my bike’s back rack now. I’m going to save like $20 a game on concessions. If they’d let you bring more than 1 bottle of water in too I’d be happy forever)

[Emm]

You: The driver going eastbound on Monroe Ave in Del Ray right before the Monroe/Mt Vernon Ave crossing, who decided to suddenly turn left into the Shell station on the west side of Monroe without any turn signal or bothering to look at oncoming traffic.

Me: The fully visible biker (had you been looking…) who was going westbound on Monroe Ave, and had just gone through the green light at Monroe/Mt Vernon at a moderate speed, and who was about to cross over the entrance to the Shell station. You came within 8 inches of hitting me before you swerved while I slammed on my brakes and had my rear wheel skid. I think I screamed something like “watch where you are going!!!”

You: The man on a road bike speeding out of an alley 2-3 blocks after the above incident occured, who was not looking where he was going as he flew into the street

Me: The biker you came within 2-3 feet of hitting and who swore at you under her breath, probably out of proportion to your dumb action—sorry . At least you caught yourself before I had to hit my brakes. I was jealous of your bike though…

Note to self: practice emergency stops more. Although I stayed on my bike and relatively in control, I need to remember to shift my weight back to keep my back wheel from skidding. At least I never felt like I was going to go over the handlebars which is an improvement over last year.

[Emm]

@guga31bb 83168 wrote:

At risk of further derailing this thread, why is “call your passes” such a point of emphasis? If I’m driving a car, no one expects me to honk before passing someone. If I’m jogging, no one expects me to call my pass. So why cyclists? When I’m biking, I don’t particularly care if people call their passes or not — either I’m going straight and others can pass without hitting me, or if I need to change direction (eg to pass someone) I look before moving.

I ding my bell when passing people because so many on this forum seem to get agitated about silent passes, but I never understood the reasoning…

Because sometimes, people will unexpectedly swerve a little to the left while they reach down for their water bottle or some other object, or try to avoid a pothole or another issue on the trail that the person behind them may not have seen yet. Recently on MVT I swerved a little to the left to avoid some gravel on the trail, and of course at the same time the guy behind me was trying to pass on my left without warning me. He nearly knocked both of us over—he was going VERY fast, and I’m pretty sure he would have wrecked his $6,000 road bike had it hit my hybrid and fallen over on the trail.

Had he called his pass, I would have been polite and just ridden over the gravel while praying that I didn’t get another flat.

[Emm]

@ejwillis62 83160 wrote:

I had to log in to post this quick rule, “Do not wear bike shorts that are so small for you that everyone you pass gets a view of your butt crack.” I am seeing way way to much of this on the mount vernon trail. Just horrible. Get bigger pants. So far I have only seen men doing this but I am sure with the warmer weather it will even out but please people spare those of us behind you.

Can I add “If you are a man and wearing bike shorts/bibs on your ride to work, make sure they are sized large enough so that it leaves a little to the imagination, or change before you get into the office.”
There is nothing more awkward than a man walking down the hallway (especially when it’s the head of your agency) and his bike shorts are so tight you can see EVERYTHING through them. I’m not a prude, but certain things should not be visible at work.

*shudder*

(note: I’m sure this also applies to women, but I haven’t encountered it yet…)

[Emm]

Just throwing this out there in case anyone in the future comes by this post and has the same question I did. I’ve been biking for a few weeks now, and thanks to everyone’s help I sorted my routes out.

From home, I go this route: Iwo Jima Memorial to 110, then the Memorial bridge and to the mall. I stay on the paths until after the Washington monument, then take Jefferson Dr SW. Around 8 am this route is awesome. The paths are mostly empty and it’s really pretty. Plus Jefferson Dr is empty this time of day so I can go fast (which in an upright hybrid is probably very slow compared to a road biker )

On the way home, I take this route: Madison Dr to 15th, then E. Basin to 14th St bridge onto to MVT to Rosslyn. Madison Ave is a little like frogger in the evening with all the pedestrians and buses, but it’s not too bad. I just go slow and ride extra cautious.

I don’t like taking the Memorial bridge route home at night–too many pedestrians. I could easily take the 14th St bridge route to work, but I am always running late in the morning so I take the shorter route. I considered the Maine Ave route many of you recommended, but with the imminent construction on Water Street I didn’t feel like trying to figure it out, only to have to change my route later.

It looks like I’m moving to Del Ray in Alexandria this summer, which will extend my route by another 2-3 miles (depending on when they finish the 4MR construction). I already do that route a few times a week though. It’s also a really nice ride.

[Emm]

@cyclingfool 83111 wrote:

I saw a guy riding China pollution mask-style like this [ATTACH=CONFIG]5325[/ATTACH] this AM. I assume it was for pollen…

Having no problems at all w/ seasonal allergies personally, I can’t relate, but my wife, who does suffer, probably could.

I think I saw the same guy, or at least someone doing the exact same thing on Friday. Only problem is the inside of those masks gets really warm–it wouldn’t be comfortable on a hot day. I seriously considered it for a minute though. My allergies are about to kill me. I can’t stop coughing.

I consider the gnats to be my afternoon snack…with allergies making it so I can’t breathe well through my nose, I eat a ton of them while biking. Since I like to bike in yoga tank tops over the summer (I’m tall, so they’re one of the few things that cover my back fully), I end up having to rinse off in the shower when I get home since my arms and chest are covered in gnats. It’s pretty gross.

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