[Geoff]

@dbb 73022 wrote:

Saw this thread’s namesake … possibly at mach 0.125.

I get it!
Allow me to be the first to register a groan.

[Geoff]

@NicDiesel 72972 wrote:

…if you have studded tires it’s not that bad.

Everyone here talks about studded tires. My brother, who lives in Michigan, uses tire chains on mountain bike tires. I did some checking, they are easy to find online. Why does everyone here use studs instead of chains?

[Geoff]

@cyclingfool 72969 wrote:

Yeah, my Strava track looked something like that this AM… it cut off some serious corners and had me riding over the marshy area by Long Bridge Park instead of on MVT past Gravelly Point. My commute route is a tad over 7.5 miles as measured on bike computer and online mapping tools like ridewithgps, but Strava counted it as only 7 miles this AM. Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying.

O-kaaay… those maps are pretty convincing. If I want to know where I am, I’ll stick with a dedicated GPS.

[Geoff]

For 2014 I’m not aiming for a particular number of miles. I plan to ride the One Day Ride Across Michigan (ODRAM) in August. That’s about 150 miles from Lake Michigan to the Saginaw Bay.

A related goal is training smarter. I want to use a heart rate monitor to help me get the most from my miles and time.

I also plan to join some of the Potomac Pedalers group rides.

[Geoff]

Quietest ride I’ve had so far. Only 10 other bikes, only one in Rosslyn. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow is like.

[Geoff]

I’ve never done any of the rides Jason listed, but I did try the final hill on Mountains of Misery last summer. This was a couple months before doing a couple centuries. I generally do well on hills and I was using a triple chainring. The first two miles of that final hill were fine, but I had to stop four times on the last two miles. I’d like to try it again, but if I do, I’ll do some serious focussed training first.

Only wish I could have tried it in my younger days.

[Geoff]

Major goal this year was to do a century – the last one was in 1976. I got two, the Backroads and the Seagull, plus a solo training ride.

This was also the year I got a nice carbon frame. I’ve been riding steel forever.

And the final goal was to commute by bike thru November – met that, now I’ll see if I can go thru the winter. I’m OK with the cold, not so much with ice and snow.

[Geoff]

@PotomacCyclist 71564 wrote:

I have mixed feelings about this.

Mixed feelings indeed. Gotta admire the skill, and the focus / drive to develop that skill, but never would I recommend doing this to anyone.

[Geoff]

@Henry 71263 wrote:

So what’s the rule on riding between lines of cars stopped at lights? Or up the left hand side between cars and the curb?

I sometimes go up the right hand side (of the street) between cars and curb, when the cars are stopped. Never had reason to go up the left. The idea of going between lines of cars gives me the willies. But what really makes my jaw drop is watching riders go through a red light in DC WHEN THERE ARE CARS MOVING THROUGH THE INTERSECTION. Sorry for shouting, I do that when my jaw drops.

[Geoff]

Call me a wimp but a day like this takes all the joy out of the ride. I took Metro.

Those of you who use studs, what do you do, keep a second set of wheels? Or do you actually change the tires when you need studs?

[Geoff]

@CPTJohnC 71191 wrote:

Was she sitting behind it for a long time? I imagine that if she was, she was stopped? If not, I’m curious to know more about the situation, as I find it hard to believe there are many circumstances in which motorists could be significantly impacted (as in actually distracted — I don’t really have much concern about their ‘annoyance’ – esp. when most of them find our very existence on ‘their’ roads to be ‘annoying’) given that most of them pass most of us in a matter of seconds. It is NOT like being another cyclist following a blinkie on a trail where the overtaking might take 30 seconds or more.

I’m sure that your wife is cyclist conscious and friendly, so can you dig into this a little? I’m not about to limit use of blinkies on roads without knowing a lot more, as I find it takes a certain amount of ‘annoying’ to be noticed, and even the brightest rear bike light is not much of a presence on steady, in the sea of automobile tail and brake lights. I will note that ‘blink’ is nearly synonymous with ‘hazard’ which is why emergency vehicles, tow trucks, school buses and other similarly situated ‘special cases’ use them. I consider bikes to be in at least as much jeopardy as a 45 foot long, 16 ton plus school bus.

I may have been misleading – the bike was oncoming and the blinking light was a bright white handlebar light. I think the strobe effect is what did it for her. It didn’t even do much to make the rider standout. At first she thought a nearby car had a flashing headlight. So I now use a steady beam and rely on an array of reflectors to make me stand out.

[Geoff]

I shield my light sometimes – I used to never do it. If the light isn’t too bright and is directed down I don’t think shielding matters much, but since the practice gets a lot of support here I’ll do it as a matter of trail etiquette.

Something else that gets discussed here is blinking lights. The consensus seems to be that they are OK on roads but should not be used on a trail. My wife recently told me she passed a bike with a blinking light while driving, and found it very annoying / distracting. She asked me to never set my light on “blink”.

[Geoff]

I would rather sweat than shiver, prefer to ride in sunlight than in the dark, and don’t like bumpy trails. Having said that, my favorite part of the commute is the morning ride on the MVT between Teddy Roosevelt and Memorial bridges this time of year, when the sun is just coming up.

[Geoff]

@dasgeh 71026 wrote:

Out of curiosity, why do you run reds on the Custis? We talk a lot about that here, too, and we don’t hear often from people who run them.

A fair question. If the coast is truly clear, it seems silly to wait. And I am used to lights that will never change unless something larger than a bike activates the switch.

Having justified myself, if most people here have the same reaction to me that I had to the fellow this morning, I’ll reconsider my ways.

[Author]

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