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@Subby 156205 wrote:

There is warm blackberry cobbler and blackberry ice cream at the Big Meadows wayside.

That right there is the reason my family went there a lot, when I was a kid.

Unfortunately, Big Meadows is in the central section of Shenandoah. Only the north section, from Front Royal to Thornton Gap, is open car-free on April 23rd. Not that you couldn’t just keep riding…….

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I used both Strava and MapMyRide simultaneously around 3:30PM. Both seem to have recorded the ride, but as of yet neither has synced to the database. MMR’s site is up at least, but my guess is their back end is hosted by Amazon and affected by the outage.

If anything got recorded during this time, by any app, you should be able to download the ride and upload it to Strava later.

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@bentbike33 156009 wrote:

So I got something like these. You keep the key in with your flat repair kit.

I also have locking skewers on Vaya. Mine are made by Pitlock. The “key” is a little gizmo that works like a socket wrench, but machined specifically for the odd-shaped nut that screws onto the skewer. It’s small, I just keep in on a key ring.

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Exceedingly bummed that I’ll miss the brewery tour, led by the Beerneuring judge himself. Monday is my b’day and I’m taking a couple days off to go to Harpers Ferry (we’re taking bikes, unless the weather is nice enough we decide to ride out there and back).

Good luck in the homebrew competition! 😎

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Fast forward to February, when we’re gifted a couple weeks of insanely unseasonably warm weather. Most Fridays I work from home anyway, and this past Friday it was simply too sunny and nice out to stay indoors. Midday I packed a few necessary devices with which to accomplish work into a messenger bag, and tucked my camp stove and Aeropress into Vaya’s trunk bag. Looking for a spot along the water, I wound up at a picnic table in the LBJ Grove with clear sight of the Washington Monument across the Potomac. Ground my Swing’s MESCo beans in my little hand-crank burr grinder, cooked up some water, and drank two Aeropressed cups out of my favorite old camp mug. Cars buzzed by on the GW Parkway, Robins foraged around my encampment looking for worms, and LBJ’s monolith stood behind me reminding us that “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose. I am resolved that we shall win the tomorrows before us.” Here’s to that, eh?

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Some background. My kitty Vanilla is 12 years old and is the Best Cat Ever. Unfortunately last October he was diagnosed with diabetes, which requires him to get two injections daily (12 hours apart), and he can’t tolerate insulin on an empty stomach. Plus, he’s not always an early riser. So for months now, rather than launching myself out the door at oh-dark-thirty to ride to coffee clubs, I’ve found myself brewing a pot at home. Vanilla is sensitive to noise and action while he’s eating, and prefers if I’m sitting quietly at the table, so in essence we have breakfast together. Then I fill the insulated mug that fits in Vaya’s bottle cage, and get on with my day. My choice of beans for home brewing lately has been Swing’s — either High Mountain blend, Sumatra, MESCo, or most recently Sulawesi. And yes, I do miss regular attendance at weekday coffee gatherings, but this new routine of having coffee with an old friend is rather nice too.

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Vaya and the travel mug full of Swing’s Sumatra, pausing at Gravelly Point on the way to work 7 Feb 2017.

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@chris_s 155736 wrote:

we’ll be able to access the 27 trail without the dangerous bollard slalom via a new trail connection

And I was just starting to get good at the bollard slalom. Rolled through it yesterday w/o putting a foot down. (No, I won’t really miss it.)

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I’m in and should be there 5-ish. Though I don’t think I’ll need the blue jacket I wore this morning. Please let’s sit outside? 😎

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Is there a Freezing Saddles Pointless Prize for sightings of Dickie and the Biscuit? Because this morning, I WON! 😎 #BiscuitLove

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@vvill 155229 wrote:

Anyone familiar with or used either of these before? They’re both “custom” made bags for bikes that require a bit more assembly – fork removal (and probably won’t fit larger frames, 29ers, etc.).

http://www.gavilanbff.com/
https://orucase.com/

I hadn’t seen those, specifically, but they look interesting.

Peter has the Backpack Case and I have Co-Motion’s Co-Pilot Travel Case.

Both are roughly 26x26x10, just inside the airline regulation limits. They accommodate 700c wheels (must deflate the tires) but don’t require removing the fork. Conveniently, the soft case fits inside the other one, which comes in handy when we’re traveling with two bikes or the tandem, because we can pre-ship or store them as one case.

Anecdotally, we both really appreciate that the Co-Motion case has a telescoping handle and wheels. Backpack styles work okay, but the reality of lugging around a bulky case on your back gets old pretty fast.

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@Phatboing 155132 wrote:

If your budget permits, I’d also strongly urge you in the direction of the Salsa Fargo (and probably also the Vaya).

By which I mean: GET A FARGO. It is the happiest-making bike in the universe.

My Salsa Vaya still makes me giddy like a little girl.

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Recent news, there’s a Capital Trail shuttle starting service this spring. Today it’s possible to shuttle via Amtrak if you want to ride one direction only.

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@Steve O 154467 wrote:

As the other music major ’round here

Another music major here, with a double major in English. How the heck I landed at NG (a dream job) in the effing IT department still baffles me [short story, I fell for the lure of learning web programming in the 90s and rode the wave from development into strategy/analysis]. Now I’m scratching and clawing my way out of the tech world…. don’t know what the next thing is quite yet, but I will not suffer this torture the rest of my career years.

Did I mention how much I love and appreciate the programmers who keep FS running? Kudos to all of you!

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Ugh, sorry to hear and glad it’s not you that’s broken!

Barriers were removed from the 15th Street cycletrack days ago. It was an uneasy feeling riding uphill past the White House a foot or two from oncoming traffic.

I hesitate to say next week will feel anything close to “normal” but I’ll be glad when the fences are gone and the barriers are back.

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Left work late, and was dreading the ride given rumors of the crowds and crazies starting to assemble in DC. My route goes past hotspots like Farragut Square, Lafayette Park, and the White House, then crosses the Mall. Two things happened that made it far more pleasant than expected.

First, as I’m coasting down the sidewalk past the Ellipse, I came up on a large crowd of young people walking ahead of me. I didn’t say anything or ring a bell, pretty much stuck and content to wait for the right moment to pass. They noticed me, and someone actually started yelling “MOVE LEFT”. Magically, the whole group stepped aside and gave me just enough space to zip by, thanking them profusely. Not all tourists are impolite or oblivious, whoddathunk?!

Then, waiting for the light to cross Constitution Ave, a guy walked up next to me. He commented on the opera singer who sings near the White House, and we agreed on her astounding level of talent. Of all things he could have noticed about DC or wanted to talk about with a stranger, he chose a thing of beauty.

The rest of the ride was just calm and enjoyable. I’m not commuting anymore this week, but as a last ride through town it was great.

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