[GovernorSilver]

@vern 141977 wrote:

When it’s warm like it is now I don’t even get the rain gear out except for the cover for my backpack. Otherwise, i just get wet. The rain cools me off and it feels good.

I’m the same way. Rain or shine, I wear the same clothes in the summer time when I bike commute – all quick-drying attire, even the aforementioned water shoes, which I picked up for $40 btw.

I do like having a cycling cap under my helmet as the visor greatly reduces the amount of water falling on the wrong side of my glasses, but I also wear it when it’s sunny as this cap wicks a lot of sweat away.

[GovernorSilver]

@bentbike33 141928 wrote:

Stuff them with newspaper. Remove after 2 hours, repeat.

Works like a charm.

In yesterday’s storm though I wore my summer riding shoes – Adidas Climacool Boat Lace water shoes. They feel great for pedaling, have good grip on my Uptown 8’s MKS Lambda pedals and great grip on my Renegade’s Shimano Saints pedals. Water passes right through them.

[GovernorSilver]

Wunderground said only 50% chance of rain so I thought it was a good time to hit the road. Ooops.

I didn’t feel comfortable doing my usual evening thing on Louisiana Ave, coming off N. Capitol St, which is to use the downhill to build up speed, take the left lane and turn left on First so I can cut through the Capitol parking lot to the Mall. So the Louisiana portion was a plodding, sloppy mess trying to figure out how to get through the traffic and semi-flooded street (on a hill!) without getting hurt. I ended up switching to the sidewalk and trying to use the crosswalk to cross Louisiana to get to First without getting run over by cars trying to turn right from First to Louisiana.

You know it’s a heavy downpour when your own fenders are splashing more water back onto you. MVT was practically empty so that was good.

Later, after peeling off water-saturated clothing, showering, etc. I saw this – makes me glad I don’t take Metro to Cleveland Park:
http://gizmodo.com/dcs-metro-should-probably-just-take-the-whole-summer-of-1782388595?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

[GovernorSilver]

@dkel 141859 wrote:

If you hit Record while you’re on the Feed page, it takes you to the Record page, but then you have to hit Record again. At least that’s what mine does. Seems stupid.

Thanks! The double-record thing did throw me off, but I managed to record my evening commute.

I’ve been recording my rides with Cyclemeter. One weird bug is that sometimes it will record a basic right angle turn as a high-speed peak – sometimes as much as 40 mph. I know what going faster than 30 mph feels like, thanks to descending Braddock Road on the way back from Shirlington, and I’ve wiped out turning at slower speeds than that.

I thought I’d try the Strava app to see if it does the same thing.

[GovernorSilver]

Had to ride straight to work today, so missed CCCC.

Followed this guy on a road bike down MVT into Jones Point Park. He turned towards Royal St, I continued on the scenic route (Union St, etc.). Later on where the two MVT branches rejoin, I see the same guy again, despite his riding at a faster speed. Just more proof that the Royal St. route can really slow you down if you’re commuting northbound through Old Town.

This is the 2nd commute in a row on the Uptown 8 in which somebody made a comment about electric bikes to me. The first time it was from a random cyclist who said “Get an electric!” as he passed me on Jefferson in the National Mall, after 3-4 other cyclists passed me. Today, it was a pedestrian on N. Capitol St. who asked me if my bike was heavy. I said “It’s 35 lbs”. He then asked if I had a motor on the bike. I said, no, just my legs.

After the nice little chat, I was in the odd position of riding northbound N. Capitol St. on the rightmost lane with nobody in front of me, and backed up cars on the middle lane. I wanted to pedal harder to cross K St. before the light turned red, but was wary of one of these drivers realizing the right lane was completely empty (except for me) and suddenly deciding to cut over.

[GovernorSilver]

Had to ride straight to work today, so missed CCCC.

Followed this guy on a road bike down MVT into Jones Point Park. He turned towards Royal St, I continued on the scenic route (Union St, etc.). Later on where the two MVT branches rejoin, I see the same guy again, despite his riding at a faster speed. Just more proof that the Royal St. route can really slow you down if you’re commuting northbound through Old Town.

This is the 2nd commute in a row on the Uptown 8 in which somebody made a comment about electric bikes to me. The first time it was from a random cyclist who said “Get an electric!” as he passed me on Jefferson in the National Mall, after 3-4 other cyclists passed me. Today, it was a pedestrian on N. Capitol St. who asked me if my bike was heavy. I said “It’s 35 lbs”. He then asked if I had a motor on the bike. I said, no, just my legs.

I tried the Strava app for the first time but apparently just hitting the Record button wasn’t enough to actually record the ride.

[GovernorSilver]

@dkel 141797 wrote:

Wow, that’s nice! I love the black fenders and the gumwalls. Very beautiful!

What he said! I also opted for plushier ride over speedier ride (not that I have a great engine anyway) and don’t regret it.

Still figuring out my own saddle situation. I think a piece of the puzzle for me was realizing I wasn’t really riding with a 45 degree lean that the current saddle (Specialized Avatar) was designed for – referred to as “relaxed road” on at least one website, “performance” on another” and “classic road” or something like that on the Brooks site.. I was riding closer to a 60 degree angle, so the pelvis was not sufficiently rolled forward to be supported by the saddle on the intended areas. I don’t have any issues that really prevent me from riding at 45 degrees, as long as I don’t slouch too much. I just have to get used to that lower angle.

My Renegade is in the shop for the complementary tuneup. When it’s done I’ll ask them for some help with saddle adjustment (fore-aft, etc.) and making sure the fitting is still suitable for that 45 degree position.

[GovernorSilver]

@hozn 141775 wrote:

Yes, it looks pretty close. Except that apparently the NBC folks decided to change the design of their bicycle –maybe to make it more “distinct”? Too bad that they apparently don’t know how to draw a bicycle.

Would Sewell still have enough of a case to sue them?

[GovernorSilver]

Thanks for organizing as always, Arlingtonrider!

Thanks for the beer, SteveO!

Good company as always!

I admit being a lot more careful compared to the last time I rode home in the rain after a 3rd Thurs HH, due to my recent bruises from my bike slipping on a slick spot on the road. But it was fun riding back w/ worktheweb up to when we parted ways at 4MR and Rt. 1.

Realized I forgot to switch on my helmet light when I got home.

[GovernorSilver]

@Tania 141473 wrote:

I had a vern moment at W&OD/Great Falls this am: woman in a red car stopped at crosswalk so I proceed through (slowly, because I always wave and smile at stopped cars). As I’m in the middle of the intersection – where there’s a neon yellow bollard/pylon in the road and a sign that says something like “state law stop for people in crosswalk” – she proceeds to go through the intersection.

Not fond of that behavior myself, but at least she was stopped.

I was about to walk onto a crosswalk yesterday evening when a car blew past the stop sign to make a right turn through iit at high speed. Good reminder of why I don’t blindly walk into an intersection.

[GovernorSilver]

I have Rudy Project ImpactX 2 Clear-Laser Brown photochromic lenses. Their info page claims that ImpactX 2 will darken in natural light (eg. you’re inside a car) as well as UV presence. I haven’t tested this extensively as my tendency is to switch to polarized lenses when I drive or ride on bright, sunny days. I switch to the ImpactX 2s on cloudy days. There have been cloudy days when I had the ImpactX 2s on when the sun suddenly came out brightly and they worked as expected. I originally got the Rudy Project frame with polarized lenses before adding the ImpactX 2s.

http://www.rudyprojectusa.com/technology_impactx2.php

My ImpactX 2s never turn totally clear – this is shown on the website, but this has been fine for night riding and general usage. I originally wanted the Clear to Black but the folks at my optometric center (Belle View) convinced me to go with the browns for bike commuting, based on their personal experiences (one of them is into cycling and skiing). When my bike slipped on the wet road a couple of weeks ago and I fell, the frame and lenses were knocked off my face, one of the lens snapping out of the frame, but they were undamaged.

[GovernorSilver]

I wonder if all those bikes were carbon. I’ve heard that carbon frame will shatter into million pieces if you so much as sneeze on one.

[GovernorSilver]

@btj 141413 wrote:

Here is the reply I received:

Call the police if you see one on the trails, eh? Ok, I have no problem doing that – unless it’s raining – dialing w/ my phone in Ziploc bag is a bit of a pain.

[GovernorSilver]

I owe KWL some pretzels so I will be there. 😎

Feeling pretty sore from my now-previous bike saddle though, so I may have to refrain from riding until then, so that I can make the happy hour.

[GovernorSilver]

@ian74 140827 wrote:

Man, you’ve had a rough week! Is the bike ok?

Yeah, the Uptown 8 is ok. Amazingly, none of my cycling gear was damaged except for my REI coop t-shirt. Rode the Uptown 8 home that same day.

Did take a look at the tires after performing the basic Nexus 8 shifter cable adjustment procedure to try to reduce the random shift-in/shift-out clunk issue that this IGH is known for. I think the mileage is still under 1000 for the tires – I didn’t notice anything other than normal wear. I should remember to leave the tire pressure on the low side for wet road conditions like that day.

[Author]

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