[GovernorSilver]

@Terpfan 119567 wrote:

Big downside was my saddle adjustment bolt breaking. Wtf. I’ve never even even seen a bolt fully break before. Oh well, I’m sure the LBS can fix it when they open in like 20 minutes. If not, I’ll go to the hardware store and just buy mimicking parts the same way I did for camera mount to make it work.

Wow, that sucks.

I’ll stop complaining about how my bell broke after just two months of owning this bike, bought new.

[GovernorSilver]

@scoot 119529 wrote:

It should be noted that Cameron Street is one-way the opposite direction..

Heh, I learned that yesterday during my “test evening commute ride” to scout the prospective route. I’d ridden up Diagonal, made the left on Daingerfield, was going to make a right onto Cameron…. Uh oh!

Ended up riding on the sidewalk to get to the MUP, but as noted it’s narrow – especially between a column and I think a mailbox or newspaper dispenser – I definitely would have hurt myself there a month ago when I had less cycling experience and thus less control of my bike.

I’ll have to play the Braddock leg of the commute by ear. Not sure if I should cross Braddock from the end of the Potomac Ave. Trail and stay on the sidewalk to get to the MUP, or half-cross the road and make a left turn onto the road then turn right into the other MUP. I’m not sure what the car traffic would look like, and the quick left turn followed by the quick right turn might be confusing to motorists.

[GovernorSilver]

@MLB 119516 wrote:

The route I typically take from Braddock Rd to Carlyle district is the unnamed MUP that goes along the east side of the train tracks from Braddock Metro to the King Street Metro via Cameron Street. At the end of the MUP, take Cameron through the 4-way stop at Commonwealth/Daingerfield, then cross King Street with the pedestrian signal and take the Metro station bus lane up to the pedestrian tunnel under Duke Street. The tunnel puts you out on the Dulaney St. sidewalk. (Note: it’s right turn only at the Diagonal & Duke intersection) It’s the most direct route, but often requires a dismount when going through the tunnel as it can be crowded with pedestrians, so taking West Street down to Jamieson may be a quicker or easier route depending on traffic. I’ll have to give it a try some time.

https://goo.gl/maps/gz1F6
(note: Google won’t route bike riders through the bus lanes so I used pedestrian directions)

For the inbound commute in the morning, you can cross Duke northbound on Dulaney/Diagonal, so skip the tunnel. Take Diagonal up to a left at Daingerfield, then a right onto Cameron at the 4-way stop and then back to the MUP.

I did a test ride yesterday down the Potomac Trail to Braddock, then down the MUP connecting Braddock to Cameron, then took Cameron -> Commonwealth/Daingerfield -> Diagonal. Where I diverged was cutting through the June Coffee/Joe Thiesman’s/etc. mall to the Duke and John Carlyle intersection. There is unfortunately a sort-of-switchback with rails that I had to walk my bike through because I’m just not that good at navigating switchbacks with sharp turns, especially if there’s rails on both sides to restrict my movement.

I’ll try the Diagonal to pedestrian tunnel under Duke St. route on my next evening commute. Thanks!

For the morning, I prefer to take the MVT, using the access MUP connecting Rt. 1 to Washington. I enjoy viewing the scenery along the MVT as the start to my day. I do like having a separate evening route to take, to avoid the evening MVT traffic, even with that inconvenient to climb switchback (those damn sharp turns and handrails!) connecting Four Mile Run to Potomac Trail.

[GovernorSilver]

As for rain, I recall checking the weather before leaving home Tuesday morning for my inaugural commute ride. Wundeground said no rain in the morning, 20% chance of rain in the evening. They got it backwards!

Fortunately it was light rain, and we didn’t ride on anything too slick, which was good because that was my introduction to riding between lanes in the middle of congested motorist traffic and frequently changing position within a lane (eg. parking at right of middle lane on N. Capitol at a particular intersection because the right lane became a right-turn lane and the middle lane is occupied by a car, then when the light turns green, letting the car go ahead and quickly claiming the middle of the lane). Rain was too light to really test my choice of commuting attire – quick-dry shirt, quick-dry shorts, quick-dry socks, Converse canvas shoes, helmet – not that I’m complaining.

[GovernorSilver]

Belated thanks to komorebi and TerpFan for the route suggestions. More routes to try!

[GovernorSilver]

I know someone who was beaten up on Metropolitan Branch Trail. A group of at least 6 young men surrounded him and jumped him as he was cycling on the trail.

The takeaway I got from that, based on what I heard, was just avoid being surrounded by people on your route. Go around the group instead of through the group. Or take an alternative route. The aforementioned victim switched to riding on N. Capitol St. instead of the MTB.

Martial arts/MMA classes can be fun and I imagine training to use a gun might be similarly fun. But the best defense is avoidance of bad situations.

[GovernorSilver]

Surprising number of cars on my evening commute waving me to go ahead at intersections with 4-way stop signs in Old Town Alexandria. Maybe it’s because the bike infrastructure is so good there (as opposed to my “wrong” side – ahem Fairfax County… boo!… of Alexandria) that they’re all used to seeing cyclists all the time.

The cyclist who actually said “Thanks!” after I let him pass me on that new MUP along Potomac Ave.

[GovernorSilver]

I was convinced by the fellow bike commuter at work to leave the office early and try to beat the thunderstorm home. He also really wanted to show me his route home as well as an alternate route that he thought I should know about.

The ride south on N. Capitol St, Louisiana Ave, Constitution, then 3rd St was an adventure to say the least. My guide took advantage of the high traffic volume to go between cars, then cut across Constitution when a bunch of cars were turning left onto 3rd, shielding us from traffic on Constitution going the other way. I barely got the hang of changing between going between cars and taking the lane – not sure I would do that so often by myself. One cool trick that I probably will use in the future is hanging out on the island on Raoul Wallenberger southbound when the traffic light on that street and Maine is red, and waiting until it turns green to go, in order to take advantage of the hill descent to accelerate. What followed was a sprint on Ohio Dr. to E. Basin Dr. that quickly exhausted me but the alternative was going on the sidewalk and trying to go around the heavy foot traffic.

The alternate to Old Town Alexandria: Take Four Mile Run instead of continuing down MVT. Take path/stairs uphill (it’s too winding and steep for me at my current skill level and conditioning to climb so I just walked the bike up) to Potomac Ave. There’s a brand new MUP that runs along it. Take the MUP to Potomac and Main Line Ave. Leave the MUP and take the sidewalk on Potomac and Rt.1 to Slaters Lane. Go down Slaters Lane (or the sidewalk) to Powhatan St. which is a sharrow road. Unfortunately the closest cross street to where Powhatan meets Washington is Montgomery which is one-way headed west. I rode on the sidewalk along Montgomery, briefly dismounted because of the restaurant/cafe, then eventually rejoined the MVT (Royal St. branch). The advantage of this route is it avoids all those wooden bridges along the river, as well as walkers/joggers doing their late afternoon/evening workouts. I’ll probably stick to the MVT on sunny days but if there’s any threat of freezing on those bridges I have another way now.

When I got to Jamieson Ave. there was a steady stream of car traffic turning left on S. West St as I had anticipated. However, a stop sign does control that car traffic.

I managed to climb maybe a quarter of the way home after turning from Huntington but when I saw another cyclist walking her bike up the sidewalk, I just said to her “I give up!” and walked with her. I think it was all the extra sprinting that drained whatever energy reserve I could have had for that final climb.

BUT… I made it home alive! Cue in the victory music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmbA2cpHyhs

[GovernorSilver]

Less than ideal start on Huntington Ave heading east – it was trash collection day and the garbage truck made a right turn onto Huntington Ave. in front of me, which was pointless because the truck immediately stopped for its guys to pick up the garbage bins. If the truck was in a hurry to get out of the neighborhood I would have understood. I couldn’t pass the truck because there were cars on the left lane. I had to go on the sidewalk to get around the truck. I later submitted a complaint to Fairfax County via the online form.

Met up a with a colleague on the MVT who graciously showed me his route to work after crossing the George Mason/14th St pedestrian bridge. Aside from the garbage truck and some scary moments riding with car traffic on N. Capitol St, I enjoyed my first commute by bike to work.

[GovernorSilver]

Looks like a sweet ride (the Renegade)!

As for me, my latest purchases are more mundane – bike shorts and shirts on sale at REI.

Oh and Rudy Project sunglasses with clip-on prescription lens. No more sunglasses falling off my face when I sweat.

[GovernorSilver]

@Powerful Pete 119147 wrote:

New supercommuter has landed. Two rides thus far and very impressed… more pictures to come.

What’s the brand/model?

[GovernorSilver]

@Tania 119173 wrote:

I rode in that way with consularrider last week and we actually bailed off the sidewalk a little over halfway between Maine and Independence and just took the far right lane up 15th Street. There were a few other cyclists with us and that meant we could avoid the heavy tourist foot traffic right there by the monument. So we didn’t even use the cycletrack.

https://www.strava.com/activities/331910940

I’m usually in such a good mood though after riding in that the pedestrian traffic through there doesn’t really bother me, I just go slowly with one foot clipped out and take in the view. Plus the peoplewatching is top notch.

If you want I can meet up with you Wednesday am. I can’t say I know the way by heart but I think I can get you where you need to go.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday so I was also in a good mood. Smithsonian Folkways Festival was going on, so finding a place to lock the bike was a challenge. I’d debated riding up on my bike or using CaBi and decided to just ride my bike. I saw somebody parked a CaBi at the bike rack by the NGA East building. I ended up locking my bike to a parking meter, making sure the U-lock was below the meter.

Upon review, I realized I could have just hopped on 15th/Raoul Wellenberger on the way back, then ridden Ohio Dr/East Basin all the way to the 14st St Bridge entry point. Quite a few CaBi riders on the MVT north of the DCA airport. I need to get better at communicating with fellow trail users – getting ok at using the bell to alert pedestrians, but apparently confused a fellow cyclist by testing my speed a bit on one straight stretch, then slowing down at a curve due to a sudden climb and pedestrians headed both ways – he was apparently behind me, silently pulled up beside me and gave me a funny look. Probably should have just told him to go ahead.

Thanks for the offer – not sure about Wednesday because I’m still waiting for my access to our company bike room to be approved but will let you know.

[GovernorSilver]

@Mikey 119169 wrote:

If you are looking to avoid pedestrians you can take a left at the bottom of the 14th street bridge, follow traffic (or stay on side path) to George Mason Memorial, Turn left, go past parking lots to Park Police head quarters, cut through the parking lot and get on the Case Bridge which will take you to L’Enfant promenade.

Interesting option. I’ll check it out. Thanks!

[GovernorSilver]

@Crickey7 119171 wrote:

Yes. Moving to Maryland.

As a matter of fact, my MD-based colleagues were happier with the office move than us VA-based workers. Shorter commute for them, longer for us. They win there.

[GovernorSilver]

Question for those of you who commute from MVT to DC through the National Mall area:

I tried a partial test commute ride yesterday. Ok maybe it wasn’t a legit test because of heavy tourist pedestrian traffic, heavy vehicle traffic on Jefferson (mostly tour buses, occasional pedicabs, etc). Anyway, after I crossed the George Mason Memorial (14th St.) Bridge, I got a bit lost trying to get to the National Mall. Anyone have a favorite way to get through the Jefferson Memorial – Washington Monument area?

I was stuck on the sidewalk along Ohio Dr. SW because it’s a one-way road. The sidewalk is wide at some spots but pedestrians were everywhere, so by the time I got ot Maine Ave. I had dismounted and was walking my bike. I’m guessing the sidewalk is not like that on a typical morning commute.

Later on Jefferson, I followed a more courageous cyclist as he took the left turn lane, passing a bunch of vehicles to cross 7th St. and remain on Jefferson. We were both well within 3ft of the cars/buses. I don’t know if I’d do that on a morning commute.

[Author]

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