[Greenbelt]

Liz — I ride through Capitol grounds everyday, going in at East Capitol Street and out at the circle by the reflecting pool where Pennsylvania Ave NW starts. I’ve often wondered the same thing. Lots of us salmon up the closed off parking area on the north side, then cross over to the sidewalk to get to the East Front and back to East Capitol. One thing I can say is that the Capitol Police don’t seem to mind cyclists cutting through. I’ve never had anyone look at me funny, and I often get a polite nod or wave. That said, I go slowly. They do carry heavy weapons and I don’t want to surprise anybody…

[Greenbelt]

I took some video of Montreal’s cycletrack system last weekend. It was early Easter Sunday, so not very many people out. The Rue University cycletrack starts at about minute 3:00. [video=vimeo;23051893]http://www.vimeo.com/23051893[/video]

[Greenbelt]

[ATTACH]251[/ATTACH]
NE branch section the other morning. Fish danger area ahead and the to the right by the Riverdale Road bridge.

[Greenbelt]

Can’t answer your question about the Bern helmet, but I can recommend the new Bell commuter helmets — just got a new one! I use the rear light mount, which is nice because I can reach back and turn it on or off without stopping. And it’s nice to have the built-in smaller rear-facing lights as a back up.
http://albanybicyclecoalition.com/2011/04/22/new-commuter-helmet-from-bell/
I like the easy fit for when I have a hood or beanie or sweat rag on under it.
It has a lot of coverage, so probably will get pretty warm in the summer, though…

[Greenbelt]

[ATTACH]250[/ATTACH]Rebuilt bike is sweet. Just rode around the block. Salvaged all the parts off the wrecked bike so didn’t have to buy anything new. Except I got some of those cool looking salmon-colored wet weather brake pads this time…

[Greenbelt]

Wow — it’s spring and people seem distracted all over. Very grateful my helmet and frame were the only things I cracked last week. I’m going to have both mounted and hung on the wall as a reminder.

[Greenbelt]

Vent from sewer line I’d guess. Lovely, isn’t it?

[Greenbelt]

Update: Jamis has a deep discount on stock frames under their “crash replacement program.” They’re sending me a new 2009 SuperNova frame so I can rebuild the cross bike! Probably amounts to about wholesale price with the discount, and seems like a good deal to me, and my shop is going to assemble it with my old bike’s parts at cost. So then I’d have a lightweight bike for weekend use as well as the new steel commuter bike — that will be cool.
https://www.jamisbikes.com/canada/thebikes/pdfs/2009_pdfs/09_supernova.pdf

[Greenbelt]

And watch out for deer near the College Park airport!

[Greenbelt]

I ride the NE and parts of the NW branch trails every day and have never had any problems as far as anything threatening. Now that the weather is warmer there are usually lots of people out, especially between 38th street and Rhode Island on the NW, and between Riverdale Road and Lake Artemesia on the NE. On nice weekdays, there are lots of people out in the mornings before about 10am, and then again in the afternoons after about 4pm. Nice weekend days can actually get crowded, which didn’t used to happen so much. My wife saw an osprey catch a fish yesterday, which caused a slow-down on the trail. I did have a little problem with a speeding cyclist recently, so as the weather gets better and the trails get more crowded during rush hour we all need to slow down a little.

[Greenbelt]

No, I can afford new bike no problem. I did the instant forgive and forget, just because he was so apologetic and it was just a pure dumb accident. Besides, that bike was fully depreciated. If he reads this board and wants to do something, WABA’s East of the River initiative is a good cause!

[Greenbelt]

Yes, absolutely. Here are a few thoughts. I don’t actually work at Goddard, so I’m not sure of the entrance system. First, I’m pretty sure there are some available lockers at Greenbelt (expensive, though — $200 a year). Try to request one on the Greenbelt side (not the College Park side), if possible. The lady who runs that program for Metro was very nice. Second, I recommend avoiding Greenbelt Road. As you know, it is extremely bike hostile — more like Greenbelt speedway. There are lots of good posts on access to Goddard by bike at Thewashcycle.com (blogger works or worked at Goddard I think).

Here are several options:

1. Ivy Lane and connector trail to Crescent Road, Spellman Overpass, and a short stretch of Greenbelt Road to the front entrance. From the Greenbelt metro exit road, go left on Cherrywood Lane, and right on Ivy lane. Just before the bank, there’s an access road, which then extends into a narrow paved trail down to Crescent Road by the entrance to the state highway department office. Cross 201 at the light, and follow Crescent Road to Garden Way and straight on to the Spellman overpass trail. Then, take a left on Hanover and a right on Mandan Road to get to Greenbelt road fairly near Goddard. The middle video above show the Ivy Lane to Spellman overpass section of this route starting at about minute 9:00.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=greenbelt+metro+drive&daddr=39.00411,-76.87489+to:39.0010496,-76.8735994+to:38.995577,-76.8652119+to:Unknown+road&geocode=FeRHUwIdgYJq-ynNKk6X7cO3iTEf_NjKTdV2Mw%3BFc4nUwIddvtq-ynbK3hZzMO3iTFth7WZCLN9RQ%3BFdkbUwIdgQBr-ykRvVhhzcO3iTE-_vsHEFs-jQ%3BFXkGUwIdRSFr-yk7hxaOLsK3iTHtMXuNdD2_8A%3BFZ7zUgIdSFFr-w&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrsp=1&sz=13&via=1,2,3&dirflg=b&sll=39.00958,-76.879578&sspn=0.071896,0.181103&ie=UTF8&z=13&lci=bike

2. Long way around through the farms. Coming out of the metro, take a left on Cherrywood, then a left on 201 (it’s a high-speed road but has some shoulder and lots of cyclists use it). Then a right on Beaver Dam road and a right on Soil Conservation service Road.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=greenbelt+metro+drive&daddr=39.02186,-76.8594+to:Unknown+road&geocode=FeRHUwIdgYJq-ynNKk6X7cO3iTEf_NjKTdV2Mw%3BFSRtUwId-Ddr-ynfZP6-UMK3iTE-UTgOgSMaTg%3BFbIWUwId1GVr-w&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrsp=1&sz=14&via=1&dirflg=b&sll=39.008513,-76.868849&sspn=0.035949,0.090551&ie=UTF8&z=14&lci=bike

3. Unofficial Northway single track. Take the 201 crossing at Crescent as under the first option, but take a left on Northway, and continue on to the dirt road. At the end, there is a single-track (wide tires only or walk) path that gets to the off ramp for the Goddard employees entrance. The dirt part of this route is shown on the middle video starting about about minute 31:00.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=greenbelt+metro+drive&daddr=Northway+Rd&geocode=FeRHUwIdgYJq-ynNKk6X7cO3iTEf_NjKTdV2Mw%3BFcwzUwIduhtr-w&hl=en&mra=dme&mrsp=1&sz=14&dirflg=b&sll=39.015116,-76.901121&sspn=0.035945,0.090551&ie=UTF8&z=14&lci=bike

[Greenbelt]

I’m going to take it in on the way home from work and see if my shop can make some quick adjustments — hopefully that’ll help.

I don’t think my new rims are machined, but I’ve thought about trying to rough them up a little, or maybe rough up the pads with a nail file or something to get better grippiness. I realize that’ll accelerate the wear on both, but right now I’m mostly concerned with reliable deceleration, especially on rain days.

I don’t race or anything, and don’t go off road on the bike — I essentially use it as a rugged commuter bike on roads and trails — so I don’t really have an issue with needing a setup suitable for sustained mud rides or anything. I’ll ask at the bike shop if there are any feasible alternatives that would have the side-pull sort of function for a bike like this without too much reengineering.

[Greenbelt]

Thanks for all the tips. I need better brake voodoo! I love that term. Looking at my brakes, they are indeed centerpull style of cantilever. Looking around, I see that there’s more than one kind of cantilever brake set. I’ll keep investigating and really appreciate the responses!

[Greenbelt]

It could be that the youtube embeds aren’t working. Here is old fashioned link to the vimeo version:
DC to Greenbelt (via MBT, CUA area, Anacostia Tributary trails)
http://www.vimeo.com/21201191

[Author]

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