[GuyContinental]

I ride all of the major horse trails, particularly along the Vienna/Hunter Mills section routinely on my CX (but not the narrow side-of-trail-trails). I’ve never had anyone so much as look at me askance, particularly since they were the trail detour for so long. Just be careful entering/exiting the trails as some of them require crossing the flow of traffic.

Normal rules of dirt apply- yield to everyone, stop cold for horses and don’t ride them muddy.

If you are already in that section and want to put your handling skills to the test and avoid pretty much all people, jet up the DR trail to Colvin Run and into LFP.

[GuyContinental]

@Dirt 28948 wrote:

Lots of great ideas here! Thanks!

I really like the 3m Scotchlite tape. It comes in many different forms. I bought a 1/2″ role that was 50′ long and it has lasted me for years. I put it on every bike. It is great on wheels, frames, shoes, frames, etc. It comes in red, white, yellow and black. I wish they made pink.

http://3mcollision.com/products/decorative-reflective-film-tape/conspicuity-reflectors

+1 This stuff is great and inexpensive- the dark colors don’t look obvious during the daylight either. I’m about to buy a roll to get my bike winter-ready. However, I also have a taillight with side orange lenses, a front supplemental blinkie (Frog) and will be buying a set of reflective-sidewall tires (brand TBD).

I’d like to try a set of bar-end lights (ideally COLREGS compliant red/green) but I’m allergic to non-rechargeable batteries. Has anyone seen a set with a decent recharging mechanism?

This year I’m going to be all sorts of visible.

[GuyContinental]

@4st7lbs 28933 wrote:

My goal this year is to hit 2,500 miles and right now I’m at 1,200 miles so I’m going to have to put in some serious saddle time (~100 miles/week) to make that.

Something Dirt said really resonated- having a fast bike and fast legs is a great way to get miles. However, IMO it isn’t a direct corollary for fitness or dedication. For example, I average near 20mph on a nice 17lb bike so 20 miles is one hour of exercise. I’ll hit ~4500 miles this year (didn’t ride much until April) which is 225 hours of exercise, 4.3 hours a week. If you are cruising at 10mph on say a 30 lb recumbent bike at your reported size it will take a heck of a lot more effort and twice the time to ride that mileage. Your 4500 miles would be 450 hours, 9 hours a week but at half that mileage you would have worked out every bit as much as I did, just not as efficiently! Perhaps as you are building up to a goal you might want to think of subjective goals for hours in the saddle or even calories burned vs miles.

[GuyContinental]

@4st7lbs 28928 wrote:

Assuming you use one, would you mind sharing what pannier and rack setup you use? I usually have to lug a laptop between work and home (I have two offices) in addition to food and some clothes and need a decent pannier setup.

There are a bunch of threads on this one (and I’m the wrong guy to ask- I don’t carry anything other than a seat bag, clothes are at the office and I have a VPN/Cloud lifestyle that keeps me from carrying a laptop). When I did have to carry both clothes and a laptop everyday I used a smaller than should be (it’s my wife’s) travel bag with flat back and eagle creek clothes envelopes. For me, light and fast is the way to go.

[GuyContinental]

@4st7lbs 28913 wrote:

Is that an A group ride?

I’m not sure that Coppi does “B” rides… There is (or was) a Lantern Rouge ride also out of the ‘Shack that leaves a bit earlier that is more “B” ish

[GuyContinental]

@4st7lbs 28914 wrote:

Serious question for those of you that put in mega mileage in the saddle – how does your body not breakdown from riding thousands of miles a week for months at a time?

I sure don’t do “thousands of miles a week” (talk to Dirt, Vvill, Ccrew and Consular Rider for that) but I do do (low) hundreds (~150-250). Simple answer is that I DO break down unless I take a break day or two a week but I think that for me its the lack of sleep more than the exercise. Also, I eased into it over several months of ramp up so that now I’m pretty comfortable with 4 days/week of 50 miles/day but I started with 2 days/week of 25 miles/day (drove to work one-way). Having the right bike fit and set-up makes a huge difference as does a prep routine at home that eliminates thought in the pre-dawn hours (all my stuff is lined up in the hall with a banana and a bike at the end).

Frankly, the social aspect (this forum, seeing my “Bobs” or Dirt and my Strava connections with friends around the world) really can be inspiring as well. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been listlessly leaning on a door frame brushing my teeth at o’-dark-thirty contemplating my warm bed/spouse and getting on the bike anyway because I KNOW that lots of people I like are doing the same thing… if they can do it, I can do it! And then there is the smug factor… and the rockin’ calves factor… and the saving $125/week on gas/tolls/gym thing factor…

[GuyContinental]

@Dirt 28855 wrote:

I also saw someone who looked a lot like GuyContinental on the Custis cut-off that heads into Ballston.

Yup ’twas me- was going incognito in surprisingly mud-free (if threadbare) kit with road tires and fenders on the cross bike.

[GuyContinental]

They have the same concept in San Fran- bikes, beer, coffee all in one place. The one I visited (maybe in the Castro somewhere? It was dark…) had a nominal fee to rent a stand/tools and had lots of stools and tables between the stands. I love the idea! Beyond the hipster culture I think that it works in San Fran because no one has space for a workshop in their crazy small apartments. Here you’d need to do it in a really dense area… maybe rent the space next to Galaxy Hut in Clarendon and carve out a door- good beer, tater-tots, zillions of apartment dwellers, proper faux-hipster vibe but awfully close to Revolution Bikes.

[GuyContinental]

Bummer! Which turn? Another victim of the bowling alley? Brandywine? S-turn of death/doom?

And that glove barely looks broken in! Blood adds character dontcha-know?

[GuyContinental]

@Dickie 28754 wrote:

So I’ve been working pretty stupid (long) hours lately and have thus been riding home late in the evenings. Has anyone else noticed that the W&OD and Custis trail turn into a bunny party around 9:30 at night? I swear I nearly hit 5 last night, and spotted easily 50 or so darting across the trial through-out my ride… I am sure my “burn your retinas” light attracted them, but it was a pretty awesome site, if not slightly nerve racking to see the old “rabbit” adage in full effect.

On Aesop’s other end, I’ve been seeing a TON of turtles early in the morning (have rescued them two rides in a row). They are never as appreciative of being rescued as you might expect (clearly they had plans for an assignation on the OTHER side of the W&OD)… ungrateful hissing little bastards.

[GuyContinental]

@Certifried 28568 wrote:

actually, it’s scary if you think about. I’d hope it would never happen, but the language is there in the T.O.S.

Check out the lawyer battle over this post in the comments on the guy’s actual blog:
http://ridingagainstthegrain.com/2012/06/28/use-strava-get-sued/

Myself, I like the suggestion that KOM’s be limited to UPHILL (you know, “mountain”) segments and that any segment that includes a road crossing be automatically booted.

[GuyContinental]

@jrenaut 28561 wrote:

If I’m coming home on the Custis mid day on a Saturday, am I going to have problems pulling the trailer? Will it be too crowded?

Crowded, maybe- problems, not really. There will be lots of other trailer-laden folks out. Passing can be interesting if you have a burley-style (or are passing one) and the hills can be character building. But no major issues.

As much as I use the W&OD/Custis as a transportation corridor during the weekday rush hours- IMO on weekends it is absolutely for trailers, walkers, runners, family bike rides etc.

[GuyContinental]

@Bilsko 28533 wrote:

Its gonna take a few tries before she resigns herself to the inescapability of the helmet.

We managed to get our 2yr old excited about the helmet by all putting them on when we got home from work- yes, we looked ridiculous and no, it didn’t really make any sense, but the little dude got all excited about the helmet game in about 2 days and forgot to stress about it on rides.

As an added bonus he’s now “happened” to have a helmet on twice when taking kitchen faceplants, one of which probably would have been an ER visit.

[GuyContinental]

@jabberwocky 28349 wrote:

Cheap, light, low-spoke count road wheels are basically disposable IME. You’ll get a year or two but eventually spokes will start breaking and you just won’t be able to keep them true no matter what you do.

I gotta say- I’ve been beating the hell out of a set of Williams 30x‘s and a set of Neuvation R28x and I’m pretty dang impressed. Cheap, almost disposable wheels sure, but I have 4k on the Williams set and have done one (1) true- the Neuvations are on the CX bike* and I have really really beat on them (like inappropriately launching off ledges beat on them). Tons of miles (5K? most from a previous owner who flogged the bike) yet they still roll straight and silent. In fact, I busted a spoke this week but the wheel hardly deformed at all… with 20 spokes! I can’t say that for some of my super swanky MTB wheels…

Sure, they’ll die (probably soon in the case of the Neuvations) but at the price I could buy 3-4 sets of the 28’s and 2-3 of the Williams for the cost of a mid-high end wheelset.

For Certifried, provided that you don’t actually buy that swanky commuter, I’d look hard at the 30x Wheels- they should have no problem with your weight or the beatings that they’ll take. The better deal is the combo price on the linked (and heavier duty) 28A (wheelset + SRAM Rival cassette/chain) is $389… which is really cheap.

*If I were smart I’d reverse that since the Williams is an overbuilt 28/32

[GuyContinental]

@eminva 28324 wrote:

More than that! Don’t you think those kids will be riding one of these days?

Liz

Well, the bigger one is on a Skuut and I don’t think that you can true a wooden wheel and I DO need to thin the herd a bit, so it will even out.

[Author]

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