[GuyContinental]

Thanks in part to to this thread I met one of my “Bobs” today- I was waiting for a riding buddy at the Brandywine Castle basketball court and up walked Ralph, my daily walker pass. We joked about how OCD we must be to pass each other in the same 400m section every day… now I know Ralph and can say hi, and Ralph has at least one cyclist who he can trust not to run him over in the pre-dawn hours.

Awesome.

I’m going to hunt down the rest of them over the next 12 months…

[GuyContinental]

Just ran across this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1477[/ATTACH]

[GuyContinental]

@eminva 27045 wrote:

It just gets worse and worse.

Sorry about that… post edited for the protection of old folks’ egos

[GuyContinental]

@baiskeli 27022 wrote:

Yep, there’s nothing like doing the right thing to “complicate” things. I was stopped at a red and a cyclist blew through and almost hit a pedestrian, and she muttered something like “this is why people hate bikers” and I said “Don’t forget to notice that I stopped.”

Here’s my example to other cyclists – you can not only respect the signals and laws, you can go out of your way to be safe. I never cross against the counting-down red walk signal at Lynn St. (technically illegal anyway), only on the green at the beginning of the cycle. I can wait a minute. No need to blow through there.

Tell the truth, you are just using the light cycle as an excuse to chill out for a few minutes before heading up Custis… it’s perfect, you get to feel safe, rested AND smug!

On occasion I’ve totally soft pedaled so as not to make that light

[GuyContinental]

@dasgeh 27023 wrote:

Thanks, papalena. I didn’t know you could get to the tunnel without stairs. Good to know.

Guy – I wouldn’t steer people to those bridges over the canal without a big asterisk. Those little walls beside the stairs aren’t railings designed to move bikes, and I know I can’t get my bike up and down there.

Errr- that’s exactly what they are for, it’s access for light rolling equipment and super common all over the world (particularly in ports). I did say dismount… I have no problem rolling a 90 lb bike/trailer/kid combo up either of them (kid comes out for the way down). Granted, I’m not pregnant, but I’m not exactly Hercules either.

Don’t like the ramps- take the tunnel, I happen to be more scared of the dark than I am of the ramps but YMMV.

[GuyContinental]

@krazygl00 27010 wrote:

I think the next step is you need to get Bob to join the forum. But then again, what if he turns out to be a ginormous freaking jerk? Then your quiet acquaintance will be ruined!

I would be truly sad if he turned out to be a jerk- similar to rsewel he’s become kind of a talisman for me. Long ride, shwanky bike, nattily attired no matter what the weather, perfect cadence and probably 45-50 years old. Often I see him punishing a commuter train up the the Hunter Mill hill with the young bucks desperately tying to hold on. He gives me hope that I can do this indefinitely.

I saw Bob this morning going incognito in blue- next time I’ll say “good morning Bob” (or something similar)… He’s easily recognizable- do you think that it would freak him out if out of nowhere everyone was addressing him by name?

[GuyContinental]

@Tim Kelley 26966 wrote:

Yes, it’s legal to ride on the Key Bridge in the street. A CB bike is pretty slow so you might have a ton of car traffic passing you unless you’re going over at rush hour.

I witnessed a bizzaro-world incident post Espresso-ride one Sunday several years ago where another rider from the ride took Key Bridge (I’m skeered of bridge traffic so was on the sidewalk), was pulled over by DC police and forced to climb over the railing onto the sidewalk under protest. The rider was livid, the cop called for backup and next thing I knew there were 4 cops there blocking up traffic for milllles… it then ended rather suddenly with the rider cruising up the sidewalk unmolested… between the four of them the DCPD must have decided that it was indeed legal to ride the bridge.

I’ve also seen APD flash lights and point to the Custis to riders taking choosing Lee over the trail.

[GuyContinental]

Guy with the Van Dyke beard on a Tarmac and red NCVC kit? If so, my Bob is your Bob! I see him near Vienna on the Hunter Mill climb near a Bob-look-alike (slightly larger, slightly less dependable). I think that he has a monster ride- I’ve seen him out in Sterling and as far in as Falls Church.

Also, (you probably pass most of these too)
Older walker with headband and square armed wave (Brandywine Castle 6:10)
Recumbent Trike Lady (Vienna- 6:40; Custis 17:25)
Sort of Angry orange Hawaiian shirt dude (Vienna 6:40)
Orange Roller Derby Helmet girl (Gallows Rd 6:35 Reston 16:45)
Sheldon Brown lookalike on the 80’s Peugeot (Hunter Mill 17:00)

These are folks that I see 75% or more of the time (but Sheldon and the trike aren’t around in winter). I can gauge my performance based on where I see them and I absolutely “miss” them when I don’t.

[GuyContinental]

Wow… ELITEs out en mass

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?2684-Dear-ELITE-biker

[GuyContinental]

I’ve taken my WeeHoo trailer up/down both of them- no way to carry that thing. They *are* stairwells but both have 14″ ramps on one or both sides of a center step section. Just walk up the steps and push your bike up/down the ramp which terminates at the Foundry tunnel under the canal to G’town.

The tunnel is at Foundry Branch Park (just E of Foxhall rd)- head up the sidewalk near the Exorcist stairs, past the gas station & Car barn. I know that I’ve taken a bike through there. Pretty sure there is just a *steep* ramp to the tunnel. Regardless, option 1 is easy, just takes some riding on the C&O.

[GuyContinental]

@dasgeh 26936 wrote:

My understanding was that all the MUPs in the area have a speed limit of 15mph, and the speed limit on cycletracks is whatever the speed limit of the road is. That’s what I was talking about.

Far as I know the only MUP speed limit is 15 mph on the CCT but other MD trails may have one as well. WO&D does not.

[GuyContinental]

I went to Wegman’s at lunch (yes, I’m THAT far out…) and did the exact opposite of what I’ve been long trained to do by my wife- I flipped over each item and was rejecting it for having too few calories… it was awesome. Made the (to me) shocking discovery that a bagel + 2 pieces of bologna and 2 pieces of muenster + dijon = 670 calories… whoa… no wonder America is so fat. [Forgive my naivete- I’m a high energy, athletic, skinny guy… never really needed to pay attention to such things- always have followed the “workout a ton and eat whatever” school of thought]

Also stocked up on PB&J, granola bars, yogurt and Trader Joe’s trail mix. I shall not be left wanting for energy on the trail this week!

[GuyContinental]

@dasgeh 26913 wrote:

The advantage of TR Bridge over Key is that not everyone has the option of shouldering their bike. If you can, Dismal is right, CCT -> Key is trail/low volume road only. If you can’t, CCT–> Key means riding on Wisconsin and M, which are not low volume, so TR Bridge is the better option to avoid that.

There are a few no-carry options from the CCT to Key:

1. Up the ramp at the Georgetown tunnel to C&O then cross the canal ramps to the bridge park (usually what I do when be-trailered)
2. Skip the ramp, use the tunnel and sidewalk and cross at the Key light
3. CCT to Water St to Wisconsin, Left on M (and don’t die…)
4. Water St right up to the C&O is a very short carry

[GuyContinental]

@Tim Kelley 26894 wrote:

If this sounds good, we just have to figure out what exactly we want, and what we want it to say.

“Bike Arlington ELITE rider” (duh)

keeeddding…

[GuyContinental]

@mstone 26891 wrote:

I do. It’s quite nice to be able to simply stick whatever I need onto the bike. I can’t understand why anybody wouldn’t like being able to do so.

My bike weighs ~17 lbs… I like it that way soooo much better than the 24lb steel bike I used to ride. The agility difference is huge. i simply can’t imagine strapping extra weight on just to carry “stuff,” particularly on a multi-hour commute. Obviously, there are two schools of thought- utilitarian vs sporty. For me, the added maintenance and limited utility of riding a high end, light bike on a commute are far out-weighed by the fun (which is what it’s about- if I were to “suck it up” I’d just drive).

[Author]

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