[GuyContinental]

Anyone know if the old dude Lanterne Rouge ride is still happening out of Java Shack on either Saturday’s or Sundays?

Some other rides of note that may or may not be active (not really shop rides but generally open to all)

-Wednesday: NCVC Arlington Hill Climb (From Big Wheel Bikes on Lee)- usually 2 groups, one designed to hurt you the other less drop-oriented. Lots of climbing ~20 miles
-Wednesday: Wakefield Hill climb- pretty aggro
-Thursday: Wakefield Night MTB (MORE)
-Wed/Thursday: MTB Meetup (usually Lake Fairfax) http://www.meetup.com/mountainbikes-134/
-Sunday (Nov-Feb): Espresso Ride ~50 miles from Dean & Deluca in G’town out to Potomac and back; possibly the biggest group ride in town. A and B group with an Alpha/masochist group that sprints up and down the Great Falls road.
-Saturday (Nov-Feb): NCVC “Cabruce” clinics- awesome intro to road riding/racing.

[GuyContinental]

That could be an awkward detour if they shut down the whole Lincoln-Lee section… if you get there heading WB and it’s blocked head up Lee just a few blocks and take a left on N. Monroe (not Lincoln- it doesn’t connect)- there is a Dunkin’ Donuts there. Monroe will get you to the Beaver pond and back on the WO&D where it turns back into Lincoln. Alternatively, take Wilson to Fairfax and onto the WO&D at Ballston.

[GuyContinental]

@Megabeth 22691 wrote:

I totally think that Strava should allow for extra points if you indicate things like, “I was carrying a full load of groceries in my front basket, backpack and a six pack of Fat Tire Ale strapped to my back rack”, or, “I was in heels, a floppy hat and a dress that required me to take my hands off the handlebar when the wind almost made the ride indecent”, or, “I just ate a full bowl of Tofu Panang Curry and still managed to chug home up that hill.”

It sort of does- your relative power incorporates the weight of the bike- I have my kid-hauling bike set at 100 lbs so my power goes off the charts when I actually exceed 10 mph going uphill.

I love the idea of bonus points or maybe little icons for paniers, french bread, kid trailers and the like. Of the double kid-hauling 35+ crowd on a 1×9 I OWN Key blvd… lol

[GuyContinental]

@thucydides 22682 wrote:

I’ll just leave this here:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/news/family-sues-strava-over-descending-death_224889

This is being flogged elsewhere and in this thread- I’m pretty sure that our local BikeArlington crowd is on the responsible end of the spectrum. Those that are not are on notice that a public record of poor behavior has a certain liability attached. Suing Strava? Sure, Strava made him do it… CA courts are ridiculous at time but I don’t think that suit is likely to go anywhere.

[GuyContinental]

@JorgeGortex 22677 wrote:

I’ll add that he could stop without hitting anyone in the crosswalk, but he decided not to take the painful way: he could have laid his big down and slid the pavement. Road rash for him, and senior citizen that would have gotten to see his family again. His choices were bad all the way, and he followed up by not taking the option he had.

It sounds like that’s exactly what he did: “so I laid it down and just plowed through the crowded crosswalk”

There is definitely a disproportionate response to this issue because the guy was a cyclist- USDOT says that 12% of all vehicle-related fatalities are pedestrians; that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 4K peds (including 700+ cyclists) that were killed by cars last year. In many many cases vehicular or involuntary manslaughter charges were brought against the driver. Had this been a driver blowing through the red and hitting a ped the same manslaughter charges would have been filed but the media/community response would be essentially nil. I couldn’t find statistics but I remember reading that there were a dozen or so peds killed by cyclists (probably within that 4K since bikes are vehicles). Why the disproportionate response? Is it the novelty? General angst about cyclists?

My opinion, this self-centered tool was essentially identical to the the self-centered tool that right-hooked me yesterday on Fairfax- in too much of a hurry to think through the consequences. The difference is that if I was killed by that guy only my family, hopefully the police and perhaps you fine folks would have noticed.

[GuyContinental]

@GuyContinental 22603 wrote:

As a result this morning I set a PR on the segment while chanting “I’m gonna get you Patrick G. (whoever you are)”… Sad thing is that Patrick will likely never notice when I do get that extra 0:02 I need. Patrick, if you happen to be a Bike Arlington member- you are on notice. Nokes Blvd to Cascades Pkwy is MINE!

Now it’s 0:01… do you feel me back there Patrick??? My heart almost exploded this morning because of you…

[GuyContinental]

@Mark Blacknell 22623 wrote:

As much as I slag it, I think Strava has probably done a net service to the sport cycling community. It certainly helps drive folks to work harder in places they’d never have thought twice about doing it before. That said . . .

Hi, My name is Guy and I’m a Pathlete. Sigh…

[GuyContinental]

For those that like geeking out on Strava- check out some of these tools:

http://www.scarletfire.co.uk/2012/06/turbo-charge-your-strava-data-with-these-third-party-api-tools/

I like the multiple ride mapper (although it is reallly boring in my case)

[GuyContinental]

I just lost my last-gasp commuting KOM to half a dozen folks that rode the segment months and years ago… must be new Strava Users uploading data. As a result this morning I set a PR on the segment while chanting “I’m gonna get you Patrick G. (whoever you are)”… Sad thing is that Patrick will likely never notice when I do get that extra 0:02 I need. Patrick, if you happen to be a Bike Arlington member- you are on notice. Nokes Blvd to Cascades Pkwy is MINE!

Regardless, I’m not a big fan of KOMs on the trails or urban areas- I’m trying to be cognizant of that and keep my competitiveness to remote sections or roads but I can feel the tug when I see than I’m only a smidge off a KOM somewhere.

I love the “and one other” feature- twice now I’ve been able to identify folks that I rode with and then chatted with them on Strava afterwards. I spend 99% of my riding alone, Strava has expanded my network and made me feel a bit more connected.

[GuyContinental]

This guy’s (apparent) lack of remorse is deplorable:

http://sfist.com/2012/04/05/cyclist_who_struck_pedestrian_at_ca.php

Wow. Posting an ode to his helmet after hitting a senior citizen legally crossing the street??? As the article says, he’s frantically trying to scrub his internet history of KOM taunts and callus statements… guess what kids, the internet is forever…

[GuyContinental]

@vvill 22377 wrote:

I can see an eight-person team version being fun. 3 hrs/day is definitely doable. I guess when you’re not riding you’re sleeping in the support car?

I can tell you, it’s a MAJOR endeavor- for the 4-man team I’m supporting, budgeted costs are in excess of $25K (some sponsors in hand…) and we’ve been planning and talking to crew chiefs for over 6 months already (for 2013). Figure 4-5 cars, plus 8-10 support crew (most of whom will have to take a week and a half including a drive across the country at start). People do it with a lot less support (1 follow car and an RV) but the strain on the support crew is supposed to be pretty fierce as well (two someones are “on” all the time with the rider/riders).

I agree that the most fun way of doing it would be on an 8-man team, lots of folks do it in merely reasonable shape (heck, I ride 3 hours a day now) and do 2-man teams on 5-hr shifts (15 minutes on/off TT style). That way everyone gets 15 hours of rest between shifts.

I asked my wife if she wanted to drive an RV across the country at 15 mph… I can still hear the laughter…

[GuyContinental]

@vvill 22376 wrote:

Riding 22mph average on the Custis, deliberately, just to re-take a Strava KOM with no signalling or warning? Not much margin for error for this rider to hit a pedestrian/runner methinks. Or another cyclist.

I was thinking about Strava in this context last night- if this guy did hit someone, does his public Strava record (down to the ride title) create a history of hooliganism? Worse, are you Will, now implicated as being the “one other” on the ride (doubtful after a side by side comparison)? Looking closely at my own ride profiles I can see my yields for peds (abnormal dips on downhills), road crossings (down to 4-5 mph or 0) and busy trail days (endless quick acceleration, quick braking and lower times). But I also see crazy data errors (55mph at Brandywine Castle) and overall some pretty fast travel (early in the morning). I like to think that I’m a safe and courteous rider but I’m not sure that my profile couldn’t be spun against me.

To this guy’s credit it looks like post Custis he was on streets (weird route- Cutsis to Bluemont connector trail to George Mason to 4MR, I’ve never even thought about going that way) and he was stopping at lights and crossings.

One plus of Strava is that you can give him some public guilt- rider to rider in his ride comments.

[GuyContinental]

@mstone 22342 wrote:

I’m happy as long as they’re not doing their crazy ninja thing in the street.

No. Joke.

I had my worst daylight Crazy Ivan ever yesterday on the WO&D way out in Loudoun- mindful of recent events and this thread I warned, warned again and then slowed way down freewheeling and swung wide around an ear-budded runner who, completely out of nowhere, planted his right foot, pivoted left and CHARGED into a turn. I said something between holys&*% and SQUEAAAK and went off the left side of the trail. Usually they do that u-turn thing at a mile marker, a bridge, a road or even some significant trail crack. Not this guy. He hit some point in his run and it was time to go the other way right now.

Had he been in winter ninja mode he absolutely would have taken me (well, both of us) out, had he done this near the lady on the 4MR- he would have taken her out too.

[GuyContinental]

@ShawnoftheDread 22323 wrote:

It sounds like you’re talking about me. Which guy were you?

Awwwkward…

Could be worse, he could have been belly-aching about that large guy on the pink bike that sings and stops at crossings…

[GuyContinental]

@consularrider 22336 wrote:

Copper Canyon, Hmmm….

From my time in Juarez, I believe riding RAAM blindfolded might be safer. Have fun.

Tis’ true and the narco-terrorist gods will need to be a bit kinder than they have been of late, else I’ll be forced to do a Hut to hut in Co or something suitably tree-rooty in British Colombia. But Copper is the one that’s actually on my bucket list.

[Author]

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