[ian74]

Pretty sunrise this morning over the Potomac.

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[ian74]

@rcannon100 124793 wrote:

Hains Point laps this weekend??? Probably nope. Music festival taking place. http://www.landmarkfestival.org/ #bikedc

I think you can still do laps. The festival map shows closure of Ohio Drive around West Potomac park. Unless something else is happening at the Point. From signage though it looks like that section of Ohio Drive will be also closed this coming Friday and next Monday.

http://www.landmarkfestival.org/information/

[ian74]

I think I saw KWL today at the West End Farmer’s market in Alexandria. Or it just could have been another guy with a purple Bridgestone. I was there with the lovely Carolyn and the baby and we had driven there. I didn’t yell out to say hi since I just couldn’t be sure if it was him. But he was tall and wearing a Beaver jersey.

[ian74]

@worktheweb 124465 wrote:

Last night I was heading South on 15th on the stretch between Penn and Constitution and I was filtering between the stopped cars and got to the front. The guy in front starts honking at me and I just ignore it and then glance in my rear view mirror and see he pulled out his phone and appeared to record video of me for about 20 seconds. I continued to ignore him and went with the light. He then made quite an effort to pass me and at the next line of traffic I passed him again and was on my way out the city. I wonder what his aim was. Maybe he wanted to send it to the police? But showing me in front of him shows nothing, and everything I did was lawful. Maybe he wanted to mock the guy on a bike on his social media? Who knows.

There was a part of me that wanted to walk back and tell him that nothing I was doing was illegal, and in fact it was actually expressly permitted by the DC code. Alas, I knew it would be futile and I left it at that.

Probably just admiring your manly physique. The honk was to just get your attention so you could see the passion in his eyes.

[ian74]

I try not to let things get to me. I let the little daily transgressions roll of my back. The uncalled passes, the unsafe passes etc. but today I experienced something I’ve NEVER experienced before. Someone actually yelled at me for signalling a pass, and a slow down while riding the MVT.

I was coming down the second airport hump on my way to the 14th street bridge, and I had picked up two tails. The leader was on my wheel with probably less than a bike length between us. We started descending the hill and there were two joggers spaced in front of me and one approaching in the opposite direction. I signaled my lane change and announced my pass to the first jogger, now the next jogger and a jogger coming from the other direction were approaching each other. I couldn’t safely go between them, so I signaled to the riders behind me that I was slowing. It was a gradual slowing too. It’s not like I slammed on my brakes and I don’t even think my speed dropped more than a few mph. There was a good amount of distance between the first and second jogger.

Then the rider behind me yelled “Jesus dude! Relax! I’m not going to f***ing pass you!” uh….ok. I said “I don’t care!” Then he yelled “I’m not some stupid f***ing ***hole!” I replied “well there are plenty of them out here” Then him and his buddy flew by when they had a clear pass.

How crazy, the guy was so obviously pissed by my signals that he had to yell at me? What’s wrong with these people. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t I guess.

[ian74]

I signed up today. Not my strongest summer of riding due to some issues but every bit helps I suppose!

Also, I think I saw dbb sitting on the grass by the ramp leading up to the 14th st bridge (VA side) with a clipboard this morning. I smiled.

[ian74]

@komorebi 124205 wrote:

Only if the cat comes with the bag!

I’m sorry K, but Uncle Stiltskin is not part of the deal.

[ian74]

@KWL 124192 wrote:

Did I see you today on the MVT this evening? Someone flew by me on a celeste Bianchi, but I thought “Nah, couldn’t be Ian. There’s no seatpost mounted rack & bag on that bike.”

Hahahahahaha!!! That may or may not have been me…..It is a mystery. Did I call my pass? If it wasn’t called, it wasn’t me!

[ian74]

@Terpfan 124124 wrote:

This morning was fun. VDOT has totally torn up Beacon Hill Rd so I decided to take Rt 1. So I decided to take Rt 1 except I saw plenty of obstacles on the sidewalk so I just took the road except briefly to skirt traffic by the Walmart. Once I crossed the pedestrian bridge into OT by Washington St, I just missed the crosswalk so I proceeded down the westbound sidewalk on Washington to about Wolf or so. Then I said, eh, what the hell, I’m on a roll. And I proceeded to take Washington St all the way down to the split onto Abingdon. The most amazing thing from it all? Not a single honk or dangerous move from a vehicle at all. Then again, I was also booking it at at 18mph average despite hitting two lights and slowing for a turning vehicle.

Beautiful morning and since I took the ridiculously crazy route, even got one 9th place ever finish for a strave section. And, ha, that’s the only way I can score–ie, be crazy enough to do a route only another 10 or 15 brave souls will try.

I live on Abingdon! Aside from that, once you get into OT I don’t think there’s an issue riding on Washington. Is it not allowed through there? I know “techincally” it’s the parkway, but through old town it sure doesn’t have the type of speed and nonsense of riding on the parkway outside of town. Do you usually go under the bridge and ride Union St back to the MVT after you get to OT? Sounds like a fun ride though.

Some mornings I ride on the closed section of the Rock Creek Pkwy drive that goes under the Kennedy center. There’s something about being on an open paved road that makes you want to really hustle.

[ian74]

Key bridge at Sunrise. So gorgeous out there today!

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[ian74]

I bought a new bike rack! A NEW new bike rack.

Old rack:

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NEW rack:

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So after riding around with my seatpost rack and trunk bag for the past 2 weeks, I continued looking around for other solutions since I didn’t like the way it affected the bike handling and the aesthetics. I was always lukewarm on it anyhow. So I picked this up. It’s the Axiom Streamliner DLX Disc rack. It threads onto the rear wheel quick release skewer and can be mounted to the rear brake caliper post or seatstay eyelets. I didn’t want to use the brake attachment and the single metal bar, so I ordered a seatpost clamp that had mounting points on it. I bought the axiom DLX 30 pannier set too. Total cost was about $100 for everything. It was only a few more dollars than my seatpost rack/bag combo. Picked the disc model of this rack for mainly because it came with the two arms for mounting to the frame eyelets and not just the single metal bar for the brake attachment (like the non-disc version).

Thoughts: Wow. This is such a big improvement. The lower center of gravity doesn’t affect handling like the seatpost one, With that I could feel the sway of it with the bag. Even with only one pannier on the bike loaded, the handling felt very normal. Installation is quick and I can take the rack off easily for weekend rides. The panniers have a lot more room for carrying stuff to work, and it doesn’t look like by bike is riding around in a constant state of arousal. I can also go back to swinging my leg over the frame to get on the bike.

I would highly recommend this set up if someone was looking to add a rack to a road bike that has no mounting points. It’s rock stable, not very heavy and it was super easy to install. I guess now I start shopping for fenders I can mount with no chainstay bridge…

[ian74]

@GovernorSilver 123838 wrote:

This looks kind of neat. More expensive than competing wheel light systems (Monkey Lights, Nori Lights, etc.) but can also act as a brake light.

http://revolights.com/

It looks neat but I think their website is a complete disaster and their designer should be beaten senseless with a canoe paddle.

That’s just…like….my opinion….man…

[ian74]

Since I call out “passing on your left, thank you!” about 100 times a day when I commute, I find myself doing it in the supermarket when pushing my grocery cart down the crowded aisles.

[ian74]

@AFHokie 123449 wrote:

These arrived today so we are sure to have a mild winter this year:

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Well, if it is a mild winter, I’m sure there will be a some metal concert coming through the area and you can wear them in the mosh pit.

[ian74]

@consularrider 123252 wrote:

Were you riding across the Moskovs’kyi Bridge this morning? Could have sworn I saw that bike.

Sadly I was not. The wormhole that allows me to transcend space and time wasn’t open this morning.

[Author]

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