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@dasgeh 85006 wrote:

Honestly, it don’t think it’s a safe option for people coming downhill off the bridge. While we were there (~5 min), we saw people do all sorts of dumb stuff at the intersection, but the dumbest were the people bombing down the hill from the bridge, taking the desire line full speed, and continuing on to the main MVT with no regard for who is already on it.

I think the solution would be to mark it as one-way only (in the direction toward the 14th st bridge).

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@Subby 84974 wrote:

If I knew I was going to get scammed just once in my life, I would pray that this was the scam.

I have to agree with this. From the thread title I was expecting the story to be more along the lines of the bike being confiscated by the police, rather than the bike still being pretty decent for $400 despite the misleading description from the seller.

[jhr]

@consularrider 84692 wrote:

DC Donut Crawl

I can’t believe how silly this event is (“a total of about 4.5 miles (burning off the equivalent of ONE donut)”) even among the onslaught of silly cycling events recently, but oh well, I really like the cycling cap design so I signed up.

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@Riley Casey 73858 wrote:

Five layers on top and two layers below worked well for my short commute. A balaclava would have been a help as the only real chink in the armor was above my glasses – my lower forehead was a bit cold when riding into a headwind but aside from that no technical attire was required. Even my hands fared well with knit gloves under hardware store canvas and leather work gloves. This evening without the encouragement of the sun may be a bit less fun I suspect. The warmth of the sun is indeed appreciated on days like this. I have read that arctic circle natives will cover exposed skin with seal grease to protect against the wind. May have to blow off some extra lip balm experimentally tonight.

I’ve heard of people using petroleum jelly for this.

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I replaced my eggbeaters with platform pedals this morning so I could wear insulated winter boots, and my feet were very toasty. My fingertips were cold, though. I guess for this type of weather I really need heated gloves or pogies, but I don’t think I can justify it for a couple of cold days per year.

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You: driver who mistook the opposing traffic lane for a left turn lane when coming into the north pentagon lot from Washington Blvd
Me: Glad you had at least already reached the intersection so I didn’t have to deal with the confusion (or collision) when you suddenly veered into the wrong lane.

[jhr]

I recently bought a bunch of cheap 50% wools socks and it turns out that’s plenty to keep them from getting stinky which is my main reason for wanting wool in my socks. Once you get lower than that there’s probably no point to having the wool and certainly it’s not worth paying a premium for it (if it’s cheap wool it seems like a relatively low amount can still make the clothing scratchy while providing essentially no benefit!)

[jhr]

At least when cars are nice enough to disobey the NPS and stop this will help warn drivers behind them that they’re stopped for a reason. This was worse before they moved the crossing but I was still almost killed one day by a motorcycle that tried to cut around a car that had stopped for me.

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This is at least a step in the right direction. Unfortunately I assume this won’t include the crossing from the Washington Blvd path which is still across two lanes of car traffic and therefore now already more in need of improvement.

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You: Cyclist dressed in all black with no lights in the dark on Southgate last night who then passed me with no warning (but with plenty of room at least) when I was stopped at a red light at the Columbia Pike intersection (marked “no turn on red” not that most people obey it) to sudden turn right into a gap between two cars with a green light going west on Columbia Pike.
Me: Trying to figure out how you have survived so far.

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It was a little bit windy. For part of the 14th st bridge I thought I might end up in Oz.

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Beyond what other people have been saying, I was further annoyed at this piece for the following reason: even if you think that cyclists are obligated to take more responsibility for their safety (something I’m not sure I agree with), the sheer laziness of writing that, on one hand, some people think they’re entitled to run over cyclists, and on the other hand, some cyclist think that’s unfair, and so the truth lies somewhere in the middle is astounding.

Should we apply the same logic to crimes like murder? Sure, the people who are murdered aren’t happy about it, but other people think murdering is OK… Maybe they can compromise?

[jhr]

Someone needs to invent an electric-assist snowplow utility fatbike (OK, maybe it would have to be a fattrike?) that can be used to inexpensively clear bike paths.

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Oh, I have an actual missed connection to contribute:

You: Guy in a car on Columbia Pike who tried to start a conversation about cycling at a traffic light.
Me: Feeling slightly sick this morning and not wanting to chat. Sorry guy in a car. It’s nice to have someone in a car try to talk to you because they’re actually excited about cycling rather than because they’re a jerk and want you to get off the road.

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@creadinger 68659 wrote:

Was this the evening commute? Starting at the 14th St bridge going to VA last evening it was a CAT 6 nightmare. Holy moly… I saw a few terrible passes, mostly by people who were red-lining themselves going 0.3 mph faster than the guy in front of them. It took them like 10 seconds to actually pass and in the meantime someone came the other direction making for an awkward situation.

Yeah it was the evening.

I’ve actually been been somewhat alarmed by dangerous passing during the busier evenings on the 14 st bridge for a month or two now. I was hoping that because of fewer recreational cyclists being out in the dark the traffic would be somewhat lighter, but unfortunately I suppose the dark more than makes up for that in terms of safety. The pedestrian/cyclist part of the bridge is really too narrow, and I wish they could expand it somehow, but after last night I sort of wish they would declare it a no-passing zone in the meantime, even if that meant I had to walk my bike across it behind pedestrians.

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