[Kitty]

@MFC 133934 wrote:

I don’t mind supporting WABA, but this seems pretty-flipping expensive for a 17-mile bike ride.

@sjclaeys 134021 wrote:

I signed up to get the WABA discount. Looks promising and I want to show support. However, note that there is a $4.48 fee added on to the price. It would be good for WABA to give more details on what we will get for $52.48 besides a 17 mile ride with closed roads.

I was admittedly a bit disappointed, 17 miles is nothing to write home about, and its really expensive at $48. But in the end I decided this was one of those “support the concept”/”show solidarity” things and signed up. Perhaps I was thinking that investing in it now would make it bigger and better in the future?

Besides, I had to think back to just a few years ago when the idea of riding 17 miles would be too much; where riding in the street wasn’t something that I did; and I didn’t see monuments on a commute. I figure I’m not the target demographic, but if it gets the new and curious into cycling in DC, it being more causal is better than a mileage grind.

Besides, WABA promised us a Century this year. 😎

[Kitty]

@Tom H 133852 wrote:

Roosevelt Island lot and trail were still uncleared and nearly unridable this AM due to slush, even with 2.1″ tires on a 29er. Amazingly Roosevelt Bridge sidewalk was good!

That matches my experience. I made it as far as the lot, but had to turn around due to the slush field. Good to know about Roosevelt though! Once the approach is clear it will be good to get back onto my bridge of choice. (Indeed its narrow with little margin for error, but the minimal foot traffic makes it a faster, more pleasant ride than Key, with the bonus of not emptying into the M street crucible!)

That said, many thanks for the intel and suggestions on the 110 and Memorial option. It’s a great alternative to westbound on M in the evening, and by the time I head home, traffic is diminished to the extent that riding on the road on the bridge hasn’t been a problem.

[Kitty]

I have 4 total, all related to the pre-blizzard ice night:

Wed Jan 20 (Ice Night)
*Going uphill on Pershing between Garfield and Highland — first fall on this bike since I got her in May
*Going downhill on Clarendon after Courthouse (past the road closure with the flares :rolleyes:) — bike and rider slid down the pavement for a few yards with the rider shouting a sarcastic “weeee”
*A block from my apartment in Rosslyn — couldn’t get traction on an iced over subway grate

Thurs Jan 21 (aftermath)
*New Hampshire through GWU — explained to my boss why I was walking funny and he asked “Isn’t…isn’t there another way you can get to work?”

[Kitty]

@NickBull 133436 wrote:

I just find it amazing that the “National Park Service” places the highest value on being a local highway department. Teddy Roosevelt would be rolling in his grave if such a thing were possible.

@Arlingtonrider 133439 wrote:

My most important ask to NPS regarding the MVT is from FMR trail to the 14th Street Bridge. I’m surprised that ABAC didn’t include that whole segment in the list mentioned above. It seems like it would be a fairly easy one to do (easy access for equipment from Gravelly Point and no wooden segments) that would help a whole lot of people!

Ironically enough, my biggest “ask” would be access to the Teddy Roosevelt bridge, or at very least Memorial, from North Arlington. They can plow all of Custis, but if it deadends at the bike counter, it doesn’t really help.

I try to avoid any commute through Georgetown via M street on a good day, but right now it seems to be the only connection into the city (from Key). Under best conditions I would only recommend this to a confident (if not foolhardy) cyclist at M street quickly devolves into “Thunderdome.” Based off of yesterday you’d better have a steel spine and think like a Jeep because there is no “shoulder” or room for error.

I’m about to try it again this morning… If I don’t make it, tell Teddy I loved him (and his bridge).

[Kitty]

@Fast Friendly Guy 133271 wrote:

Sure, I’m in! …and so is everyone, I guess, that’s committed to ride every day! See you out there today!

Niiice! Sadly I had to sit out yesterday due to a combination of telework and an unfortunate kitchen accident, so I was cool to see you and others out there!

[Kitty]

@wheels&wings 133301 wrote:

Steve O: Did you ride the side roads/hills on Wednesday night? They were ice sheets. I’m all for your tips on technique (though I’ve still got my learner’s permit)… “steady arms–back brake” is my mantra on scary ice-rides, but sometimes the conditions are too slippery even for the most carefully honed ice-dancing techniques, imho. I’m impressed that Kitty made it home with only three falls, given all the ice on those hills. w&w

@Steve O 133315 wrote:

Fair enough; I was Phoenix, AZ for that one. I have slid down on occasion as well, so there are definitely some circumstances where it doesn’t matter what you do. I am glad when she and you and others report falling but not being hurt. That’s the most important thing.

Thanks for backing me up W&W it was nuts! The first bit in the falling snow on the MVT was fine, but since visibility was getting bad I made the stupid mistake to bail as Crystal City and make my way back to North Arlington via the city streets (Columbia Pike to S Courthouse Rd etc.) It was about 14 miles in trying to climb one little block on Pershing that I went down when the car in front hit the breaks and squeezed the shoulder. From there Clarendon blvd. was an ice rink to the extent the police blocked traffic at the top of the hill at N Courthouse with flares and forced traffic around due to the number of accidents below. Mistake number two was opting to chance it… at least I said “weee” as me and my bike slid sideways along the pavement. By then the roads were so slick you couldn’t actually get your footing when attempting to stand and right the bike!

Fortunately, as Steve-O put it, it was a matter of bruised and not broken. I came into the apartment shaken and tearing up and my husband was worried I’d hurt myself, while I was worried I hurt my bike! He reasoned if I was crying about my bike I was okay. Now nearly a week later I’ve got some wicked bruises, but my bike got a check-up at the shop today and was deemed safe to ride, so all good!~

That said, if you could point me to where your pointers are, I’ll look ’em up! :p

[Kitty]

I did a recon ride from Rosslyn this afternoon… it isn’t pretty. If you go through this part of Arlington to get into the city, be advised that you might have to be prepared to get into traffic and take the lane.

If any of the sidewalks along Lee or Gateway Park are cleared, the snow plow pack will keep a bike from getting on them. If I can’t get over to Custice I will usually go EB on Lee Hwy for a bit, but today the snow mountains narrowed it as such that there is no shoulder necessitating trying to keep up with the Suburbans going 50. No thank you.

Speaking of Custis… its true! I had been plowed… up until the point around the Sheraton where riders would take it into the city. Where it meets SB traffic from the Key Bridge, there is a deep slushy divet in the snow plow pile that you can carry the bike over. However from there the block with the bike counter (ironically enough) is a snow/ice/slush field that I had to dismount and walk on… only to reach the “intersection of doom” which is an insurmountable snow mountain. Needless to say, I didn’t get to see what the MVT or the Roosevelt bridge crossing looked like…

I decided to turn around an see how Custis was faring. Heading WB I had to walk the bike on the slush-ice climb toward Scott. I could ride again up until after Veitch, from there until the shopping center it was hard going through deep ice slush I ended up attempting to Flintstone through. I worry about it refreezing overnight. That overpass is going to be dangerous. From there it was mostly rideable. Clearly care had been taken to plow, and while I twas “single lane” for most of it, with the limited trail traffic it wasn’t bad.

So then I opted to take the connector into Ballston past Glebe… bad idea! That had not been touched and was a hard slog soggy on foot back to Ballston, which ended with my CX hurdles.

Wilson blvd from Ballston to Washington Blvd has the bike lane fully obscured by snow mountains. I usually take the bike laned stretch of Fairfax Dr. to get to Clarendon Blvd (the parking area for St. Charles Borromeo and Northside Social), but that was completely snow blocked.

Ironically enough Clarendon itself, which is usually one of my more angst-inducing places to ride between the cars and the peds, was the best, clearest part of this, with a largely unobstructed bike lane most of the way to Rosslyn! Clarendon blvd did turn into yet another dead-end though as authorities were redirecting traffic for snow clearing (I hope!)

So all in all, progress has been made, but there is a ways to go.

[Kitty]

And since OPM has called it, January 26 is also a designated snow day for this competition! I hear conditions are getting better out there, so I look forward to seeing something on Strava. 😎

[Kitty]

Does anyone know if there is a way to see all of the riders and miles for a single day in either the FS data page or on Strava? It will help me adjudicate my pointless prize, and it would be great if I don’t have to do a running spreadsheet by hand.

[Kitty]

@wheels&wings 132784 wrote:

This icy winter snowstorm offers an opportunity to announce another of the several pointless prizes I plan to award: the prize for the most crashes. We can call it the London Bridge prize, or… for any Bruce fans, the “I’m goin’ down” prize. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fdZWbIsrFk

Initially I wanted to offer this prize last winter, but it became painfully apparent that I’d have to award it to myself… how dorky is that?

The thing I’m not sure of is how we’ll know who the winner is this year. What is the best way to keep track of how many times we go down? I don’t know if we’d need a separate thread or if it’s better to add a specific keyword to ride titles… or if we should just rely on self-reporting at the end of the season – crashes are generally engraved quite powerfully in the memory, so I don’t expect anyone will forget.

Be safe, everyone. w&w

Oh! Let me know how you decide you quantify this! I wiped out 3 times on Wednesday’s ice and again the following day (for 4 so far!) It would be nice to get something out of it other than some nasty bruises and a broken water bottle cage. :p

[Kitty]

@kwarkentien 133055 wrote:

It is a thing, but FS requires you to be outside so this doesn’t count. But you should be sure to watch the races. I think the series starts again in March in Crystal City.

Ah good good good. I’m all for the fun of the races (I believe I will go check them out this year), but I’m glad that garages don’t count for FS. Not only does it seem like cheating, knowing how people whip through our garage, you might be safer outside…

[Kitty]

@cvcalhoun 132931 wrote:

Just a reminder that the existing rules say, “Trainer rides don’t count. Mark your rides as such or include #NOBAFS in the title to exclude them. Take your bike outside and ride it some distance across the surface of the earth in order to earn points.” So we are talking about a rule change if we are to allow this.

@vern 132947 wrote:

We should ban riding indoors for next year’s game. As Hozn says, riding indoors is against the spirit and intent of the game.

@Terpfan 132962 wrote:

Oh riding in a parking garage… the thought had never occurred to me. If I could make it down to Huntington Station, I could easily log sleaze miles during storm. If only it were closer. I’ll still do some fun laps on hybrid once plow comes through. Maybe even tree with snow for ___ and giggles.

Riding in a garage IS A THING?! Is that something people seriously do? Or is this a joke? I thought we had to ride outside to get distance and points…

[Kitty]

First of all, Joan is amazing! She is the Team 19 rep on the roads today!

I wanted to apologize to the team, I’m making a conscious decision to take the day off today. Rosslyn is a mess, and after falling as many times as I did on Wednesday’s ice, I had to promise folks I would take a break today. I was hoping other teams would do the same, but apparently not…

[Kitty]

Same here! I was planning on going to the monthly “All the Cycle Ladies” meeting at Phoenix Bikes, which I always ride to (MVT to 4MR to Barcroft). At first the snow was fun and pretty, and the trails weren’t too bad, but the snow was picking up (and stinging my eyes) so I decided to bail at Crystal City and take the city streets back up the North Arlington…

Bad idea. Traffic was starting to panic when I hit Columbia Pike. Going WB uphill from the Washington Blvd. overpass to Courthouse Road I was the fastest thing on wheels as traffic was at an eerie crawl. When I turned onto S. Courthouse a guy rolled down his window to tell me I was “the definition of brave.” I was starting to notice the ice under the snow going downhill NB on Courthouse but was having have the skidding problems the cars were!

Things were fine again on the trails including the nice neighborhood one from Arlington Blvd. to Lyon Park. Pershing however was where things started to get dicey.

Cars kept hugging the right, so when an SUV crowded my off the road while climbing was my first spill (thankfully the traffic was going real slow the the car behind me stopped). Heading into Clarendon by Highland, the intersections were turning into mob rule (while for some reason my front derailer stoped shifting). On Clarendon proper, where cars barely respect the bike lane on a good day, I had to fight for our my place on the road while the lack of traction was getting everyone. ART buses were stalled left and right.

Clarendon from N. Courthouse to Rhodes, that fun decline, was so treacherous with ice and there were already so many accidents on it the police were blocking it with flares and redirection cars through the old Wells Fargo drive-thru back onto Wilson. I needed to get back home to Rosslyn, which left no non-hill options so I took my chances… resulting in spill #2. In this one both bike and rider skidded and slid a good 10 feet in slow motion, while the rider had the temerity to shout a sardonic “Weeeee!” while sliding.

I walked the rest of the way down to hill to Rhodes before attempting the last couple of blocks on the bike. Rosslyn where Clarendon and Wilson reunite was a recreation of “Thunderdome” with cars sliding down the hill downbound, and unable to climb upbound. A half-block from my apartment a subway grate knocked the bike out from under me a third time–shearing the waterbottle case clean off.

So at the end of it all bruised, and (hopefully) not broken. If I didn’t wreak my ride, I’ll see you on the trails tomorrow.

[Kitty]

First one of the season!

The Brewery: I visited Port City as part of their Pedals and Pints ride. I happily downed my Tidings, only to realize I forgot to take a picture! This of course necessitated getting a taster of Colossal I.

The Beer: These two truly capture the season. Tidings is their venerable holiday beer, which I was thrilled to see they still had on tap. It has a mild spiced sweetness that I prefer, with the easy drinking of a summer sessional, but the wonderful hit of 7.8% ABV. Its a stealth bomber to be sure! (Bring a 6-pack to a family holiday gathering and watch the fun begin!) The Colossal I (the dark taster) is a wonderful example of how the IBU is a subjective measure. The deep-dark stout is rich and smooth, which I found to have less bitterness than your average Guinness. I understand its limited–once its gone its gone–which will be a sad day.

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[Author]

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