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@jrenaut 26264 wrote:

I’d much prefer a central DC location to Georgetown. Most of the bars down there somehow manage to even have the outdoor space smell like stale beer. I feel dirty just thinking about happy hour in Georgetown (Never mind that I met my wife at one of those awful bars).

It also just occurred to me, we don’t need to decide on all of the locations in order to start this up, and I won’t presume to decide for others where they would rather go. I like Shirlington, and I feel pretty confident it is a popular choice, so how about:

First Thursday –
Second Thursday –
Third Thursday – Capitol City Brewing, Shirlington
Fourth Thursday –

If there are enough people in agreement, would it be possible to get the above as a forum “sticky”? Then if people decide on other locations they can be added to the sticky.

[krazygl00]

@dasgeh 26248 wrote:

Thanks for setting up the survey. I think you’re missing Clarendon as a neighborhood.

I’d support setting the general direction for each week (first thursday = south) and then figuring out the exact bar the week before.

Or, we do every other week, with the first week of the month being central (DC/Rosslyn) and the third week of the month being one of the directions, and we could just rotate through the directions. Again, we’d just pick the exact neighborhood and bar as the week approaches.

I imagine our “center” of working-gravity is somewhere around 17th and K, with most people headed south and west, but plenty in other directions, from there.

Less work upfront, a bit more work and attention required on the back end, but the opportunity to try new places and switch days may get more people.

I’m worried this is getting a bit too complicated; I think that simplicity and predictability are the essential factors to making this work.

Yeah, we could try to cater to every single geographic and demographic area, we could have computerized distribution models and schedules to ensure even “Happy Hour Coverage”; then making heads or tails of the schedule and locations would become crazy. At some point you have to compromise for simplicity’s sake. Knowing that if it’s the first Thursday of the month then that always means Shirlington, for example, makes it a whole lot easier for people to attend.

I think Shirlington is pretty centrally located for the Arlington/Alexandria, and even some of the DC crowd, and it already gets a fair amount of bike traffic and is close to a major trail. Chasin’ Tails/Falls Church seems to have some issues, namely that it is already kind of redundant with Shirlington and that it is seen as convenient to commuters only. But eliminating this location really leaves the Fairfax/Vienna people out in the cold, and that’s a lot of riders. Perhaps a Vienna location would be a good replacement.

I also think that a Georgetown location would be good, as well as Clarendon. I think these four locations are convenient enough, to enough people:

1. Shirlington
2. Georgetown
3. Vienna
4. Clarendon

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@dasgeh 26185 wrote:

What about Rosslyn or Ballston instead of Falls Church?

Also, seems to me (admittedly DC-centric) that Crystal City would mainly be convenient for the people who could also make Shirlington, so one or the other, I would think.

What about one HH generally South (Shirlington/CC), one generally West (Rosslyn/Clarendon/Ballston/FC), one central/SW (Foggy Bottom, Gtown, Rosslyn) and the final central/NE (Columbia Heights, Capital Hill, all those places that are too cool for me to know about)?

Again, I probably can’t go much, so take my suggestions with a grain of … something.

I had also thought of perhaps eliminating the Falls Church location in favor of something else, due to its proximity/redundancy to Shirlington/Cap City. However you just cannot beat the location for Chasin’ Tails…literally feet from the W&OD; I saw that as a key factor. I’m not against switching from Chasin’ Tails, though; there could be a splinter group Just have the Thursday commuter club I think maybe that is a topic for another thread though.

But I’m really glad people like this idea; cool to see it taking on a life of its own!

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@creadinger 26165 wrote:

My only concern with this fun plan is that if happy hours are too often, then they may get diluted with low turnout. I don’t think I’d be able to get to more than 1/month at best….. not that I’m the life of the party or anything though. Heh but I think the big turnout in Shirlington was because it had been a while since the last one. I think.

Yeah, I know what you mean. But that was the idea behind spacing them out geographically. Personally, I think I could probably only make it to the Chasin’ Tails happy hour, and maybe the Cap City one. That’s only once or twice per month, and I can probably swing that, but there’s no way I could go out every single Thursday.

[krazygl00]

So with Megabeth’s addition it would look like this:

FirstThursday of the month: Chasin’ Tails (I know, it sounds like a bad strip club) in Falls Church right off the W&OD
Second Thursday: Jay’s Saloon in Clarendon close to the Clarendon Metro
Third Thursday: Capitol City Brewing Co. in Shirlington next to W&OD/4MR and not too far from MVT
Fourth Thursday: (Other suggestions or…give your liver a rest??)

So, for the fourth thursday, maybe a DC or Fairfax location?

[krazygl00]

@Arlingtonrider 26124 wrote:

It’s WABA’s forum as well, so it covers the whole Washington area.

Oh! I didn’t know (see how new I am??).

So, a DC option is definitely in order!

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Very cool! This might be shaping up nicely

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Ummm…I can see it. Yeah, I can definitely see it.

[krazygl00]

@rsewell19 25325 wrote:

I totally cracked this weekend and I thought this might make for good Monday morning banter. My first mistake happened Friday night when I impulse substituted my pasta dish for some tasty looking tacos….in retrospect a REALLY bad decision since I had decided to do a 50 mile Potomac/Palisades loop from Rosslyn on Saturday morning.

…

It was hell. I thought about calling my wife from the “3-bucks” to pick me up but I dug deep, and made it home.

So how was everyone else’s weekend?

THIS is what epic ride reports are made of!

By the way, in addition to the five-second-rule, there are guidelines for how many bits of roadside gravel may be in any dropped food before it is deemed unfit for consumption.

@KelOnWheels 25330 wrote:

Yeah… I did that twice this weekend! First I stuffed myself on yuca & chicharrones and then went dancing Saturday night :p and then I had gluten-free pancakes for breakfast this morning. NOT GOOD PLAN. Fortunately I was not on a 50-mile ride.

Five-second Fig Newton rule totally applies.

Oooh, where are you getting chicharrones locally? Are you talking the pork-rind-style ones in the bag from the store, or real honest-to-goodness cooked chicharrones, Colombia-style? Do tell.

Oh, and everyone’s cumin-chili-fig-newton-taco-yuca-chicharrones-bowel-storm-brewing stories are conjuring images just a little too vivid

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@KelOnWheels 24813 wrote:

So the frame on my ancient purchased-on-clearance (a common theme of my current cycling gear) pair of Optic Nerves cracked a couple of weeks ago, so I have been riding with my ridiculous giant bug-like sunglasses from Target. So not pro.

I’ve been looking online for a worthy (aka cheap) replacement – I was thinking the Tifosi Slip as it’s recommended as a good fit for women. (I have a small face, which goes oh-so-well with a giant head, let me tell you.)

But I went to REI this weekend and tried them on, and they seemed awfully big. On the other hand, I could barely get the Tifosi Wisps on and they pinched mah head. The Tyrants seemed a pretty good fit though.

Any other recommendations for inexpensive medium-smallish eyewear?

These.

You just cannot beat that price. And they are among the nicest glasses I’ve ridden with. I had them on my head at the happy hour last night, and Arlingtonrider was asking me about them. At that price, buy two pairs (that’s what I did).

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That was a lot of fun; cannot wait for the next one!

[krazygl00]

@culimerc 24912 wrote:

I vote for a “pop up” bike rack right in the first parallel parking space, as a way of demonstrating how many bikes you can fit into a single car spot.

I say we roll up and take every spot we can in front of Cap City, biker-gang style.

[krazygl00]

I haven’t been to one of these forum happy hours…how many people normally show up? I’m betting that the Shirlington location will result in a large number…has someone hipped Cap City Brewery to the fact that they may soon be inundated with spandex?

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@Dirt 24384 wrote:

It is a 64cm. It is a wonderful bike… I need to get off my butt and finish restoring it. Thanks for the comment. It is nothing but fun.

You’re welcome. And the great thing…I was pretty new to cycling; I had bought a road bike maybe a year or two prior, and my friend was a mechanic and told me: “If you want to know what a road bike should feel like, ride this bike for a few rides.” Never truer words. Hope you show up at the Shirlington/Cap City Brewery happy hour with it

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@Dirt 955 wrote:

@SQ: Depends on the terrain. The Dummy accelerates like a Prius with a faulty accelerator pedal on the right kind of hill. The Tesch is definitely a joy to ride. I keep saying that I’m not going to ride it until I get the frame restored… and I keep getting it out of the basement and riding it. I love that bike. I’m gonna have to break down and buy another steel bike so that I can send this one off to cycle-art.

@Mark: I got my first Tesch in 1989. This one I think is from 1990. I had a third that I purchased in mid 1991. The first was a lugged “101” model. That bike was amazing.. quite possibly the nicest bike I’ve ever ridden. It died at the hands of a crazed woman with a chevy blazer full of chinchillas. It would be funny as hell if it didn’t come at the cost of that lovely bike. Tesch was one of a few frame builders that really pioneered the use of TIG welded steel in a high-end racing frame. The lugged steel 101 frame was replaced by this TIG welded S-22 frame. By today’s standards it is a boat anchor. The ride and handling is really amazing.

I’ll stop drooling now. Luckily they make me wear a lobster bib at work.

Duuuuude…you have an S-22??? Only been waiting…oh a few YEARS for one of those. A friend of mine has one (in Atlanta) and he let me borrow it for a few days once (he can no longer ride) and they are awesome, awesome bikes. Every once in a while one pops up on ebay or CL but never in my size. Yours looks like about a 58-59? I officially have bike envy.

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