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Oohh this sounds neat. I’d be in. The extreme Heffe we bottled over the weekend (8.5% – almost a barlywine) still has 2 weeks to bottle condition. If nothing else, is a good excuse to buy good beer. Plus, it’s DC beer week. I wish I’d snuck home a bottle of Ommegang 3 philosophers from last night. It would probably never make it to a hiding location though!

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@americancyclo 60549 wrote:

Who are the Purcellville Plodders?

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muuuuuuggggyyyy. Soaked in the sunshine, and it stung my eyes. Luckily there are showers at work so I’m not a salt-slathered crustyation this morning.

Oh, and I got my first “get on the sidewalk” of the season on yesterday’s ride home, a block from my house. Very sort of nonchalant, and completely from the other lane. By the time I realized what the dude had said he was well ahead of me, and then I turned. On the plus side, there were kids watching me from the car next to me at that same stoplight, and I maintained a trackstand for them for the duration of the light. They waved when everyone started up and they passed me. The car behind THEM was the “get on the sidewalk” car.

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weld looks great, but I’d have tried to keep the paint off the dropout faces and threads of the derailleur hanger and rack bosses. be careful removing the paint there, as it may chip away, and then you start the rust problems all over again.

I’m a fan of vintage bikes – they do still make them like they used to, but now it’s boutique frame builders and you pay for it.

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@consularrider 60361 wrote:

Or wallet is a ziplock.

dual purpose! keeps your stash and your cash dry.

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@ShawnoftheDread 60339 wrote:

Scattered means just that. Half the summer around here has scattered thunderstorms in the forecast.

One takes ones’s chances.
Isolated T-storms means you’re probably going to be dry, but you could be very very wet.
Scattered T-storms means you stay dry if you’re lucky, ride over wet pavement / spray if a cell has passed through (most likely ~ 50%?), or get wet (somewhat likely ~ 25%?).

Limited experience has been that unless it’s really letting go on you, it’s no wetter than sweating.
Today calls for Isolated in the early afternoon and Scattered during commute hours. Work clothes stay at work, cell phone goes into ziploc, if I get wet I have a shower and dryer at home.

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@creadinger 60307 wrote:

My evening commute: Came across 3 salmoning cyclists in SE east of the Anacostia. These people weren’t just riding one block down a one-way street to save a minute. These were people who really felt that riding the wrong way in the road is the right way to do it…. sad. The first one I came across I was going down Suitland road around a blind curve forcing me to veer further into the road. Later I saw two of them ride together down the Mass Ave SE hill, which is extremely dangerous because of the cross streets.

You’ve been riding out in my neck of the woods. I don’t have much reason to go down Suitland, I think it’s too fast and with too many curvy corners to share, and the separated path was in pretty poor shape last time I checked. Someone salmoning on Suitland is taking a huge risk with their life. I cross Mass at Alabama on my commute, but never went down it.

Today’s commute was sloooow… avg 12mph. I did tear down Southern – had a bit of trouble keeping my legs under me and was probably on the edge of control… got to dial it back a little earlier. Strava put me at 37 mph, I don’t believe it but it sure felt like over 30, so between 140-160 rpm cadence. I was bouncing all over the place, and trying in vain to keep ahead of the pedals. The downhill takes so much out of me that I slowed down a ton on the remainder of the segment, to around 15mph.

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I wear wide brimmed hats fairly regularly, but have never really been wishing for one while riding the bike. I find that a) I lean too far forward, always in the drops, b) move too fast, and c) am rarely out for more than an hour when commuting.

When riding with my wife, I’d be much more likely to want one because I’m more upright, much slower, and more likely to be out longer. Her favorite trip was between Vienna and Ashburn on the W&OD to go visit/tour Old Dominion before they sold out and moved to New Jersey. That would be an outing where I’d wear one of these. No worse feeling than a beer buzz and a sunburn when you get back on the bike for the return leg!

[mello yello]

I want this. So many excellent possibilities.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/3984009585.html

I love a vintage ride, and this could be so good.

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also on this morning’s commute, found my tires have very low adhesion in wet conditions – skid city!

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overcast and misting… what I believe they call “sunny” in Seattle.
I avoided most of the big droplets, although a few found me and got me wet. No particular extra gear for this morning, except that the full fenders were actually useful. Might have washed off a little of Sunday’s mud and grit from the tow path trail.

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Somebody short PLEASE get this Gitane and ride it every day.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/3981090723.html

Also, it’s a steal.

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@vvill 60071 wrote:

I vary my walking-around-in-kit. With part-way commutes I tend to wear something that’s more casual, but if I’m riding a longer way in and arriving early the office is fairly empty anyway so hardly anyone will see me in kit. If it’s more of a 9-5 day then I’ll usually do MTB shorts.

Interesting to see how everybody’s routine differs a bit – my commute is 10 miles and no good part-way options. I sweat enough to wear exercise clothes, but I only have one actual jersey – I usually just wear athletic shirts and either mtb shorts or athletic shorts over spandex bike shorts. I’m a Fred when it comes to clothing. Plus, it helps avoid some stares.

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minus the playing card trick, you could put it in the wheel spokes like the alleycat spoke cards the messengers / hipsters have.

I just started since BTWD, and am at 3-4 times per week now. I have just begun taking in a week of clothes at a time – drove in today so that I could transport it all (missed the nice weather this morning) and a week of lunches to leave in the fridge, and a refill of my strategic peanut-butter reserve. We will see how this works. It sure is nice to not have to pack all of those things onto your bike every day.

I also have no overnight use of the lockers (there are only 6 for a 12-story building). When I was commuting before my long break, I’d been leaving the toiletries and gear down there, and they posted a notice saying that all locks would be cut (basically gave a week’s notice). I figure someone must have complained, because now, two years later there are two lockers with locks on them, and one unlocked with a security guard uniform in it.

Twice now I’ve left the gym bag down there overnight, and bring it up with me in the morning. This entails loading the bag with work clothes, dropping in in an unsecured locker after work (the entire building is secured at night, and only people who have asked building management can get into the gym), and retrieving it in the morning. This might be a little risky but allows me to avoid a round trip up and down the elevator, and avoid walking around the office in bicycling “kit”. Everything lives in my cube during the day.

[mello yello]

looks like it started right at the edge of the weld on the top of the TT. Combination of geometric stress concentrator and maybe possibly some stresses from the weld cooling – careful attention to tempering may have prevented this crack, but no way of telling. Ah, I’m having fun remembering my mechanical failures class in materials science.

Sorry to hear about your JTS – 9 years is too soon, but it sounds like it was a good 9 years.

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