[oldbikechick]

Sorry to miss this and the chance to meet my other slacker team members. I have family in town and need to entertain them. Hope to see everyone another time. Have fun!

[oldbikechick]

Thanks for posting the steps – very helpful for those of us strava uninitiated!

@cvcalhoun 72501 wrote:

Just thought I’d post all the steps to enter the competition in one place. (I did this earlier, but it was buried in the comments instead of having its own post.) To enter, you need to:

1. Register for Strava. (This must be done before filling out the application form, because you’ll need your Strava information to fill out the form.)
2. Fill out the application form. (Deadline is December 24 at midnight.)
3. Register for this forum.
4. Authorize the BikeArlington Freezing Saddles app on Strava.
5. Join the BikeArlington club on Strava.

Bonus link:

Here is the leaderboard.

Given that I’m new here myself, does anyone have any additions or corrections to this list?

[oldbikechick]

Procrastination is all part of being a slacker! But OK, I’d better sign up before family descends and the madness begins.

[oldbikechick]

The ride sounds great. We’ll have family in town, but they might be interested in joining, should the weather not be too nasty. We’d have to rent/borrow a trail a bike for my older daughter. We have ridden around there with her on her own bike and she requires a push up some of the steeper hills. Which my husband has amazing figured out how to do while riding along beside, but that might be a bit too much in a group and in the dark.

[oldbikechick]

@dasgeh 71395 wrote:

I was concerned about the trails today, and it sounds like I should be more so tomorrow. For the Arlington –> DC commute, there aren’t many ways to get to bridges without going on trails.

Took metro today since I usually only ride in the ice and snow by mistake (ie. sometimes I think the trail is clear and it isn’t). However, if there’s more than a day or so of snow, I get antsy and ride in the street, and to get from Arlington to DC, I take Fairfax/Clarendon to Rosslyn, cross 50 at N. Rhodes, follow along the rte 50 access road to the Netherlands Carillon and around along next to 110 up to the cemetery and over the memorial bridge to the mall. I’ve found that even when the Custis and MVT are not clear, this route is clear, except for one small section of trail along 110, which is not too treacherous and could even be walked if needed.

[oldbikechick]

I’m a hopeless rule-follower by nature and would never dream of running a red light on the road whether in a car or on a bike, but for some reason, those sidewalk lights on the Custis seem different. Maybe because it is a sidewalk. Maybe because everyone else runs them (except Dirt and Dasgeh). I do feel guilty though, especially when they changed the signals to bike signals. It was like they were saying, “in case there was any doubt, this means YOU, cyclist.” If I stop because there is cross traffic, sometimes I’ll just stay stopped till the light changes. If there is no cross-traffic, I usually go. Maybe you all will inspire me to stop. Or rear-end me, as the case may be.

[oldbikechick]

@pfunkallstar 71117 wrote:

So these lights appear to be manually operated and there is only a button on the west side of the Parkway – why not two buttons? To the comments!

There are buttons on both sides. A very nice man in a safety vest pushed it for me this morning going west and when I came across the other way on the way home tonight, I used the button on the other side. Worked pretty well!

[oldbikechick]

@dbb 70972 wrote:

As you use the crosswalk, capture your observations so you can share the wonderfulness (OK, I am presupposing the outcome here) with the NPS during the comment period for the effort. Personal experiences and observations would likely resonate with the reviewers.

I’d be happy to submit comments. Do you know how we can do that?

Thanks!

[oldbikechick]

@dbb 70971 wrote:

Warning – My assessment and assumptions are below. Possibility (slight) I could be totally incorrect.

Given the infrastructure and the lack of a easy way to get wiring under the GW Memorial Parkway (particularly for a temporary installation), the lights only on the side of departure would be activated by the cyclist or ped. The light on the pole would need to be tall enough for motorists approaching the crosswalk (several cars back) to see the flashing light from both lanes.

As these lights are demonstrated and found wonderfully effective (my hope) the NPS can look at strategies for a more permanent installation.

A jogger was crossing as I passed by and both lights were flashing. They seemed visible from pretty far back.

[oldbikechick]

@dasgeh 70877 wrote:

So only one? Isn’t one of the main problems here due to cars coming in the second lane?

Riding past tonight it looked like it was on both sides. And VERY visible!

[oldbikechick]

Yay for the lights. I crossed there this morning for the first time in over a year. After seeing someone get clobbered by a car right in front of me at that crossing, I have been riding an extra 1/2 mile to cross at the 14th st bridge instead. They were still installing the lights this morning, but that was enough to get the attention of drivers. I’m looking forward to having the option of riding down the mall again. I saw the lights in action on the way home and they look great! Very bright and flashy.

[oldbikechick]

After freezing yesterday, I went out in full winter regalia today and ended up sweltering. But, easy to problem to solve by removing a layer. Although my commute also took me an extra 15 minutes with all the putting on and taking off of layers. I need warm cycling shoes that don’t need covers and warm pants that don’t require layering. Any suggestions?

[oldbikechick]

@MattAune 70010 wrote:

But this topic has been beaten to death here many times.

OK, this is true. But, one last thing to say. On the light thing, it really does come down to what is appropriate on the road vs. the trail. This week, I found myself behind the wheel of the car for a couple of days on my commute and it’s always helpful to see a different perspective. So, while driving on Ohio drive at 6:00 pm, I saw a headlight coming at me, as bright as a car headlight, but a single light. At first I thought it was a motorcycle, a slow-moving motorcyle. Then, it came by and I saw it was a cyclist. And I thought, man, that light is awesome! I almost chased him down to ask him what kind of light it was, but he might have gotten the wrong idea if a woman in a car started chasing him. It really worked great on the road, looked just like a vehicle headlight. However, on the trail, that light would most likely be too much, so hopefully he has a lower setting or something for that. So, lesson learned, we need to adjust our lights when we go from road to trail and back again, cause whatever works on the trail, is probably not sufficient on the road and whatever works on the road is probably too much for the trail.

Final, final thought: before all these posts about light brightness, I was never bothered by people’s lights on the trails. Now I am bothered all the time by those bright, strobing lights. Thanks a lot, forum thread!!

[oldbikechick]

There is so much silliness in the copenhagenize article, that it’s hard to know where to begin.

I have been a “late adopter” of cycling clothing throughout my years of commuting or just generally getting around town by bike because:

1) I am cheap (and when i was a student, also poor)
2) I have no time for or interest in shopping
3) I am a poor planner (ie. suddenly it is fall and I have no idea where my gloves, lights, etc are, so I have to improvise)

However, over time, I have eventually gotten specific cycling items here and there and I can say that I have NEVER regretted it and have always thought, “wow, should have gotten this YEARS ago!”

Yes, it’s true that you don’t need an expensive wardrobe of high-tech items to cycle in the winter. But, you may want some of them, since most likely, they are going to make your life better. I actually wish there was more cycling specific gear for really cold weather. Maybe I’m not looking in the right places (that would require shopping), but I don’t see many really warm shoes or pants, etc around.

I do wear some of my ski stuff in the coldest weather, but for those temperatures, they are more appropriate, since again, the majority of cycling gear is, in my opinion, designed for warmer temps, whereas all ski gear is basically for cold temps. I do have ski goggles and have worn them while cycling by necessity and would LOVE to find something else that served the same purpose but was designed to fit with a bike helmet and hopefully look less ridiculous.

As for googling winter cycling clothes, it was precisely that search that first brought me to this forum

[oldbikechick]

I wonder if it would help to put a sign with the light, along the lines of “ped in crosswalk when flashing” or something like that. Maybe they already do that. Otherwise, a flashing yellow light with no information as to what it means might not do much good. I have to say that they installed one of these things on Harrison street in North Arlington and I’m not sure it was all that helpful. The traffic calming measures they took at the same time (reducing to two lanes and putting an island in the middle) seem more helpful, if for no other reason than to give pedestrians a safe place to bail out if cars are not stopping, and slowing everyone down. The speeding on the parkway is a major problem. It’s a problem even if you are driving there. When I have to merge onto the GW parkway I always have my heart in my throat and gun it since the sight lines are far too short for the speeds people drive.

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