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@drevil 183307 wrote:

I’ve ridden two/from the area around Branch Ave Metro station a few times.

It involves a lot of riding on sidewalks, bunnyhopping glass, an abundance of lights & reflective materials, and a sprinkling of magic. I’d highly not recommend it unless Danger is your middle name and your life insurance is paid up.

I can’t find my Strava routes for when I did it those few times, but if you want to see how others risked their lives trying to ride to/from there, maybe you can cobble something from the Strava heat map:
https://www.strava.com/heatmap#12.88/-76.96976/38.84901/hot/all

Nice way to use the strava heatmap. thanks for that pointer.

John

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@bentbike33 183298 wrote:

wmata.com only says this: “Metro will operate regular hours and service levels Wednesday, Dec 5 (National Day of Mourning)”. I assume that means bikes are not allowed on trains during peak service hours as usual. You could try routing by bus and use the bike rack.

Great idea. I’ll look for a bus route that gets me out of the snarl that VikingMariner describes.

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@VikingMariner 183296 wrote:

Years ago I experimented with the Hanson Creek trail, using that Metro station as a launch/recovery point. Also tried to find some routes from there to the Navy Yard. It’s too dangerous–not bike friendly at all is what I mean–bad roads, no trail, no protected bike lanes, angry traffic. For downtown, best to loop out of the horseshoe (Auth Way) to Allentown Road, left at Suitland Road and linking up with PA Ave all the way into the Capitol. Lots of inattentive drivers (worse that you have seen and multiply it by 10) is your biggest threat. Lots of overworked, sleep deprived drivers, crazy amount of speeding (tailgating and slamming on brakes by drivers), and no safe quarter for cyclists. I would not do it again unless there is a protected bike lane or a trail. If you do it, I will pray for you. Beware the potholes and construction along the way. Hope you are using a hybrid. Hope this helps.

Wow. Sounds much worse than your ordinary suburban traffic area.

[Overtone]

4MR under Route 1 and GWMP was flooded again at 8:30am this morning.

Also the MVT between DCA and Rosslyn was flooded at two spots: the usual one just north of Memorial bridge, and the “unusual” one between humpback bridge and memorial bridge (sorry I don’t remember the exact location – this is only the second time I’ve ever seen it flooded).

I feel sad for all the grass I killed by riding around the flooded sections

-John

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Tried to look up the location on google maps. The poster says it’s on NPS land between 1st place NE and gallatin st NE. Google thinks those two streets are pretty far apart. Any more detailed info on location?

[Overtone]

@TwoWheelsDC 169596 wrote:

So I think I’m giving up on the Schwalbe G-Ones and going back to the Clement X’Plor MSOs. I’ve now gotten large punctures on the rear tire twice in less than 1200 miles, both from riding through gravelly shoulder areas of the road. The one I got yesterday was pretty small, but I think the cold kept it from sealing and the tire went completely flat (it punctured in probably the last half mile of my commute) while sitting in the parking garage. The cold also caused the tire to shrink up when it lost air and my mini pump wasn’t powerful enough to get it back on the bead. I’m going to bring the bike home and put a dynaplug in the hole and see how that goes, but I think I’m going to replace these tires with the Clements once they wear out or inevitably puncture again.

The G-Ones seem great for actual gravel or clean pavement, but they just seem to be too soft to stand up to the type of gravel that tends to accumulate on the shoulders where I spend a decent amount of time during my commute. The Clements seemed much more durable in that regard, at the cost of a small amount of speed.

Wish I’d read this thread before I bought some G-Ones!

Can confirm I had exactly the same experience. Two flats in 6 weeks of riding. (I was using tubes.) The kicker is that I couldn’t get the bead to seat when I changed the flats in the field. My LBS had suggested putting talcum powder on the tubes, which I did, but still found myself spending a day and a half on the Erie Canal towpath with a wobbly front tire. Normally I run tires for a long long time, but I gave up on these G-Ones and put on a pair of Marathon Supremes yesterday. The tires went on quickly and easily and my ride this morning was delightful. The marathons don’t grab onto gravel nearly as well – they are touring road tires – so I guess I’m back in the market for a gravel tire to use next time I do a trip like C&O or Erie.

John

[Overtone]

Hooray! I have a good friend in Richmond and look forward to using the new service this summer.

[Overtone]

When I looked at the Amtrak site I couldn’t find which stations have the support for the train-side check. Thanks for the info.

I did the self-load to go to Pittsburgh (in order to bike back on the GAP / C&O). It worked fine for me. Glad to hear the train-side checking experience is also good – it opens opportunities for other long distance one-way bike trips that I’d like to try.

[Overtone]

@trailrunner 160003 wrote:

Wheels should last longer than two years, unless you are completely abusing them. Your combined weight isn’t that much. I weigh that much by myself.

I agree. My previous bike went 5 years and never broke a spoke. I don’t think I abuse the wheels.

I bought this bike from Performance. I spoke to the guy at Performance this week after the spoke broke. He said “you should get a machine-made wheel like that checked and the spokes properly retensioned right after you buy it.” Wish they’d told me that when I picked up the bike.

John

[Overtone]

Wow, great advice from everyone already in the middle of the work day! I’m grateful and impressed. Some awesome leads to check out.

@hozn 159992 wrote:

What kind of bike is this / what diameter rims / what size tires?

It’s a gravel bike, a GT Grade X 2015. The wheels are 700c (not sure that’s the measurement you asked about). I’ve been comfortable with 28mm tires for commuting. Don’t see any need to go narrower. Could imagine switching to wider ones for doing something like C&O Canal.

John

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Saw the contractor working on the lights this morning. Good stuff!

John

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Just checked the weather. Thanks to Hermine stalling offshore: 15 mph from the NNW, gusting to the mid 20s. That direction is particularly challenging because it will be in our face at the end of the century. Going to be a challenging day!

John

[Overtone]

Anacostia Riverwalk trail to Bladensburg

Went up the trail today. The builder is making good progress but the conditions N of Benning are worse than when I rode it at the end of June (trip report). Many places that were clean fresh pavement in June now have washes of fine gravel or dirt over them, from construction work beside the trail. The crews have clearly been getting interfered with by people trying to use the trail, so it has sprouted fences across the trail and “construction zone – no trespassing” signs in a couple places. Plenty of people were using the trail on a Sunday morning by going around the fences and ignoring the signs. The one gap in the trail remaining is just N of Benning, but cranes are on site and the framework of the bridge over the marsh has been laid.

Recommend avoiding during work hours until the official opening this fall, and only attempting on weekends if you can tolerate poor surface conditions. My wife and I had a lot of fun – it was a beautiful morning – so certainly worth checking out.

[Overtone]

So… today next to the Dept of Agriculture downtown I rode behind this guy for a block or so. Nice bicycle: drop handlebars, solid rear wheel, cyclocomputer, fancy black and white graphics, looks expensive. The guy doesn’t match the bike: open cloth jacket flapping in the wind, long pants, clothes not nice enough to be “I’m commuting home from the office” (plus no retaining band on his right pants leg). Then I notice: pedals are designed for clips but he’s in sneakers. Also, the seat is too high for him, he has to stand over the crossbar to pedal. At this point I’m like, WTF, am I seeing a bike being stolen?

It would have taken 45 seconds or more to stop, fish my cell phone out of my backpack, and wake it up to take a picture. He would have been long gone. I didn’t know what to do.

Posting this note on the forum to (a) hope that no one shouts in agony THAT WAS MY BIKE (b) solicit ideas for what you would do in this situation (c) give everyone a chance to remember the time they had to borrow a friend’s bike for an emergency trip and they looked just like that when riding it and how dare I cast aspersions on another cyclist for failing to wear $600 worth of kit

John

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I was the original poster who took the photo. I was out of town from Thursday evening which is why I didn’t reply to this thread earlier.

I didn’t witness the (crash, collision, accident, whatever chris_s wants to call it . I was on a bus that came upon the scene from the opposite direction after emergency response was already there.

The first responders were pretty relaxed, and I didn’t see any crime scene tape, so I suspect there was no serious injury to the cyclist. Sorry I don’t have more information.

John

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