[PotomacCyclist]

There are two Sport & Health gyms in Crystal City. S&H Crystal Gateway is on the north end, at 1235 S. Clark St. (It’s possible that this location will be converted into a climbing gym early next year.) S&H Crystal Park is at 23rd & Crystal Drive, which is closer to 2800 Crystal Drive.

There is also an LA Fitness gym at National Gateway, Rte. 1 and S. Glebe Rd. I don’t know if they have shower-only memberships but you can check. Be careful before signing any contracts at either gym. They like to lock people into long-term memberships and they aren’t always responsive when people try to cancel. Trial memberships are also tricky, especially if they require your credit card info before you get the trial membership. They will try to roll you over into a regular paid membership.

2800 Crystal Drive is just about at the midpoint between S&H Crystal Park and LA Fitness.

I don’t know which buildings have bike cages. I’ve seen some in other buildings. I added them to the RackSpotter map but I haven’t checked every parking garage in the neighborhood.

During the workday, if you don’t want to get your bike out again at lunchtime, you can use the new Metroway bus rapid transit route that runs through Crystal City, Potomac Yard and (eventually) Pentagon City. There are also Capital Bikeshare stations throughout that area. Those bikes can let you get to more lunch places without having to get your personal bike from a bike room.

[PotomacCyclist]

@Emm 126683 wrote:

Good point. I don’t know why I always think potomac yards is in Arlington.

The former Potomac Yard was located in both Arlington and Alexandria. The SE section of Arlington is still referred to as Potomac Yard or Potomac Yard-Arlington (my preferred description). There’s even a small slice of the north bank of Four Mile Run that is actually part of Alexandria. Everything south of FMR (in the Potomac Yard area) is in Alexandria.

The FAST Potomac Yard transportation nonprofit group covers both the Arlington and Alexandria sections of Potomac Yard. They co-sponsor the two CaBi bike stations in the Arlington section.

[PotomacCyclist]

@Emm 126586 wrote:

per your post on another thread–

In this case the light connecting the trail crossing on Potomac Ave across E. Glebe is in violation (as long as they count that path as a trail–which they should). It’s currently semi-automated and should be automated. This one could also use a leading pedestrian interval. It’s become a dangerous intersection. The current status is even when there is a walk signal for pedestrians to cross potomac ave where the trail connects, cars from e. glebe (which dead ends onto potomac) have a green light. Cars turning left or right have had numerous near misses, and at least one serious collision with a cyclist in the crosswalk. They don’t appear to expect pedestrians to have the walk signal at the same moment they have a green light.

It’d also help to have this as an automatic walk signal because the call box is placed VERY poorly for people on the trail. You have to veer right a little away from Potomac Ave onto Glebe, push the botton, and then veer left to go back towards Potomac Ave to cross the trail. Because of this many pedestrians and cyclists can’t figure out the call signal, or don’t push the button since it’s out of the way and in an illogical location for trail users.

That intersection is in Alexandria. Arlington won’t be able to do anything about this signal.

[PotomacCyclist]

Paving and restriping on Crystal Drive appears to be finished, for the most part. All the main lane markings have been re-added. There might be some arrow signs on the new two-way center turn lane that are missing. But the bike lanes have been marked again.

[PotomacCyclist]

Rebalancing will be difficult for Capital Bikeshare (moving bikes to empty stations and removing bikes from full stations). I’ve never used Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) during the Marine Corps Marathon but I would expect some of the stations to fill up quickly during the race. It will probably be hit and miss for you.

At the very least, I would download the free SpotCycle app. It’s available for Android and iPhone. You can check bike/dock availability in near real-time. However, the map on the app can be slow to load at times. I would also expect WiFi and cell networks to be jammed up in areas with a lot of spectators.

Other than that, I’d just say that you should be prepared for some overtime ride fees. If you get a 24-hr or 3-day membership, you can use the bikes as often as you want, as long as each individual trip is under 30 min. 59 sec. If a particular trip exceeds that time, you’ll get charged extra fees. The $2 charge for 30 min. to 60 min. isn’t too bad, but the fees start climbing rapidly after that.

60:01-90:00 – $6 total
90:01-120:00 – $14 total

At each half hour mark after that, the total charge increases to $22, $30, $38, $46 and up.

In most of the key spectator areas, there will be other bike stations not too far away from the ones closest to the race course. So if your 1st choice is full, take a detour and dock the bike and check it out again and return to the viewing area.

Both the CaBi website and the Spotcycle app will show you where those other stations are located. The paper maps at the bike stations don’t always have the most current station information. They don’t always list all the nearby bike stations. You scan through the map on their website a few times this week, to get some idea of other stations, in case your 1st choices are full on race day.

[PotomacCyclist]

@Raymo853 106559 wrote:

There are a lot of climbers in DC and a lot of facilities. I was at Sport Rock in Springfield Sunday afternoon and it was packed. The Results on G Street SE still has a room/wall, there is another Sport Rock in Sterling, the three EarthTreks in the Maryland DC suburbs, and the new gym down around 14th and W NW and I suspect others I have forgotten. Climbers that I know around here always say another facility the size of the Springfield Sportrock could be easily be handled in this market. I suggest in the warehouse district off of NY Ave near West Virgina. Anyone got an extra 5M or so?

Not a velodrome, but this is a new climbing gym. Right here in Crystal City/Arlington. According to the company’s website, the gym is supposed to open by mid 2016! The footprint will be 45,000 sq. ft., making it one of the largest climbing gyms in the nation.

This is so cool! I am so signing up for this when it opens.

https://www.earthtreksclimbing.com/md/2015/10/21/earth-treks-announces-plans-for-new-dc-metro-gym-2/

http://www.bizapedia.com/va/EARTH-TREKS-CRYSTAL-CITY-CLIMBING-CENTER-LLC.html

https://www.arlnow.com/2015/10/22/huge-rock-climbing-gym-coming-to-crystal-city/

[PotomacCyclist]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADXs2C4Vmho

http://www.people.com/article/cubs-swept-world-series-back-future-day

[PotomacCyclist]

But if they never invented parkour/free running, we wouldn’t have stuff like this:

[The video clip contains some action-movie violence and a lot of freerunning/parkour.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZxNbAwY_rk

[From “Casino Royale,” featuring Daniel Craig and Sébastien Foucan, the founder of freerunning and one of the founders of parkour. Some of these types of moves were seen in action/martial arts movies previously but not as an entire physical discipline.]

[PotomacCyclist]

http://fabb-bikes.blogspot.com/2015/10/adam-lind-is-new-bicycle-coordinator.html

“Fairfax County announced today the selection of Adam Lind as the new Bicycle Program Manager, commonly referred to as the bike coordinator. Adam has been serving as the acting bike coordinator since the position became vacant with the retirement of Charlie Strunk in January of this year.”

[PotomacCyclist]

@PotomacCyclist 106570 wrote:

Another one of my side goals (not a priority but something neat to accomplish someday) is to be able to do true one-arm push-ups. So I don’t do standard push-ups except as warm-ups, and not every workout. Instead, I do push-up variations that are between regular push-ups and one-arm push-ups. Things like staggered push-ups (one arm placed about 12 inches ahead of the other, to put more stress on one side, then I switch sides), decline staggered push-ups, one-arm incline bench push-up (incline push-ups are easier, but I do them one-handed — easier than doing a flat one-arm push-up, but much tougher than a normal incline push-up, which is a beginner exercise) and sometimes dips. (I’ve heard some people say that dips can be problematic in terms of injury, so I don’t do too many dips.)

I haven’t been consistent with these either, so I haven’t progressed to doing one-arm push-ups. Probably not even close right now, but I think I can make some gains this winter and spring.

Update on the one-arm push-ups: I didn’t even do that many strength workouts last winter. Maybe one every two or three weeks. But I did a lot of swimming, including more pull buoys sets. Occasionally some paddle work, but not much. I noticed that the staggered and incline bench push-ups started becoming easier. In the spring, I went ahead and tried a set of one-arm push-ups. (I was competing against my young nephew. He couldn’t do them though.) It just happened. I knocked out a set of 4 or 5, after only minimal strength training that winter.

I included the one-arm push-ups sporadically this summer but I haven’t done much ST this fall. I’ll get back to it soon.

[PotomacCyclist]

Hmm, over 11 million individual bike trips on Capital Bikeshare. No reported serious head injuries. (If there were an epidemic of these cases, Charles Hurt at The Washington Times would be all over this, screaming about how deadly CaBi is in bold type.) Sorry but I’m not seeing the crisis here with bikeshare and helmet use.

I still think it’s smarter for people on faster, private bikes to wear helmets but even then, helmets are only one piece of the safety puzzle. For bikeshare, the data has shown that helmet use ranks very low in importance in maintaining safety. The slower, heavier bikes with upright riding positions and sturdy low center of mass help people to avoid serious accidents in the first place.

As for CaBi being obsolete, I’m not even sure what to make of this. That is really one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve ever heard. Sorry but it needs to be said. Bikeshare allows for one-way trips and trips where cyclists want to avoid the concern of having their bikes stolen while locked up for several hours. It provides an active method of transportation for all the tourists and visitors in DC and Arlington. Bikeshare isn’t intended for racing or for long-distance trips, although some use the bikes for those purposes. Sure, there are also issues with rebalancing. But the operator has set up CaBi bike corrals in downtown DC and in Foggy Bottom on weekday mornings in the warmer months. They can also work on other rebalancing issues in the future. And this has nothing to do with safety.

The heavy, sturdy design of the bikes is a huge positive in terms of safety. This has been proven, not only in the Arlington/DC area but nationwide. With well over 25 million bikeshare trips in the U.S. (and probably closer to 26 or 27 million trips by now), there has still never been a single fatality of a bikeshare user. That is incredible.

Thousands of car drivers die every year in crashes, many of them from head injuries. But there’s no campaign to make them wear helmets. (In a high-speed crash, a helmet would not help that much anyway.)

Not sure I understand Clement’s views on this, at all.

[PotomacCyclist]

I’ve personally never had any issues there. But the worst trail attack I’ve ever read about took place on Daingerfield Island (the wooded area just to the north of the GenOn plant, and not really an island) in 2005. Since there haven’t been any other homicides along the trail since then, it would be accurate to say it was an isolated incident. But I still think about it when I’m riding around there. Sort of tough to forget the story once you read it.

The cyclist was actually riding on Marina Drive, the service road on the island, just off the MVT. He was headed toward the river.

The story is grisly. If you just want the summary, the criminal assaulted three cyclists in the area, strangling one. He threatened a witness and chased that person on the first victim’s bike. When two other people arrived on the trail, the attacker fled. He was found by police a short distance away, naked. Then he bit one of the arresting officers and told them he had AIDS. The attacker later pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years. So at least he isn’t out there running around and still going after people.

Potomac Yard has changed a lot over the past decade, for the better. But it’s always good to be aware of one’s surroundings out on the trails or roads.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060901735.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/10/AR2006021002069.html

[PotomacCyclist]

I believe 15th & S. Fern is one example. 18th & S. Eads is another.

I’ve noticed the issue in the past at these locations, but I don’t remember if they are still problems.

[PotomacCyclist]

This map analyzes rebalancing issues in near real-time. The color coding lets us see where the rebalancing issues are quickly. The full stations are located in a ring around central DC, although not all of those stations are full at this time. There is another set of full stations in Alexandria, Potomac Yard-Arlington, Four Mile Run in Arlington and a station on Arlington Blvd. near Arlington Forest (the last being a station that is filling up quickly but not yet full).

http://www.rausnitz.com/track/dc

I can’t predict exactly what the commute patterns will be for the new Westover stations, but this map can help to show what those patterns might be. At the very least, there is a higher potential for rebalancing issues there, based on its location in relation to the closest Metro stations and employment centers.

[PotomacCyclist]

It’s after the peak of the evening commute now, but still close enough where rebalancing issues aren’t resolved from today’s evening commute.

On the CaBi map, you can see the stations that have emptied out: Downtown, Foggy Bottom, Metro Center, National Mall in DC; Court House area and the Ballston Metro in Arlington.

https://secure.capitalbikeshare.com/map/

I only see that one Arlington station is completely full now. I don’t know how much of the rebalancing is due to natural usage patterns and how much is due to rebalancing crews. I’ve seen the rebalancing vans in Arlington and in DC frequently, so I know they don’t focus only on DC.

I’m not too familiar with the Westover neighborhood. But if there’s a natural one-way commute pattern during rush hours, there is a possibility of rebalancing issues. I don’t know how many vans are in use in Arlington. If it’s only one, it will have to travel from locations like Westover to the in-demand areas like Court House, Ballston, Pentagon City and Crystal City.

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