[PotomacCyclist]

They do have a long-term earthquake/tsunami caution for the Pacific Northwest though.

An eye-opening New Yorker article from July and a critique of that article.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

http://fusion.net/story/178175/earthquake-tsunami-pacific-northwest/

Then again, the Mid-Atlantic has had a major earthquake more recently than the Pacific Northwest has.

[PotomacCyclist]

Apparently there was another WWII-era plane flyover last Friday. The planes were supposed to be visible from Arlington and Alexandria. I didn’t hear about it until today. Did anyone see the planes? Did anyone even know about this? There wasn’t much press, just one article on the NBC Washington site.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/World-War-II-Era-Planes-Fly-Over-DC-Area-Military-Landmarks-Friday-331604682.html

There weren’t as many planes this time, and no B-29 bomber.

[PotomacCyclist]

Don’t know any bike shops there but I do know that the scenery in Seattle is incredible. There are also some steep hills, right in the center of the city, from the waterfront to downtown.

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View of Mt. Rainier from the light rail station at Seattle-Tacoma airport

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Lake Union in the city limits, with tourist seaplanes taking off and landing every few minutes

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[PotomacCyclist]

The sample in the video might not be the exact design of a final product. Carbon-fiber reinforced plastics can have different properties, depending on how they are manufactured. There are variations in terms of layering, direction, etc. I don’t know all the details but I do know that the same material can be produced to fit different needs. The same might be true for microlattices. Perhaps the actual product is denser and doesn’t bend quite as much as we see in the video. If there even is an actual product at this point.

[PotomacCyclist]

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2015/01/motor-vehicle-collision-recovery-act-of-2015.html

[PotomacCyclist]

There is a new bill to modify DC’s negligence law, but it is still under consideration. It was introduced a month ago. No idea on the bill’s prospects.

http://dcist.com/2015/09/cheh_introduces_comprehensive_bicyc.php

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2015/09/whats-in-the-bicycle-and-pedestrian-safety-act-of-2015.html

EDIT – Actually an earlier bill is attempting to address the negligence standard.

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2015/01/motor-vehicle-collision-recovery-act-of-2015.html

[PotomacCyclist]

Nigel Powers, is that you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ882QYzr-M

EDIT – I didn’t see that this was already posted. But it deserves a 2nd post.

[PotomacCyclist]

The material could also be useful for aero wheels, depending on how they handle heat and pressure from brake pads. I have no idea how microlattices differ from carbon fiber structures. If there are differences, that could make microlattices more useful. It could provide another option, in addition to traditional metal wheels, carbon fiber rims and disc brake wheels (which can be heavier).

[PotomacCyclist]

Upon further consideration, the light weight would exclude this from pro road cycling, because of the lower weight limits in the UCI regulations. That wouldn’t affect bikes made for non-pros, but high-end equipment tends to filter down from what the manufacturers make for the pro cyclists.

In triathlon, they don’t have to follow the UCI rules so you already see many different designs. As you can see in the following images, the downtubes are very broad and flat in triathlon bikes. So are the seat tubes. They are more like sleeves or panels than tubes. Other than the basic triangle structure, tri bikes differ quite a bit from road bikes.
You can also see the “unique” designs for some models.

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[PotomacCyclist]

Yes, but if this material is more appropriate for larger panels, then perhaps it could be used for time trial bike frames. Or at least the wide down tubes (which are more like panels on TT bikes).

I was also thinking that if the material becomes practical for commercial use, that it could be used for bike trailers, as long as it isn’t too expensive. That’s one place where a decrease in weight would be helpful.

Maybe none of this is practical. But that’s part of R&D and reading about it. Some things work out, some don’t.

[PotomacCyclist]

It might have more use for time trial/triathlon bikes. Those tend to have much broader down tubes when viewed from the side, sometimes 3 inches or more in width.

[PotomacCyclist]

I haven’t ridden much at East Potomac Park this year, but I have in past years. At many times, the road is fairly quiet. But at other times, it’s sort of a free-for-all. During the cherry blossom season, the tour buses can be obnoxious, especially when the drivers switch lanes and cut in front of bike (and car) traffic. On summer weekday afternoons, some of the large paceline groups ride there. Many of them go very fast, in excess of the posted speed limit on the road. The problem is that a large group can swallow up all the other traffic and surround other users. Many of the othe people are out there for casual rides, not 25 mph peloton riding. I’ve gotten swallowed up by a group a couple times.

At the same time, I wish the runners would follow some sort of pattern. I’ve seen some run with traffic on the right and some run against traffic on the left. But then some run against traffic on the right too. On some days, I see all this behavior at the same time. That can be a problem for everyone, when there is two-way runner traffic in both lanes at a single location where all the traffic comes together.

I’ve also had a couple unpleasant encounters with motorcyclists, including one weirdo who was riding and following directly alongside of me for a few minutes. I think he was actually trying to hit on me, until I started yelling at him. (I’m a guy, by the way. When I rode there in the past, I would wear typical bike/tri shorts and white running shirts on most rides.) It’s unnerving to have a motorcyclist tracking you like that, just a few feet away. It was on a summer afternoon and there were other people in the park, but it was still creepy.

I used to avoid peak hours as much as possible, but that didn’t always fit into my schedule. It’s the same situation on roads and trails though. Whenever there are a lot of people (cyclists, runners, drivers, motorcyclists), there are a lot of near misses and some aggressive/reckless behavior. I’d say that most people behave civilly and respect other users. But at congested times, it only takes a minority of people to make the road very unpleasant for everyone else.

I don’t mind when individuals are out there hammering away on tempo/speed workouts. But I found the large paceline groups to be a major problem. When they swallow you up, you have to either speed up to 25 mph (which most of us have difficulty with) or risk getting run over by 30 fast-moving cyclists.

[PotomacCyclist]

I just sent them an email about LeBron James and Arnold Schwarzenegger, two very famous fitness-minded individuals who are also bike enthusiasts.

[PotomacCyclist]

It might be useful to send the message directly to local training groups (triathlon clubs, competitive cycling teams) since those are the people who are likely engaging in this behavior. I would do this myself, but I didn’t renew my membership in one of the triathlon clubs, partly because of the unrelenting and blatantly racist posts on social media from a certain active member.

[PotomacCyclist]

Mirinda Carfrae had to drop out of this year’s race because of back issues.

[Author]

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