[ramblingrider]

Hi, I’m Lisa, aka ramblingrider. I moved to Hyattsville a little over a year ago and am enjoying it here. I am a music librarian and a musician. I mostly ride for transportation, but I am not adverse to riding for food, beer, etc. (That’s an understatement, by the way- I love riding for food!) I am not the fastest rider, so I apologize in advance if we do a ride together and you have to wait for me to catch up.

I’m on Twitter if you want to follow me there.

[ramblingrider]

@historygeek 104658 wrote:

I’m partial to the Maryland Inquisition, just because it’s unexpected.

I like it too. And probably better than a PG County reference, as we do have one member from Silver Spring.

[ramblingrider]

@Brünø Moore 104674 wrote:

Wait, which Pint—Meridian or Brookland? I mean, they’re not exactly far from one another, but BP doesn’t involve riding Irving/the Hospital Motor Speedway.

Sorry, I meant Brookland. One of my friends will be organizing it.

[ramblingrider]

I kind of like that as a name! But I also like the succinct, yet powerful name “The Spade.” And I like Brünø’s other suggestions for names as well. I’m open to any ideas.

Franklin’s is my local, so I’m partial to that, but I’m willing to travel to College Park, Mt. Rainier, wherever. I hear tell that there are plans for a happy hour at Meridian Pint in Brookland, so I hope to be there.

[ramblingrider]

Woot! I’m happy to be on a team with you all! I’ll write something more constructive once my brain thaws out.

[ramblingrider]

@Greenbelt 104452 wrote:

MD trails in Prince George’s are in pretty horrible shape. The College Park trolley trail is rideable between 193 and Lakeland Road, but not from Lakeland to Paint Branch Expressway. The sidepath under the Metro on Paint Branch is impassable. Better to cross under at the Metro station pedestrian tunnel. From there, take neighborhood streets (Old Riverdale, Jefferson, Hamilton, 38th, Arundel to get to DC. The Hyattsville trolley trail behind the arts district and Franklins to old Riverdale was unrideable.

Once in DC, it’s smooth sailing. The streets are good, the Met Branch is beautifully plowed, the 1st street bikeway is good, the PA Ave median bikelanes are good, the 15th street bikeway is good.

You can really tell the difference in priorities — in DC, they’re making an effort to clear the bike lanes and sidewalks. In Maryland, the usual contempt and unconcern for non-motorized transport.

Met Branch trail in DC:

Thanks very much for the update. I’m going to be taking this route this weekend, and was thinking of taking the roads instead of trails through Hyattsville. Glad to hear that my instincts were correct.

[ramblingrider]

@Greenbelt 104331 wrote:

Has anyone been out on the Anacostia Tributary trails today? I’m guessing it’s icy footprints and no fun, but hoping the sun helps a bit today. Need to ride downtown tomorrow with a heavy load…

From what I can see, the area behind the West Hyattsville Metro is icy, so I’m guessing much of the Northwest Branch Trail is the same, at least.

[ramblingrider]

@ian74 104006 wrote:

Who can I follow on Twitter to find out the conditions on the CCT? It would be a big help, that’s my main commuting route! Thanks sethpo? Actually what other bike feeds would be worth following on Twitter for that matter? Anyone?

I’d recommend @bikeveryday, as that’s his commute too. He’s a good guy, and lives up to his name.

[ramblingrider]

@PotomacCyclist 103930 wrote:

Before this BikeArlington Forum started up, there wasn’t really a good central source for trail condition updates. One source was the DC Area Trail Status Twitter account, but not many people knew about it. Plus Twitter feeds are very limited when dealing with multiple topics (such as trail reports, stolen bikes, new bike infrastructure projects, complaints about lack of infrastructure, rides, races, other bike events, etc.).

https://twitter.com/dctrails

The Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail (not related to the Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail) includes sporadic posts about conditions on the CCT. But if someone is riding on two different trails or areas, they would have to browse to different websites for weather and trail reports.

http://www.cctrail.org/cct_conditions.htm

It is very cool that we have something like the BikeArlington Forum/Washington Area Bike Forum. The forum is one of the important additions to DC-area bike culture, up there with Capital Bikeshare and the protected bikeways (formerly known as cycletracks).

I subscribe to that Twitter account. I see that it hasn’t been updated in quite a long time. I don’t see a lot of specific updates about Northeast/Northwest Branch Trails and the MBT, so I’m grateful to greenbelt for his updates.

[ramblingrider]

@Greenbelt 103823 wrote:

Prince George’s trails were awesome this morning — about 2″ of fresh unpacked powder!

Met Branch trail hadn’t been plowed when I went through about 9am, but it was great riding with light fluffy snow and not packed by footprints. Likewise, the 1st street cycletrack and the PA ave center cycle track were great, just 2″ or so of nice grippy snow.

On the other hand, the streets in NE DC are horrendous. Packed snow/ice combo from the salt treatments. Very treacherous, especially with lots of freaked out drivers. Hopefully we’ll get some sun this afternoon and those roads will melt, but I was just creeping through some of the neighborhood streets because they were so slippery and cars nearby.

Thanks very much for the update. I should’ve subscribed to this forum last year for PG trails updates from you!

[ramblingrider]

@Arlingtonrider 103806 wrote:

Ramblingrider – bikeshare may a good interim solution. Disk brakes, nice wide tires, . . .

I’ve done that in the past, and very much enjoy the ride on CaBis! I still have to go a few miles just to get to a Bikeshare station, however, so I’m hoping my tires come in soon so that I can start more commuting from home.

[ramblingrider]

I apologize for not having appropriate winter tires or a fat bike for the snow.

(I’m working on it, though)

[ramblingrider]

@Brünø Moore 103250 wrote:

I’m in.

I’ll be wearing a white, long-sleeved t-shirt and dark pants, and will be carrying a red helmet and a green backpack. See you tomorrow–

[ramblingrider]

@bobco85 103368 wrote:

P.S. – Lisa, I cannot remember the last time I was 115 lbs! When I entered high school, I was 200 lbs, and I have never dropped below that since.

Heh– in high school, I weighed a little more than 100 lbs. I was tiny. My current weight actually isn’t the most I’ve ever weighed, but I don’t want to get too far above that.

[ramblingrider]

Every year, I’ve gained weight by the end of March because of work travel and bad eating habits. I’ll play, in hopes that this year will buck that trend. :p

Lisa 115 lbs, 5’2″, BMI 21

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