[Riley Casey]

Winner, best in thread award. :rolleyes:

@acc 20266 wrote:

You have discipline. Me? Happiness is having enough room to drag a dismembered body home on my bike. :rolleyes:

But to return to the topic. I have a small pannier on one side with the desert island stuff, tools, pump, tube, lube bottle, granola bars, a few of those alcohol prep pads and a couple of rags for cleaning up in case of repairs. On the other side I have the big grocery pannier. Easy to travel light by dropping the big one while still feeling warm and fuzzy about having the essentials. I have a tendency to go out for a short ride and come back 20 or 30 miles later for no apparent reasons so this serves me well.

[Riley Casey]

I thought it was the gargoyles that were always watching.

@Tim Kelley 20158 wrote:

Always watching. Like Batman.

[Riley Casey]

Is it just me or has anyone else speculated on the possibility of a rumble between the Chick-Fil-a cow and the PETA lettuce ladies? :rolleyes:

[Riley Casey]

Silver Spring pit stop was busy from 7:30 to 8:30 at a minimum. The DJ had people plenty of people dancing. Well earned prizes to the oldest rider (81) and the oldest bike (46). Lots of riders checking out the tables of info and the tasty coffee. No latex cabbage bikinis though:( . Thanks to Jenn and the folks from Silver Cycles for the excellent swag. Its high time we had this sort of thing on the other 250 days a year I bike to work. :p

[Riley Casey]

I was trying assiduously to not dwell on the fact that I was one of the oldest people there but thats the human condition, bikes or no. Its the young and restless who are out partying and the old and tired who are home resting. Of course being identified as “Mr. Casey” on the forum added ten years to me right off the bat. :p One very interesting tidbit for those who were in attendance. The dance team member in the striking red zoot suit is a 65 year old cancer survivor. After watching his dance moves I felt like maybe there was hope yet.

@brendan 19505 wrote:

I’ve noticed the WABA events circle (the people I know from events and social rides in DC) and the WABA/BA Forum circles don’t seem to overlap all that much?

Maybe us older fuddies are the only ones still using forums instead of the social medias?

Brendan

[Riley Casey]

Great crowd at Bike Fest. Lots of flappers and ummm gangsters and one excellent zoot suit.

Rhinestones clearly prepare one for life as a flapper.

My stab at a live update.

[Riley Casey]

I’ll be there all night and then some. Interesting that this is the first mention of BikeFest on the forum with just a day to go. Not sure that augers well.

[Riley Casey]

Glad you started this thread. I’m going to ride with my ten year old grandson this Sunday and while we have ridden thru the park a couple of times the 11 mile half course is probably going to stretch his riding experience. Has anyone ridden previous years with kids or have any observations about riding with kids?

Thanks

[Riley Casey]

I have to disagree strongly with this ( regardless of their advertisers page hit counts). If even one person reads a reasonably stated response to the ” roads belong to cars ” mindset and takes even a modicum of additional care in their next drive to the grocery store and thus is even slightly less likely to mow down a pedestrian or cyclist then it was well worth the spilling of a few words in the cause of thoughtfulness.

@MCL1981 19210 wrote:

Mark, those laws are meaningless. There is nothing that specifies position, quantity,intensity, or type. They might as well not even have it.

And like I said, just stay off the WJLA site. Comment sections like that, and the behavior you see, is allowed because it racks up their web site advertising hits. Don’t even bother.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[Riley Casey]

My experience with Neosporin and borne out by my doctor is that its a once maybe twice applied nostrum then best left in the medicine chest til the next injury. Many if not most people have an allergic reaction that kicks in with prolonged use. YMMV

@JustinW 19163 wrote:

snip… Leaves it uncovered and frequently apply neosporin? …

[Riley Casey]

@Tim Kelley 18776 wrote:

Set it up at Hains Point!

Nah, proper CaBi time trials will be in the most congested parts of the city with equal time on the 15th St cycle track and a grueling trek down Mass Ave to Union Station.

[Riley Casey]

My current commuter is an eight year old Jamis Coda – made before the Sports and other variations. It’s been very solid. Of course it weighs a bit more than when it was new what with wider tires, a pair of panniers, tools and tube kits, a pump, three lights and a set of fenders but it’s gotten me back and forth to work and all over town very reliably for all these years. It came from City Bikes in AdMo. For city riding I would stick with a steel bike. My previous two bikes were aluminum and the stiffness over the potholes and other indignities of urban streets were noticeable. Welcome to the inestimable joys of gliding thru the city unfazed by the constraints of a smelly old car.

[Riley Casey]

There is also a rather short but very enjoyable trail from Rehoboth to Lewes as well that doesn’t run along the highway. Its a great ride for kids and its also a good starting point for rides north to Milton, to the ferry across to NJ or the WWII Army artillery battery ( if you have ever wondered what the old look out towers on the beach are all about ).

http://www.railstotrails.org/resources/documents/magazine/07Spr_DES_JunctionBreakwaterTrail.pdf

[Riley Casey]

For pedestrians it’s always the bell because no matter how unmindful they might be I consider them to have the right of way. Drivers of course are a different matter. Anything from “HEY, try not to KILL me buddy” to a loud “watch out” is my norm. I finally the other day did manage to attain the level of banging on a cab hood on the 15th St Cycle track near K St. A cabby dropped off his fare in the driving lane, then pulled into the bike lane to count his take and managed to force me to the curb to the point that I had to climb onto the sidewalk to continue – and avoid a trip to the hospital. His hood was a handy place for my left hand to help make the jump to the curb. I might have mentioned in a form of English that he was not entirely conversant in what a bad idea it was to thoughtlessly put his fellow humans at risk of mangling.

[Riley Casey]

Just to clarify the ‘no bikes on the sidewalks’ rule this is a map of area where that is not allowed, Much of the city is OK for bikes on the sidewalks. A couple of things that are probably worth talking over with the kids are these particularly if you as coming from a less urban area. The DC metro area has the second most congested traffic in the country according to some honors lists, worse than NYC and LA if thats believable. The flip side of the sites you are coming to see, the museums, government buildings and memorials is that Washington can have a very strong sense of being the center of the known universe. When you see a line of police cars and blacks SUVs with lights flashing stopping traffic and taking over the road it’s not a rock star on the way to a concert, its someone ‘important’ with a retinue of advisors and machine gun armed guards. Tell the kids to pay attention, be alert and not screw around in time honored young adolescent fashion on the street and everyone will have a fun time in DC on their bikes.

http://dc.gov/DC/DDOT/About+DDOT/Maps/DC+Central+Business+District+-+No+Bike+Riding+Map+on+Sidewalks+Downtown

[Author]

Posts