[Rootchopper]

The trail has beaucoup icy spots this evening. Be careful out there.

[Rootchopper]

What a shame you aren’t taking advantage of the fantastic US 1 cycletrack that runs from the beltway to Belvoir. Oh, wait….Nevermind.

[Rootchopper]

For the last three mornings I have watched cars blow through the red light to take a right on Lynn. No attempt to stop whatsoever. On two of those occasions they did so with a ACPD officer looking on. He did nothing. Motorists have every expectation that they can violate the law when police openly ignore enforcement. Caveat Velo!

[Rootchopper]

Have you tried your local hardware store? My hardware store has o-rings in many, many sizes. I buy them for use with my Sigma bicycle computer. I always carry a couple extra just in case.

[Rootchopper]

This happened to my keyed Krytonite U-lock. The building services crew in my building had a blast cutting through that thing with a Sawzall. They brokke 3 blades in the process.
If you keyed Kryptonite lock starts to get difficult to open or close, contact Kryptonite and order a new key. The edges on the keys wear out over time. Much cheaper than a new lock.
Also, I have a Kryptonite lock that gives me trouble in temps below 30 degrees. Maybe just warming up the lock can help “unfreeze” the lock mechanism.

[Rootchopper]

The section of the trail that connects Abingdon to Royal was repaved a couple of weeks ago. It’s quite nice but that will change as the tree roots do their thing. Good on Alexandria for fixing a very dangerous section of “trail”.

[Rootchopper]

Well, if we are going to have a luge runs, can Arlington install a t-bar? Walter Reed could use one too.

[Rootchopper]

I love the language in the last paragraph. Maybe Arlington County cyclists should send in a statement like this in lieu of their property taxes:

My financial status at this time does not allow me to accommodate your request for funds. I spent it all on bicycles, sewing machines, and espresso. During next year’s household budget discussions, I will raise your proposal again with my she who will not be named, a.k.a the quilter. Thank you for your concern.

[Rootchopper]

Down to 45 degrees I use either full fingered bike gloves, or lobster gloves, or even full fingered glove liners inside my regular ol’ cycling gloves. Below that I use mittens, plain old garden variety mittens. I have a pair with reinforced palms that I rode on the GPR with you. My fingers were totally comfy for the entire ride. When it gets below freezing, I wear the liners inside my mittens. When it gets below 10 degrees I wear a Honda.

[Rootchopper]

Thanks for posting this. It was depressing to see how very few of these projects are within 5 miles of my home in Mount Vernon. Frankly I’d settle for just getting paved shoulders usable as bike lanes in most of the county. Or consistent shoulders – ones that don’t come and go with no rhyme or reason.

[Rootchopper]

Have you had your vision checked for astigmatgism or cataracts? Seriously. Both conditions make night vision much worse.

I second the idea of a visor and a cap. I used to wear an old cycling cap I got from Bike Virginia in 1991 but the Department fo Health made me throw it out. (Toxic waste.) I bought a new cap from Walz. It’s more better because it is made of a wicking fabric.

Upright riding position make the night vision problem worse too. My recumbent is really hard to ride on the MVT after DST ends.

Speaking of the MVT the blinding spots continue well south of Old Town. Wouldn’t it be nice if the National Park Service planted some evergreen shrubs at these places to make riding safer? I saw a cyclist hit a runner last spring at the south end of the 4MR overpass just after DCA. The runner was back lit by car headlights.

[Rootchopper]

There is ample evidence that visual clutter can make even the most obvious thing invisible. The famous dancing bear video demonstates this. But that video and most of this thread assume that the driver has reasonable visual accuity. Serious visual imparements from a detached vitreous, detached retina or cataracts (especially bad in low lights situations), or uncorrected astigmatism are not uncommon. Drivers only get tested once for visual acuity – when they get their licenses, usually in their teen years. In the course of commuting most of us encounter hundreds if not thousands of drivers. Assuming the numberis 1,000. if only 1/2 of 1 percent of them have a vision problem, that means 5 drivers we encounter are have a vision impairment.

[Rootchopper]

Thank you for blogging about this. I am sorry to hear about your being hit. My wife was run over by an SUV while crossing a street in broad daylight with minimal traffic and other distractions. The driver was turning left, ran a stop sign, and accelerated into her. He only “saw” her when he heard the impact. (She missed 3 months of work and went through many more months of pain, physical therapy and such.) We hired an attorney to deal with the legal aftermath. That process is only now coming to an end 30 months later.

As for lights, I highly recommend Light and Motion lights. I have had a Stella 200 (lumens) light for 3 or 4 years. They have more recent models that are simpler and brighter.

As for your recovery, I hope it goes quickly. Chocolate, taken orally, heals most wounds.

[Rootchopper]

I attended a mandatory driver ed class with my teenage daughter a couple of years ago. I think it was 90 minutes long. Then I went to the hour long licensing ceremony in court which included presentations and films. I do not recall hearing the words “bicyclist” or “pedestrian” in the 2 1/2 hours. Maybe the cultural change begins when we teach teenagers that getting a license doesn’t put you in a privileged class above cyclists and pedestrians.

[Rootchopper]

It was Aldrin who figured out the basics of space walking. Prior to him, space walkers would get exhausted from doing minimal tasks. He introduced foot holds and such.

Oh, yeah. he was also Ginger Rogers to Armstrong’s Fred Astaire.

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