[slowtriguy]

(Sorry if this shows up more than once — my login timed out as I was hitting “submit post”.)

You: guy on a cream-colored fixie, wearing a backpack, going westbound on Fairfax in Ballston.

Me: rider you almost ran into twice in 15 seconds because you ran the red light at Ballston Metro.

Some thoughts, offered in the spirit of cooperation and getting along with my fellow biking folks.

(A) We both know you blatantly ran the red light. I know because it was green for 15 seconds before I could turn, since the bus in front of me was also waiting to turn after the green. You know because you stopped, looked around, went anyway, and darn near ran right into me.

( Thanks ever so much for the extra breeze as you blew past me unannounced in the space between the car to my left and me, when the driver and I both stopped for the next red light. I must say, however, that I am disappointed that you left three whole air molecules between us. Please do better next time.

(C) Oh, and by the way – the light I stopped for turned green about six seconds later.

(D) The fun continues! The whole next two blocks, I was waiting to see what you would do if the light turned red at Glebe and Fairfax before you got there. Which it did. No need for you in your ELITEness to stop simply because the light turned red – no, indeed. Why not just go halfway across and sit there stranded for the rest of the cycle, all to save maybe 15 seconds?

(E) I note that despite all the shenanigans I got to witness, and despite my actually STOPPING for the lights and my NOT weaving through all the other trail users, I ended up no more than 20 yards behind you by the time I turned off in Falls Church. Surely an ELITE rider such as yourself can do better next time.

Cheerfully exasperated, I remain yours truly,

Slowtriguy

[slowtriguy]

I rode from Great Falls in Falls Church City to Quincy via W&OD and Custis around 0740-0810, and it was fine with a few exceptions:

– There are chunks of ice all over the trail — frozen footprints mostly — between Great Falls and Little Falls, so I bounced left and right until I finally gave up and rode along the gravel along the side of the trail.

– The bridge just west of Little Falls was nasty, but brief, and someone’s tracks through the snow made it easier going.

– The trail is very slick going through the curve by the new bridge (just east of Sycamore) and the basketball courts — I nearly went down there

– Brandymore Castle hill still has some ice on its west side, especially near the top.

Otherwise, things were mostly fine in that stretch.

[slowtriguy]

@DismalScientist 44533 wrote:

Just take the stub trail to 15th and follow 15th down to Quincy and turn right.

OK, so this is the sound of me smacking myself in the head with a water bottle while I feel even dumber than I normally do.

Yeah – definitely the simplest way to get to Quincy from my direction. And I’ve even ridden that way some times. Now if I can only figure out why I didn’t *think* about that before posting above…

Just for kicks, I did try the W&OD -> Park -> Henderson -> Quincy route today, and it was a fun diversion. Thanks, everyone, for the recommendations.

[slowtriguy]

@dasgeh 44487 wrote:

Just curious: why don’t you take the Custis to Quincy,then take the bike lanes down to Fairfax? Or take the Custis past that over the bridge over the exit from 66 to Glebe, down to the turnoff to Fairfax west of Ballston?

I’ve tried the Quincy->Fairfax route in the past, but I always have one problem: when I exit the trail at Quincy, I’m on the east side of the road, and I need to turn south (left) to head toward work. That means I either have to cross Quincy to the southbound side (which is a pain because cars tend not to stop at that crosswalk) or I have to salmon for a while down Quincy and cross over. Maybe I’m missing an obvious solution — is there another way up to Quincy that ends up on the southbound side?

I do also sometimes exit at the little stub trail to 15th just west of Stafford, and then turn right on Stafford to head past W-L High School and on toward Fairfax, which works fine but cuts off a little distance.

Turning off on the overpass from the Custis directly to Fairfax means I’m salmoning up the sidewalk to Fairfax and Glebe, so I rarely use that unless I am running in and not riding.

@dasgeh 44487 wrote:

There are two lights where you can cross 50 having come up from the W&OD – Park and Henderson. In my very limited experience, Park gets the light more often. Either is super easy and safe. The hill coming from the W&OD though, not so easy.

Great — thanks to all!

Happy riding.

[slowtriguy]

@Steve 43943 wrote:

I assume then you’re going to somewhere up by Quincy/Lincoln. Not that its much different, but a lot of times to get up there I do W&OD -> Access turn off at S Columbus/S Park/S Aberdeen -> Cross 50 at Henderson/Quincy and ride straight up to Ballston. Just a thought if you are looking for slightly different scenery (especially because all the Bluemont crossings can be a little less than fun.

@dasgeh 43994 wrote:

I think you live near me — I’m in Cherrydale, if you go North from the Lincoln turn off. If you’re just looking for variety, you could go the surface street route. Key Blvd is a great alternative (and the route I plan to take if there’s ever snow build up on the trails – hoping I never have to use it for that reason). You can also wind around to Fort Myer, but lots of the gates are closed now so you’d have to get to 2nd Street South, then take the HH Gate out and the 27 trail around, which can be a little hard to navigate. If you time it right you can zoom down the hill through the Cemetery, which is AWESOME.

Thanks Steve and dasgeh, and sorry for being slow in responding; work has been intense recently.

I’m actually coming from Falls Church City and ending right near the Ballston Metro. My typical route is W&OD->Custis->Lincoln->14th->Nelson->Fairfax. I sometimes take the surface streets through the Williamsburg/Yorktown area just for some extra miles and hills, and sometimes I’ll start by riding west to pick up the W&OD at Shreve/Virginia rather than north as usual.

I hadn’t thought about going down to the turnoff just past Route 50 on the W&OD — how is it crossing Route 50 at Henderson/Quincy?

I have used Key when heading off to meetings in DC, or when I, erm, “get lost” coming home and end up going all the way around (strange how that happens on nice Friday evenings…), but hadn’t really thought about going down the Custis to Lee Highway -> Veitch -> Key and on into Ballston. Come to think of it, I don’t know why I haven’t done that before.

Anyway, thanks again, and happy riding!

[slowtriguy]

@DismalScientist 43864 wrote:

Just don’t make the turn.:rolleyes:

Point taken!

I normally take the turn, but from time to time, it is fun to keep on going down the W&OD. Unfortunately, with Ballston as the destination, most days the extremes of sane route choices for me range between W&OD -> Custis -> Lincoln turnoff on one end and W&OD -> Bluemont on the other. So there’s not a whole lot of variation there. On the other hand, there are those days where I get lost and somehow end up taking the, uh, creative route…

[slowtriguy]

eminva, sorry to hear about your encounter with the boardwalk troll! I’m glad you were OK; sorry there were witnesses.

The ride from Falls Church City to Ballston via W&OD+Custis was fine in most spots, except for the wooden bridge over just east of Little Falls St, the sharp turns around the basketball court just east of the Sycamore underpass, and the W&OD/Custis junction. I had a rider in front of me as we went past the basketball court and she had a pretty sharp skid — and a nice recovery — coming around the corner. Watch it around the Custis/W&OD junction – lots of wet ice right there, but it seemed fine as long as you slow down before the turn. Safe riding.

[slowtriguy]

@pfunkallstar 42973 wrote:

Last night was just brutal – I guess it was mostly the wind – but definitely would consider wrapping myself in a six-inch-thick layer of neoprene if similar conditions arise again.

Agreed – I think yesterday was the coldest I’ve felt while riding. Perhaps it wasn’t actually the coldest temperature, but tell that to my frozen digits despite the Moose Mitts and gloves… I didn’t feel defrosted for over an hour.

[slowtriguy]

Hi everyone,

This morning around 1000, I rode the W&OD from West to the Custis turnoff. The surface conditions are variable from dry pavement to nasty glaze ice — yikes. I saw notable worrisome spots at the Brandymore hill, which is especially slick on the west side, and at a couple of places between the Washington St crossing and Great Falls in Falls Church City. I was riding my commuter with Nimbus Armadillo tires and skidded a couple of times despite slowing down, and almost had a fun time unclipping to stop and stepping on a hidden bit of ice.

The very cold wind also made things exciting. Gusts from the side + saddlebag + ice = wow, I’m paying attention now! That + cold = frozen bits despite layers.

Be warm and safe on the rides home, folks.

[slowtriguy]

Great find! I especially love the phrase “…badass Mad Max nuclear winter post-apocalyptic cold weather bike punk…” Can we get a forum T-shirt with that?

[slowtriguy]

@acc 35019 wrote:

Now is the time to consider gearing up for a triathlon.
Stop laughing.

Can’t. Stop. Laughing — this is a brilliant post. Must catch my breath.
My family — who already think I’m nuts as a slow triathlete — now think I’m extra nuts as I repeatedly burst into unexplained laughter.

This alone:
@acc 35019 wrote:

3. Would you like to see the area’s lakes, bays, and rivers from a close perspective? Every triathlon includes at least a half mile self-guided tour of a local waterway.

It’s a good thing I was not drinking when I read this. acc, what a cheerfully warped perspective!

Other selected highlights:
@acc 35019 wrote:

1. Do you need new socks?
2. Is your collection of swim caps wearing thin? This is a good way to replenish your supply. One free cap with every entry.

Don’t forget tech-tees. No need to buy tech-tees when you get a free one with each entry!

Being serious for all of twelve seconds: the Setup Events team runs a great series of races that are friendly for beginners and experienced folks. I’m never going to be a podium threat, so a supportively competitive atmosphere is great from my perspective; you’ll find that at these races. They’re also pretty inexpensive as triathlons go. I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Now please forgive me while I chuckle maniacally in the background just remembering acc’s post…

[slowtriguy]

I had a nice ride with Dirt this morning along the Custis between the I-66 underpass and Lincoln — thanks for the chat! Sorry no pictures…

[slowtriguy]

To the guy in the bright red and white jersey who blew past me at Glebe and Fairfax around 1800 tonight, mere milliseconds after the light turned green for our direction…

Hey, bonus points for waiting until the light turned green before blasting through the intersection at warp speed. Oh, and thanks for the nice breeze as you made sure to squeeze between me and the car to my left, with at least a couple of inches to spare on either side. What a great way to cool off while also raising my heart rate – it’s always hard to get that balance juuuuuuust right.

Oh, and by the way: those other folks on the trail? The ones you kept weaving in and out of at top speed all the way until you faded into the distance? Here’s an idea: try slowing to below Mach 10, so you can hear their adoring (Bronx) cheers as you pass between riders going one direction and runners coming the other. You wouldn’t want to miss the accolades you so richly earned tonight.

[slowtriguy]

Email sent! Thanks for the heads-up and opportunity, Tim.

[slowtriguy]

Despite the heat, it was nice to be back on the bike after an illness and then travel. It was a good morning for an extended Arlington loop via McClean and Hains Point. There sure weren’t many folks out on the W&OD at least through Falls Church, especially for a Saturday.

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