[slowtriguy]

Just drove down Wilson and checked out the creek from the bridge just downstream of the junction with the Custis down to Wilson. The W&OD looked OK but the creek is flooding and the Wilson underpass is impassable. Be safe out there!

[slowtriguy]

@KLizotte 21126 wrote:

Well, you are a “tri” guy so you know how to swim and have the right clothes for the bike/swim transition. No problem!

Thanks very much for the genuine laugh!

[slowtriguy]

@MCL1981 21120 wrote:

It appears the Curtis and WOD are being blown off the map at this time.

I rode the Custis and W&OD from Fairfax to Great Falls between about 2:30 and 3:00 PM, and it was rainy but fine until about 0.5 miles east of the new bridge near East Falls Church. From there until Washington, the rain became a pretty heavy soaking. Great fun singing “row, row, row your bike”.

And then about 3:20 PM the skies here in Falls Church opened up straight into “where’s my raft again?” mode, which ended after another 15 minutes.

The creeks are high along the trail, but I did not see flooding — it was early, though.

[slowtriguy]

@Tim Kelley 20771 wrote:

This guy was at the Ballston BtWD pit stop. Complete with parrot.

I guess I should fess up — that’s me. I can report that “Ahoy to Port!” gets a lot more of a reaction than “On your left!” Pretty much every pedestrian stopped, took one step to his/her right, looked over his/her shoulder, and then did a double take.

[slowtriguy]

Nice shot, sir, and I’m flattered to be part of your collection! Great riding with you.

[slowtriguy]

@Dirt 19466 wrote:

Awesome to see you, sir. Some time I need to run into you when we’re going the same direction so I can get a sighting photo. SlowTriGuy and I had a great ride in this morning. It was lovely out.

It was great to run into you and ride together a bit this morning! Thanks for the great chat, and for letting me boggle over your front wheel…

I won’t be piling up any miles early next week A business trip will keep me off the bike; I guess that means I need extra miles Saturday!

[slowtriguy]

@JustinW 18567 wrote:

C’mon folks, BikeArlington Team C (for “cyclists”, y’know) has but 4 members – we need 6 more.

[URL=”http://http://www.endomondo.com/campaign/national”%5Dhttp://www.endomondo.com/campaign/national%5B/URL%5D

Join us and start logging those “warm up” miles in anticipation of the May 1 start date!

Just joined the “C” team as well – thanks for starting it!

[slowtriguy]

@vvill 17054 wrote:

Some of it is from clearly experienced cyclists, which irks me more. The other day I was coming down the end of the Custis which is dangerous enough in itself when crowded, and three cyclists sped past me on the left (with no signal), and then, due to a gaggle of kids with luggage standing at the Fort Myer Dr crossing, swung right at high speed and salmoned down Lee Hwy and across the intersection, even as the ped light was red. Even stupider thing was, I ended up right behind them at the Lynn St crossing since they didn’t make that light, and all I did was slow down enough for the group of kids to make room for me to pass, and cross with the green ped light. Those are times you wish you were omnipotent and had a [Smite] button.

This is a great example of the bad cyclist behavior that genuinely puzzles me the most. I share this not in an attempt to start or renew any flamewars, but mostly to get this question off my chest.

I’m constantly amazed by cyclists and pedestrians who run the red light at the W&OD crossing of Washington/Lee/Fairfax just west of the East Falls Church Metro. I see this in all weather conditions and in the mornings, during the day, and in the evening rush hour. It’s a really busy intersection and people turning right off the Fairfax highway offramp often don’t notice trail users until it’s almost too late — it’s an accident waiting to happen.

Here’s why I am puzzled. I stop at this light, every time. 90+% of the time, I catch up to and pass all the red light runners within a quarter mile past the intersection. So running the light saves them negligible amounts of time, but risks serious or fatal injury, and gives cyclists a bad name. So — why run *this specific* light? What am I missing?

And yes, I recognize that I should no longer be puzzled by this — after all, I see it every day — but still, it puzzles me.

[slowtriguy]

@PotomacCyclist 16999 wrote:

I want the version with the biofuel-powered jet pack. Leesburg to Bethesda in 2 minutes!

Just drop by the Carolina Brothers in Ashburn for the baked beans…

[slowtriguy]

Just for the heck of it, I decided to run home yesterday instead of riding, and doubly for the heck of it, I started counting bikes that passed me and whether or not they gave an audible signal. I was running without headphones or music, and it was about 5:30 PM when I hit the trail.

Between the Custis “on-ramp” at Fairfax and the junction of the W&OD and Van Buren Street in Falls Church, I was passed by 27 cyclists, 12 of whom made some kind of audible signal before passing – 44%.

I ran back about 7:00 AM today and in the same stretch, I was passed by 11 cyclists, of whom 3 made some audible signal before passing – 27%.

Obviously, these are just two bits of random data, but I figured I’d share anyway.

[slowtriguy]

Oh, how I wish that were real.

Do you think they could make one in tiger stripes?

[slowtriguy]

Last summer, I often rode Washington Blvd from Ballston to Lee Highway, then rode Lee Highway southbound to the back streets of Falls Church City. Sure, there are cars, but most of Washington is decent for bike commuting: a reasonable shoulder west of ~Buchanan, and rarely did I run into anyone aggressive (often traffic is slow enough to limit that anyway). And if you like rolling hills (I know, acc…), it’s actually more fun than the Custis going WB from Ballston. It works the other way pretty much as well.

From Rosslyn, I fairly regularly ride up Lee Highway from the Lynn Street Corner of Doom (not up the trail — on Lee Highway itself) all the way to Old Dominion, turn right on Old Dominion and ride to Williamsburg, and thence on to West in Falls Church City. It’s another hilly route, and obviously has plenty of cars on Lee Highway (and to a lesser degree Old Dominion), but I found it not bad overall and it gave some extra miles.

Just my $0.02

[slowtriguy]

@vvill 15246 wrote:

There would have to be a fully manifested tornado or lightning storm for me to get on metro. That, or a happy hour.

Ice or active lightning for me. I rode home through the rain just now, and it wasn’t bad. Well, except for the big truck that blasted through a puddle beside me and soaked me from head to toe. I admit to cursing fluently, and then grinning later when I rode by the same truck — it was stuck in I66 traffic, and I was cruising along the Custis. Heh heh heh.

Custis and W&OD up until Great Falls in Falls Church were fine, by the way, though the creek was running high.

[slowtriguy]

My latest Custis Trail tree crew sighting was at 0720 this morning. They were driving down the ramp from Fairfax Drive between Kensington and Kennebec with a chipper in tow. I give them bonus points for driving carefully down the ramp, and both the driver and passenger were looking around actively — a good thing, as right at that time there were several folks nearby on the trail.

I’ve emailed the Trails and County Board addresses as well.

Happy Riding!

[slowtriguy]

I ran into a different problem about 7:20 this morning on the Custis just west of MM0.5. I had just come up the hill from the I-66 underpass and caught up with a large pickup trailing a tree-trimming truck, both rolling slowly down the trail toward the east. After a minute or so, we caught up to a third truck — second large tree-trimming truck — that apparently had slid off the trail into the mud just off the westbound side of the trail. I was able to squeeze by safely, but I did wonder why the tree trimmers were out on the trail that early.

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