[Steve O]

@Rod Smith 53713 wrote:

Today is your last chance to join the National Bike Challenge and get credit for your May miles! You can join tomorrow but your May miles expire at midnight. I’ve reached out to some of the Freezing Saddles riders and each has signed on (with a little resistance in some cases) except for DaveK who is not going to be on the winning team unless he acts soon. Maybe I should have invited more people but I didn’t want to be a pest. Steve Claeys, Brad Hancock, Steve Offutt, Ken Buja, John Zanner, KEVIN ULRICH, Mike Collins, Kevin Obenland, Sean Chisham, Steve Appel, Randy Napiza, MARK BLACKWELL, Michael Jolley, Crystal Bee, etc. consider yourselves invited. Or sit on the sideline with DaveK. The team is strong. I don’t think we need more riders to win, but you’re all welcome to be a part of our success and if you don’t join and we don’t win, it’s your fault!

I did join the challenge back at the beginning, but I guess I didn’t get on the team. Now I’m on the team, and all my points are added on.
Huge pain to use this END ‘O THE WORLD thingy, though. Not motivated enough to figure out a technical solution, so I just hand enter.

[Steve O]

Went to FCC I for the first time on Friday, but I will come to FCC II before long.
See you then!!

[Steve O]

@Terpfan 51856 wrote:

Your perspective may change if you hit a few 7-8% and a 10% grade every night

I ride up 41st St (Mur de Chain Bridge) on a regular basis. Strava says that is 12.8% and I think it’s about the steepest hill around these here parts.
The Stoneybrook Hill by the Mormon Temple is 5.4%, barely out of “Easy.”

In fact, it would seem that there are no hills around here that qualify for very difficult, let along “Too *wheeze* steep.”

I guess it depends a lot on what you are riding for. For Tour de France training I might be convinced. For biking around town getting groceries and pulling kids in trailers, 3-4% grades are not in the slightest “easy.”

[Steve O]

@dasgeh 51871 wrote:

– The police interpret the pedestrian part of the ROW at crosswalks statute to change the drivers’ ROW

I’m not clear what you mean by this.

[Steve O]

The gradations are too large. A 5% grade is by no stretch of the imagination “Easy” Easy might by up to 2% perhaps.

[Steve O]

As an FCC virgin, I could attend either. Clarendon’s closer, but there’s the appeal of the tradition of Swing’s. I plan to be at one or the other this Friday.
Not sure if FCC1 should charge a a franchise fee or not, but I’m looking forward to the time when there are 5-6 FCC’s around the region.

[Steve O]

@acl 46760 wrote:

I hope one of them is related to complaining about the wind.

The omniscience of the Unassailable Czar will be apparent at the awards ceremony.

[Steve O]

To whom it may concern:
I am RSVPing for the happy hour. Hope to arrive by 5:15. As Unassailable Czar of Ride Titles, I will be bearing the pointless prizes for three categories of creative ride titles and will be pleased to announce them at an appropriate time in the festivities.
See you there.

[Steve O]

Just checking. Is there an official pre-Phoenix gathering?
For people who are not reading this forum on a daily basis, what is the strategy for getting the word out?
At the least, we need to post comments to the Strava Bike Arlington group and perhaps also to each of the teams.
How else can we make sure everyone knows and what’s our strategy for getting coverage from Fox News, The Daily Show, New York Times and the City Paper?

[Steve O]

@DismalScientist 46283 wrote:

You better make sure the cache is cleaned before the final tally. You would not want to tempt me to stoop to any shenanigans to ensure victory for Team V.:rolleyes:

Looks like it already started. A sudden 3000-point lead seems awfully suspicious.

[Steve O]

Steve is actually my real name. Steve Offutt. I’m a member of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee and President of RUB (Remove Useless Bollards). Also, chair and only official member.
I ride either a red steel Fuji with fenders, rack and sometimes Arkel pannier (generator hub on front in the winter) or a 1961, 3-speed Western Flyer, black, with chrome fenders and a basket on the front. If you want to actually look at me, google image my name and then try to guess which image is mine.

[Steve O]

@wewo 46366 wrote:

I am starting to commute to L Street and am looking for suggestions for a (relatively) safe connection between the Key Bridge and L Street NW. Sharing a lane with agressive BMW drivers on M Street and Pennsylvania Ave scares the dickens out of me.

Okay, I’m sure you will think I am even crazier, but I commuted across Key to a final destination at 1310 L St. This was my route:

Key Bridge
Whitehurst expressway. I know this seems crazy, but I think it’s actually safer than M St. No intersections, good sightlines for the cars, downhill start to get speed, traffic often stopped anyway towards the end–so it’s not like they are zooming by.

Then straight and UNDER Washington Circle. Also seems crazy, but if you wait just shy of the tunnel until the light on K turns red, then you get your very own, private tunnel to ride through. All by your lonesome. Nice. Here’s where you wait ( in the faded triangle):http://goo.gl/maps/hRksN

Then at the next light (21st St) I would go left on the sidewalk one block to L (it’s 1-way the wrong way, so you have to ride the sidewalk against traffic. Illegal in that part of the district, but what the hey.)

Then right on L and fly to my office. About 50% of the time I could hit every light green from 20th to 14th; sweet. Using this route I once made it from my house near 7 Corners in Arlington to 1310 L Street in under 22 minutes.

[Steve O]

@Dirt 43852 wrote:

I use a little different way to get there. I go a little further on the W&OD and head up through the neighborhoods to get there. Here’s the route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1214820

Pete

If I can avoid crossing the beltway at an interchange, I will. Here’s another alternative to Pete’s: http://goo.gl/maps/bKaBN

[Steve O]

@rcannon100 44314 wrote:

And you thought vvill had a lock on the pointless prize for freezing saddle ride in the warmest climate. Well, we now have another contender

http://app.strava.com/activities/41525327

I’m curious about the 100 mph section, too. And not even on much of a hill.

[Steve O]

Probably too late now, but it might have been nice to have some of the bike counters in place to track how many cyclists are using the base as a commuting route. If it were only 8 or 10, then Ft. Myer might have a point, but if it’s 100+, then the community would have a point. Without data, though, it’s all anecdotal. Long ago, when I used the Wright gate for a while, I think they wrote something on a clipboard, so the base might actually have some info. Probably unwilling to share, however.

[Author]

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