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Reminds me of the famous (perhaps apocryphal) story of the dead rat stuck in the Oval Office wall during the Carter administration. The GSA said it was Interior’s responsibility since the rat obviously came from outside. Interior said it was GSA’s responsibility since the rat was now indoors. Carter eventually threw a fit over it, so GSA and Interior formed a task force to remove the rat.

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Awful. It’s not hard to guess where this happened. There’s a super fast downhill section near the end of the loop. A blown tire in just about the worst possible place. Incredibly bad fortune.

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Mental illness perhaps or perhaps she had a recent bad experience with someone on a CaBi and it was a case of mistaken identity. People on CaBis all look alike, you know. Definitely a disturbing encounter.

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Sorry to hear about 2013, though that’s pretty cool how you took advantage of the rest of the day. I managed to do the whole swim. Basically when I (finally) figured out what was going I did an all out sprint into the current until I got free of the big washing-machine that had built up from all the different swim waves getting stuck in about one acre of water. After that it wasn’t too bad, but I know the whole swim took a load out of me that I paid for on the run. Overall I think the Rev3 people got really really lucky that no one drowned. I seem cursed on half-irons and weather. I did Musselman last year in the middle of a huge storm. 20 mph sustained winds with greater gusts. The lake boiled. 3 foot waves come from every direction. That race ended up with about the same percentage of folks dropping as Williamsburg in 2013. This year back in Williamsburg it was the heat. Ah well, the variation helps keep it interesting.

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@PotomacCyclist 118180 wrote:

I might try the Challenge Williamsburg race again next year. I tried it the first year, when they had the swimmers go against the powerful current and almost 20 percent of the field dropped out. (They talked me into dropping out of the swim because I was struggling against that current too. I was too tired to get into an argument at that point, while I was still in the water.) I missed it the next two years, including this past weekend.

I doubt I’ll try Eagleman again. I tried that a few years ago, but I also had problems on the swim there. My goggles were clouded up with some sort of lotion, which I must have picked up from a towel at the gym. I couldn’t see anything in the water. I couldn’t even see the people standing in front of me while we were still standing on the shore. So I swam even more of a zig-zag than usual. I barely missed the time cutoff, but they didn’t even tell me until after I finished the entire bike ride (in the hot June heat with hardly any shade at all on that course). I got a nasty sunburn on my lower back and it didn’t even count.

Williamsburg is more interesting than Cambridge, MD.

If I don’t do the Williamsburg race, I might sign up for the Challenge Ride instead.

I did Williamsburg the year of the grizzly swim as well and it’s a MUCH better run race now. They also really screwed up logistics that year in a variety of ways (late shuttles, really late bag return, created massive gridlock which really annoyed locals). It’s now a well run race and I think they learned some things from the swim and now adjust things to mitigate the current if they can. (Although that year was a fluke with a supermoon tide and big rains earlier). Eagleman to me isn’t that great. (Of course I say this despite the fact that I’m doing IM Maryland this year which is Eagleman X2. How stupid is that?) You’ve got to get housing a year out and there’s really not much for the family to do if they come. So Williamsburg > Eagleman for sure. The main downside is the heat but that affects Eagleman and the Air Force Classic, too. Williamsburg had really well run water stations with plenty of ice. I’ve a friend who is pushing 70 and managed to get ice even when just about everyone else was done.

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Going off on a non-sequitur here, but I’m just amazed at how many major events happened within about 200 miles this past weekend. Aside from you folks at AFC, there were two half-iron triathlons (Ironman Eagleman in Cambridge) and Challenge Williamsburg (you want to talk hot!) plus an off-road triathlon (Xterra Richmond) and the Chesapeake Bay Swim. I’ve done all these events excepting the bay swim (keep losing the lottery) and they’re all awesome in their own way. I just wish they didn’t conflict with each other.

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@rcannon100 117371 wrote:

Straw polls are always meaningful

Well the Iowa Republican straw poll did foreshadow our last two presidents, President Bachmann and President Huckabee.

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@PotomacCyclist 115832 wrote:

If Washington Circle is too intimidating (which is understandable), you could take a slight detour. Turn south to H St and head east. It should be slower traffic. That will take you to Pennsylvania Ave., but at that point, you would be at 18th St., which is pretty close to Farragut Square.

A small edit to this. H Street dead ends at 20th due to IMF construction (unless you use the sidewalk, which is technically illegal in this part of town). I personally would go TR to New Hampshire. NH to H. Left on 22nd. 22nd to L. L to Farragut. Alternatively you could go from H to 20th but, depending on the time of day — and whether GW is in session — H can be congested and 20th really congested. Outbound you can take 21st to H and then retrace your steps…pedals…whatever. Overall this is a longer route than taking the Key because you’re going too far south. But you avoid Georgetown and Washington Circle.

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@PotomacCyclist 115379 wrote:

The floating pavilion is out. But the pedestrian bridge over Rock Creek Parkway remains in the plans.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/05/kennedy-center-sinks-plan-for-river-pavilion.html

That floating pavilion thing was just never going to..er..float. I bet the bridge goes next. Without the pavilion there’s less justification for it.

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@scoot 111212 wrote:

Even if the steady red arrow is enforceable, I’m concerned that drivers simply won’t notice when the flashing red changes to steady red each cycle. Maybe the people further back in line will notice it, but the ones in front will be looking to their left for a gap in northbound Lynn St traffic. When the signal cycles to the Custis trail-only phase, most of those drivers will merely notice that Lynn St has stopped, so they’ll think they’re good to go (without checking the crosswalk, because who does that? No cars to worry about there…)

My experience so far this week is exactly what you predict. In fact just this morning about 7.25 I almost got nailed by a car at the front of the line that behaved exactly as you described. Learning will occur for drivers that frequent that intersection, but, of course, tourist season is soon upon us.

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Me: On New Hamphire crossing Virginia

You: Two NPS employees snow blowing the platform around the Benito Juarez statue

Me: Now let me get this straight. The MVT requires dogs and a sledge to travel and you guys are using a snowblower for a statue that just about nobody goes up to. Alrighty then.

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@PotomacCyclist 106262 wrote:

In non-bike news, I saw a woman on the Metro the other day who walked up to an Army soldier. (He was wearing his combat uniform.) Then she asked him about the witness protection program. Then she asked if he knew how to get into the witness protection program. She asked how she could apply for the witness protection program. “No, ma’am.” “Sorry, I don’t know anything about that, ma’am.” “I don’t handle that, ma’am.” She never got out of control, but, well, there were those questions. She finally finished the conversation and walked back to the other end of the train. She never asked anyone for money, or spoke to anyone else on the crowded train. OK.

So…prank headed to a youtube channel near you or mental illness? Sounds like the soldier handled it like a professional.

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What do you want to use the bike for? If it’s mainly for riding on roads or paved trails then those tires and front suspension — as well the overall bike weight, no doubt — will waste lots of your energy. If it’s to actually use as a mountain bike — at places like Fountainhead or Wakefield — then I pretty much guarantee that that suspension and the other components won’t last. You’re way better off getting a used but higher quality bike at some place like Phoenix or Craigslist.

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@jrenaut 104032 wrote:

Trolls gonna troll. I miss when the Post did journalism.

I think it’s telling that Milloy is one of the few remaining really senior people at the Post. My interpretation is that it’s because he’s a natural at the only thing that really matters at that “newspaper” anymore: producing clickbait.

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Twenty years ago my accent and tendency towards “creative” pronunciations made me the target of some constant teasing from a grad-school professor. I exacerbated the situation considerably by pronouncing an article entitled “Plus ca change,” in pretty much exactly the way a hick from rural Texas would pronounce it. At any rate, I eventually tired of the teasing and decided to embrace the insult. So the week when we read the History of the Peloponnesian War I took to loudly and confidently critiquing the work of the author, Thukey-Did-Dees. Soon my classmates, including my now wife of 24 years, picked up the Thukey-did-dees refrain. It drove the professor nuts and he backed off the rest of the semester. So through the years it’s stayed one of those silly little common bonds that you share with people you once knew well and our kids, of course, are convinced that there really was a famous Greek philosopher that his friends called Thukey for short.

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