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To tangent: The TRON: Legacy soundtrack (ft. Daft Punk) is killer to ride to (for those who, like me, sometimes put 1 — only 1 — earbud in during workouts).

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@ShawnoftheDread 50127 wrote:

BTWW, in which Forum denizens add 6 miles to their commutes for a granola bar and cup of OJ.

It’s bagels and coffee. Totally different. And you know I put a 2″ layer of cream cheese on that bad boy.

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@GuyContinental 50134 wrote:

10. Segment notes/descriptions (“Watch out for the dragons on under the bridge”)
11. Segment “owners”
12. Basic PM functionality

I’m quite surprised that these don’t exist already. Especially the PM function. I have people following me who I don’t actually know personally and don’t have any other direct means of communication with. Would be nice to say hey, especially if I end up following them in return.

And I don’t know about the hazard of the OPs segment — that one just seems a bit silly to begin with. But by establishing a segment, you’re essentially inviting (or luring) other people to try it. I do think it’s reasonable for Strava to put controls for making sure people aren’t led into dangerous situations. A friend drove me to a segment he discovered that wound around a totally blind corner on a ridiculously narrow street, which seemed like a perfect place to get smacked by a car head on. He never would have gone over there had it not been for Strava, but he will not be riding there again. I frankly don’t think anyone else should either.

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@DaveK 49908 wrote:

I don’t think it’s as bad as 29%. I don’t think it’s really that bad at all anymore… honestly it’s kinda fun.

I think it’s possible depending on which line you take. But your bike would only be at that grade for a moment. As others have said, I think it’s the handling issue and the fact that it’s not the nicest paving job that make it such a bear. Oh, also that you’re sucking wind after the climb by that point. It’s all mental. I had to attempt it a few times, but once I figured it out, it was like, “oh, okay.” It’s just getting that first one under your belt. Anyway, that’s just the switchback part. Most people get up 41st street no problem, and then some dismount to get up the very last part. I still do when I just don’t feel like riding it.

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No excuse for that. No question.

Part of the reason I was a big fan of Clif shots was that the packet was designed to keep the top attached to the wrapper when you opened it. When I open other types of gels, despite my best efforts, I have had the top fly out of my hands.

Now that’s just talking about the top. Doesn’t prevents people from dumping the whole thing somewhere, but I appreciated to attention to packaging lifecycle.

I try to put my used wrappers in a different pocket than my nutrition to avoid inadvertently having the wrappers fly out when I reach for something else, like Tim described. Or into my shorts.

I can’t remember which race it was (SM 100 maybe?), but I volunteered at a mtb race where they provided a gel flask for racers to encourage people to not bring individually packaged gels. Lately, I’ve been doing that.

At half a dozen races I have found a handful of gel packets dumped into the bed of my pickup truck. Better than the ground, but, c’mon people. My car is not a trashcan.

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Oh, man, I didn’t see this till now. Thanks, Tim! I think jabber can take some of the credit/blame for it — being one of the first to get me out on a bike doing crazy things like Mt. Weather.

It was quite an adventure, with some yummy dirt climbs the folks around here would eat up with a spoon. My friend took this during course recon the day before. Meeting House Road is sorta the defining climb of the race.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2706[/ATTACH]

This is what I looked like on it :-s

I haven’t touched a bike in 2 days

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@bobco85 48415 wrote:

An article on WJLA says that the guy sustained non-life-threatening injuries: http://wj.la/YTyTqh

Hopefully that means he just has some cuts and bruises. I imagine he probably has a concussion, but I do not know.

Victim reported on the MABRA listserv:
Just a heads up to everybody that uses the Custis trail in Arlington. I was attacked by two guys with a gun at 10pm last night and robbed and beaten. They knocked me off my bike and unfortunately I broken [sic] a number of bones in the fall. I fought back which made things worse. Please be vigilant on that trail as I thought it was pretty safe!

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@mstone 48099 wrote:

Alternatively, one could just wait. As I did. And when the intersection was clear, I proceeded and so did the cars behind me. Nobody was harmed by waiting a few extra seconds, unless that guy bruised his hand. In the worst case, we all would have had to wait through another cycle. Kinda like pedestrians have to do pretty much all the time.

Much like the right turn on red–speeds drivers up a little bit, and makes things worse for everyone else.

But as dasgeh said, the driver behind you may have had a different understanding of what was supposed to happen there. So if you’re not entering the intersection (or even turning right on red when it’s clear, like you brought up), as that driver believes that you should, then he/she might be led to believe that you’re texting, daydreaming or otherwise not paying attention. A honk would be warranted then. I don’t wanna get into the intricacies of what an acceptable honk is and what’s over the line — just discussing where it might come from.

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Oh, and local blogger/tweeter Cycleboredom recently posted a lovely-looking cap he’s currently riding, which I found out was made in Philadelphia and, as a Philly girl, makes me happy. Nosing around, I found this little beauty, which will be mine. Oh, yes, she will be mine.http://bit.ly/12akklL

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FYI – Little Package is going on sabbatical, so the store is closing, or may have closed already. She has been blowing stuff out in anticipation of closing the store, so you might wanna check soon if considering one.

I have a Walz technical cap and it really squeezes my head to point that it hurts. And my head ain’t that big, I promise. So I’d recommend sizing up.

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@lordofthemark 47825 wrote:

3. There seems to be a custom on the towpath that when there are joggers or walkers two abreast, and a cyclist calls a pass, they just move to the right but make no effort at all to go single file. Given the narrowness of the path, the puddles, the ruts, etc, this can make things somewhat unpleasant. I’m not sure if this is different from other trails, or just I never noticed it because on other trails (even the unpaved parts of the Accotink trail) the conditions were better.

I ride on the C&O a fair amount, and I don’t think the behavior toward pass calls is different than anywhere else. However, I will say that people out there generally are much less prepared for being passed than in other places. Walking two abreast — as you said — is very common. Dogs off leash are much more common. Large groups of disorganized people coming in from Great Falls become numerous this time of year. People treat it like a much more remote place than it really is unfortunately. They generally just don’t expect bikes to be cruising through there, and I pretty much always have to slow way down or downright stop till people get their heads out of their you-know-wheres. Best policy is to consider when it’ll be really busy and avoid it.

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@acl 47614 wrote:

It would be ok I think if it wasn’t every.single.day.for.months. I would probably think about it more like the rain– a bit of a challenge, and not entirely comfortable, but also kind of fun. (riding in the rain makes me feel like a kid) But if it had rained every single day all winter long, I’d probably be good and tired of the rain by now, too.

This.

I’ve also spent a fair amount of time this winter doing intervals at the Point and Ft. Hunt, and it’s enormously exasperating when there doesn’t ever seem to be a “good side.” It’s full on headwind on one side, and oop, surprise! Crosswind on the other. You didn’t think you’d actually get a tailwind, did you!?

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A lot of folks on my team use Selle SMP saddles. One dealer did a very comprehensive write-up about his experience fitting customers and the saddles themselves. It’s long but well worth the time before getting started to find a new saddle.

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blog/2011/09/all-about-smps/

I’ve only tried one of their saddles and it didn’t work for me, but I’m eager to try the others (which I’ll do by trying out friends’ — they don’t have a local dealer). I really like that the nose dips down preventing any snagging of the shorts. I tried one Specialized Toupe that I hated, but I have a feeling the width you get makes a huge difference. So I wanna investigate that further b/c the price point on those is much friendlier than the Selle SMP.

A friend loaned me a Fizik Aliante with carbon rails that I would love to get for myself, but at $250 ain’t gonna happen.

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@TwoWheelsDC 46799 wrote:

Are you going to be racing in the Clarendon Cup? Any other local races? Reason I ask is A)forum field trip to cheer for you! and B)if you and any other forum members race, it’d be awesome to get a heads up on local events. There was a pretty good conversation about CX in the fall that was useful for that, but a thread on crit/road race schedules would be great to see as well.

Great idea — I’d love a cheering section! My schedule is pointed entirely at a race in Upstate NY in April, but if I end up doing anything local during the summer I will let you know!

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Steph here. Fallen off the Forum lately as training has made me busy and grumpy. For the time being, you’ll most likely see me in ELITE mode on my b/w Cannondale Supersix in my black, white and green team kit, most easily identified by the Dogfish Head logo. In the past and on rest/pure commuter days, I’m on my black/blue/red 2006 Trek 4500 MTB with slicks, wearing either street clothes or a hobo-chic sporty ensemble that most surely clashes wonderfully. I don’t have practical bikewear — it’s either ELITE or hobo.

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