[vern]

@Harry Meatmotor 87741 wrote:

amen!!!

No, leaving at 1:30 on Friday on a glorious day like today (like I am about to do) is tops in my book.

[vern]

@dasgeh 87734 wrote:

Happy birthday you two! I hope the roads are smooth and the drivers are off on vacation.

Thanks, and happy birthday to you, too!

[vern]

@culimerc 87654 wrote:

I hit Va Ave in Falls Church headed west about 7:15, you probably pass me too.

Nah…on a normal day I’ve arrived at work in Crystal City by that time.

[vern]

@hozn 87549 wrote:

PM me; we should meet up some time. I ride from Westover to Reston Pkwy. Usually am leaving around 6:15 but my schedule is fairly flexible.

I have the opposite commute. We probably pass each other twice each day.

[vern]

@cyclingfool 87398 wrote:

Bummer… I’ll try my best to pick up your slack. My birthday’s Friday, and I’m taking the day off. Likely plan for the day – a metric century (plus?), which is equal to about 4 days commuting mileage for me.

Ha!…My birthday is Friday, too! My plan though, is a little different. I plan to eat a lot of cherry pie from momsapplepieco.com

[vern]

@Subby 87340 wrote:

Looks like we have slipped in to 3rd place.

Keep recruiting!

I’m single-parenting the first two weeks of June and will be out of town for part of that period so my contribution to the team will be greatly diminished until the 16th.

[vern]

@Harry Meatmotor 87352 wrote:

It’s been my experience that, generally, multiple broken spokes are a sign that the wheel is under tensioned. Were the spokes breaking at the head or at the nipple?

When a loaded wheel rotates, each spoke is stretched and compressed, alternatively, as they pass from the bottom of the wheel to the top of the wheel. When there’s too little tension on the spokes, the spokes under compression will begin to fatigue, usually at the spoke head/j-bend.

From a materials perspective, what’s happening during most spoke failures at the head, is that the j-bend is elastically deforming every time the wheel makes a revolution. it’s not hard to imagine millions of cycles fatiguing all the spokes in a low-tension wheel, at about the same rate. therefore, when you see one or two spokes fail due to low tension, it’s really only a matter of time before you’re better off re-lacing the wheel.

also, depending on how long the wheel has been under tensioned, just adding more tension could fix the problem. However, if the spokes are breaking regularly and the wheel has more than a couple thousand miles on it, adding tension may cause the spokes to fail sooner.

Otherwise, I’ve definitely seen multiple spoke failures if the rear derailleur has either been rubbing the spokes, or allowed the chain to over shift in the largest cog, damaging the spokes.

Both broke at the head. Your comment and others all suggest it’s time to start over rather than the quick fix (replace spoke), which isn’t what I wanted to hear, but I reckon what I needed to hear.

As it regards the the wheel being under tensioned, I suppose then that the wheel could still be true even if under tensioned and therefore, my observation that the wheel was essentially true wasn’t enough, but that I also needed to test the tension of the spokes.

[vern]

@Subby 87366 wrote:

Yesterday afternoon I was sprinting home NW on the WOD and came to the Walter Reed intersection. The signal was about to change, but I had enough time to get through the intersection if I hurried up. I kept an eye out for NW traffic on Four Mile Run Dr. turning right on to Walter Reed, saw none, and kept trucking. I did not, however, look for SE traffic on Four Mile Run Dr turning left on Walter Reed Drive. As I entered the crosswalk, the car came within feet of me, slamming on its brakes. I slammed on mine and my rear tire came off the ground, what felt like a good six inches. I thought for a split second that I was about to get blown up. Thankfully, I didn’t – I was able to recover and keep moving forward out of the intersection. Pretty shaken for the next mile or two.

I learned a pretty valuable lesson there. Slow the F down going through intersections. Making the light doesn’t matter if you get destroyed trying to do it.

I saw the exact same scenario you describe at that insersection about 10 days ago with the guy being inches away from being crushed. It was a great reminder to me to not accelerate to beat a light.

[vern]

@PotomacCyclist 87313 wrote:

Prize winners have been announced for the month of May:

https://nationalbikechallenge.org/prizes

I don’t see my name among the winners therefore, I assume the list is incomplete.

[vern]

I just took my first ride on the Gatorskins and had my first flat free ride since last Thursday morning (the 4 miler Saturday doesn’t count). So I guess it was just worn, overly compromised tires. Lesson learned.

[vern]

I just bought gatorskins, so hopefully that solves the problem.

[vern]

I’m having this problem now. Had a flat last night on the front. Had a second flat in the same tire/tube this morning, but conveniently it happened right as I arrived at work. When I fixed it at lunchtime I found a fairly large shard of glass in the tire corresponding to the hole in the tube. I found other bits of glass in other spots on the tire and removed those. Then, on the way home tonight, I get to Gallows and the tire goes flat. I pump it back up and it holds sufficiently until Hunter Mill, where I have to pump it up one more time to get home (another 3.5 miles). It’s now flat again. At lunch I inspected the rims and tape, ran my fingers along all of those edges and felt no burrs. The tires are worn, so I will replace them this weekend, and hopefully that does it. But the recurring flats is a bit maddening.

[vern]

@brendan 87040 wrote:

How a about two bollards, center of the road, outside of the trail-crossing rectangle?

Or is the bollard there to also keep cyclists from veering too far left when crossing?

B

yes, that is the better option.

[vern]

@cyclingfool 87034 wrote:

BUMMER!!! ((((((

I don’t get flats often, but they always seem to happen at the worst possible time, not that there’s ever really a good time to get a flat.

And then I got another one this morning in the same tire right as I pulled into work (and 31 miles after the flat last night). Could be random coincidence, but at lunchtime I will give my wheel, spokes and tire heightened scrutiny.

[vern]

I think the idea is that if the sign is in the middle of the street then it can’t be missed. Because the intersection is in the middle of the curve, maybe the thinking was that a roadside sign would be less visible since drivers would (should) be focusing on managing the curve and crossing traffic. I actually liked having the bullard in the center of the road.

[Author]

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