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Cool. wunderground and Capital Weather Gang are my two favourite weather sites.

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I used to ride with headphones in quite a bit until some point around Spring last year when I came to my senses. I do really like having music to pedal along to though. I might try to rig up some speakers one day.

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This is probably not a helpful post because of the prices, but if I were to buy a folder today it would be the Swift. http://www.swiftfolders.com/swift/Home.html Lifetime warranty on the frame.

It doesn’t fold *that* small though. If I wanted a folder for smallest folding size I’d get a Brompton.

I actually got on a folding bike kick when I was on vacation recently as I got to ride around on a Strida and a Dahon-copy and had a look at some Birdy and Pacific Reach bikes in-store too. I can’t justify one yet though.

I think even more than regular bicycles, you get what you pay for with a folding bike.

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I like the stats here too:

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/thanks.php?do=statistics

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@jrenaut 13135 wrote:

Sometimes when I ride to work in the morning I start thinking about the hill I have to go up right before I get home.

I usually have a count in my head of how many hills there are before I get home and always feel a strange mix of sadness/elation when there’s only a few more left.

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Nice eggbeaters! I run Crank Bros on all my bikes…

speaking of which, this just further fuels my “new CX bike” lust.

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I have motocross goggles which do seem to work for the coldest days without fogging up, but this winter hasn’t really co-operated enough to test them in cold rain/snow conditions. The only caveat is that you do have to turn your head more to see behind you. I wear them with a neoprene balaclava.

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I only join the Custis at Spout Run so I was amused this morning to see signs indicating that I was apparently on the detour before I even tried to get on the Custis.

For those who don’t know the areas around the trails well I’d recommend keeping a printed map of the area in your pocket, given the circumstances. I usually keep one on me (just a simple print out from Google Maps) as I like to detour anyway on my return commutes.

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I put on my neck gaiter but I didn’t notice anything too much actually riding ESE. I left much later than usual though (8:30am) so only the traffic in DC threatened to upset my ride. We’ll see how it is on the way home.

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@Subby 12956 wrote:

Nice – I am trying to do a combination of running and biking (that’s the plan anyway).

Biking route looks like this: http://runkeeper.com/user/ChrisShue/activity/65929841

So some days I will bike in, then run home via the canal and Chain Bridge (about 10 miles).

That’s quite a distance to run! I used to run but my knees are shot so I only bike now.
Looks like you live pretty close to me actually and we have quite similar commutes: This morning’s commute ~6:30am (as recorded by a car GPS, hence the “200mph max speed”)

Some days I return home via Chain Bridge but I prefer not to ride on the C&O on the road bike.

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@KLizotte 12959 wrote:

I would like to do the potluck when the clocks have changed and there is more daylight for the ride.

Same here. I’ve never ridden up that way.

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@MCL1981 12951 wrote:

It was a great morning to ride. Looks to be an even better ride home. Once again, packed the shorts and tshirt despite being dressed for winter in the morning. So strange.

Same. Actually I usually have MTB shorts in colder weather that I overlap over regular bike shorts. But yeah I specifically made sure I had a short sleeve jersey as a baselayer this morning for the ride home.

@DaveK 12943 wrote:

Glad that fender worked for you!

It works great on both my road bike and and hybrid! Thanks again for that.

I recently ordered one of these too, I figured if it doesn’t work I’m only out a dollar:
http://www.realcyclist.com/crud-products-crud-catcher-fender

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I went through my usual route and had no issues but this was at around 6:50am I guess.

The only “block” was a vehicle on the Custis, but there was enough space to go around. Helmet cam:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]570[/ATTACH]

The part of my commute that uses Custis: http://g.co/maps/v8fbj

@Subby 12916 wrote:

Commuting from McLean for just the second time ever

Nice. I commute from McLean too (although only 1ce a week right now).

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@Arlingtonrider 12935 wrote:

What kind of silly winter is this??

A great one for riding!

But I wonder if I should’ve bothered buying studded tires.

The trails were wet and there was runoff debris in some spots on the roads but nothing too bad. Last night I put on the rear fender that I got thanks to DaveK, and it worked a charm to avoid the back stripe. I should probably get a front one too though. My new shiny bike is getting messy.

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I rode metro for 3 years straight, before I switched to driving, before I switched to biking. I would feel slightly nauseous each time I came back to riding metro whenever I took a “break” from metro commuting, and now I feel it anytime I ride it again.

Sadly it is expensive. If you have a family it’s generally cheaper and faster to get around with a vehicle and pay for parking where ever you are going.

@pfunkallstar 12912 wrote:

7. People wear a crap ton of perfume in the morning and everyone smells like cocktails on the Orange line after 6.

I’d say I usually smell like beer if I’m on metro after 6.

The worst metro smell though is on a rainy day. Those musty carpeted floors, mmmm!

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