[vvill]

Mmmmmm, Original Pancake House.

[vvill]

Haha, okay. Unfortunately I don’t have any “action” shots (i.e. being out of the house walking around in this) but my wife did get a couple before I went out. The first one is taken at night, second one was the next day after i added a couple of ast minute things.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]451[/ATTACH] <= you can see the lights really well here. The green ones are "backlighting" the lightning bolt. The blue light strip is facing down and is still doing a lot.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]452[/ATTACH] <= not so much here. You can see the on-off switch, it's above my left shoulder. Attached with a spare clamp I had laying around and twist ties. …one of these weekends I will probably end up putting some of these [lights] on my MTB commuter

[vvill]

Yeah 18650s kind of scare me, esp since a lot of them (and their chargers) are cheap Chinese made ones. Of course I realized this after I bought my flashlights that use them, although at least they only use one battery per flashlight. I test them regularly enough with a voltmeter.

As for the original question, I’m going with this for $18
http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Beacon-Helmet-Mounted-Light/dp/B004J2F2VM
I got one at Target on a whim for less than that ^

[vvill]

Ok so I have to admit I stole the idea of using these light strips for my halloween costume.
And ended up winning best costume in my neighbourhood block party. The prize was an automotive emergency kit _pokerface_ (I drive my car to work about twice a month.) but it’ll be handy for the family van.

I used 8 AAs as well (rechargeable NiMHs), although I was powering more than 2 strips. I calculated a minimum of 4.5hrs battery life based on the tech specs listed on the oznium site. Got closer to 5 or 6 hrs. The orange and red strips can run on lower voltages than the green and blue.

[vvill]

Saw a Craiglist listing today with someone trying to sell these for $15 ea. That’s what I get for browsing CL I guess.

[vvill]

I’m a bit confused with all the back and forth in this thread.

Roscoe – are you basically saying you should never ride two abreast or take the lane because it makes it harder for cars to pass? Or do you mean only in certain roads and conditions?

I think it’s pretty much accepted that there are times when you should take the lane because you want to make sure cars don’t try to pass. Ever tried riding through a multi-lane traffic circle on the right edge of a lane?

[vvill]

Doesn’t look too bad. If you don’t have a bracket on your bike for your lock (does anyone actually use those?) and no bags, then it’s probably the best option for rattle-free lock transport. Sometimes what I’ll do is wrap a cable lock around my chest (like an ammo belt) and attach the u-lock at the bottom, where it sits on my back. It doesn’t move around too much.

[vvill]

I have a few pairs of MTB shorts – by nature they are 2 layered. I have cheap leg warmers from Nashbar that I pull up to cover the inner padding layer of the MTB shorts. The outer shell layer of the shorts then keeps out a good amount of wind/water.

[vvill]

Well, it wasn’t the most useful survey for bike commuters but I did get the Starbucks card…

I answered that I’d support a congestion charge, which I would, if the public transit was improved. When I lived in London where they have one of those, there isn’t too much traffic since no one wants to pay just to drive their car into the city, let alone parking/petrol/etc.

FWIW I think if they had a dedicated bus lane, and ran express buses/coaches from a few spots, such as Falls Church, Tysons Corner, Ballston, etc.. you could take a lot of people off I-66 and even off the Orange Line. It would be a better option than something like the horrible 38B bus.

[vvill]

@eminva 9534 wrote:

This is a good thread — I will soon have the same problem as the OP — I work at 18th & L, in a building with a secure, access controlled bike cage, but my office is moving across the street next year and the bike parking appears similar to what vvill described.

I already carry a ulock with me at all times because I often run errands on the way home, so it sounds like that will do the trick. There is some heavy equipment right next to the bike rack, but I can give my business card and a small gratuity to the parking lot attendant and he can alert me if any maintenance work looks to threaten my bike.

On a related note, when will garages start getting better bike racks? And why don’t they think to install something that all the locks can be affixed to when not in use, so that you can actually park your bikes on the rack instead of dodging dusty old forgotten locks?

Liz

I have two ulocks and two cable locks, so I leave a set at work. The rack here is installed very close to a supporting pillar, so the middle section of it is unusable (unless you don’t want to use your u-lock, or are willing to take a wheel off – only seen this once, when someone had locked up a Litespeed 😮 ). I usually lock my locks back on this mid-section when I leave so I’m not hogging up space. But seems like most people don’t do that. There’s at least a couple of cheap cable + padlock sets I’ve seen in the same place for weeks.

I think for now I’ll keep bringing in my road bike and locking it up. There are certainly a lot more bikes locked up on the sidewalks, and with the rack not visible from the road, and being next to the cars with government plates, I think someone toting boltcutters/saw/etc would be a little suspicious. I work in a government agency too, but the building is a commercial office. I also do park my car in this lot a couple times a month (used to be every day!) and try to be friendly to the attendants, and they recognize me.

paulg – sorry to hear that! What are you going to do in that situation? I don’t mind minor paint chips/scrapes, so I’ll keep it locked as is.

Thanks all for the replies.

-Will

[vvill]

Uhhmm I might show up just to pick up some stuff and say hi if that’s okay. 😮

[vvill]

I was using a trainer when recovering from my broken arm in August and I might break it out again, but I doubt it. Excruciatingly boring. I think I’d rather ride around the block ten times on studded tires.

I had a Concept II rower for a while when I lived in Australia. Great workouts, but I got bored after a while – similar to being on a trainer. I’ll probably try to go to the local pool (I also had a pool growing up), although the actual amount of swimming is greatly reduced when you go with 2 young kids. I have a couple of hand weights and a chin-up bar at home, and that’s about it for winter. The only other possibly exercise-worthy thing is my electronic drum kit, which I love having around through the winter.

@Dirt 9618 wrote:

Growing facial hair: Okay, this doesn’t really have any workout value, but it is certainly something I seem to enjoy occupying my winter months doing. My buddy Aaron already has a 2 week head start on me. Not sure that I’ll be able to catch up. It is important to have goals.

Haha. I’m normally clean shaven but have taken on an experiment of indeterminate duration in the last month or so.

[vvill]

@vvill 9563 wrote:

It still seemed out when I was going west crossing Lynn St yesterday. East is fine.

It was working yesterday westbound. Hooray! But ironically, a van and then two cars decided to blow right in front of me, even when I was waving and pointing at the green pedestrian light, and there was a runner on my right also wanting to cross. As I finally passed through, a cyclist coming the other way got beeped at.

[vvill]

It still seemed out when I was going west crossing Lynn St yesterday. East is fine.

[vvill]

I wanted to go to this (and maybe bring the family) but I ended up riding Skyline Drive instead. Looks awesome though, hopefully next year I’ll make the more sensible decision.

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