[wheelswings]

@Tim Kelley 140007 wrote:

There are a few extra Smalls sitting on the counter at FreshBikes in Ballston.

Update: There are no Smalls at FreshBikes. I checked. Apparently they were gone in three minutes.

What you’ll find there is a pile of Extra Larges… five of them. That was also the issue at Rosslyn this morning… a preponderance of larger sizes. (Perhaps Tim Kelley did the T-shirt ordering. If I ordered the shirts we’d all be wearing Child Mediums.)

I picked up an enormous Adult Medium this a.m., but my young fashion police would flip if I actually wore it…

A wonderful BTWD nonetheless!

[wheelswings]

Due to my meetings at EPA-Potomac Yards, this year I was able to stop by the Crystal City BTWW festivities for three days, Tuesday thru Thursday. The socks, light, patch-kit etc. are indeed useful (and very generous), and the Cosi treats fueled me through my long meetings. But even better was the warm welcome and the intimacy of the Crystal City stop, seeing old friends and making new ones (Barbara, David, Peter, et al.)… it was hard to pull myself away.
Huge thanks to the organizers. w&w

[wheelswings]

eh, saddles are overrated.

[wheelswings]

@Subby 139532 wrote:

Some good stuff in the mainstream press today too: http://www.wsj.com/articles/america-the-cyclist-is-not-your-enemy-1463073268

Great WSJ piece….it’s funny, self-deprecating and well-informed…just what’s needed in a high-circulation story that tries to dispel automobile drivers’ pre-conceptions about bicycle riders. The reporter is strategic in his use of humor and up-front acknowledgment of drivers’ negative experiences with bicycle riders.

“I will not deny for a second that cyclists can behave badly. I’ve seen it. I’ve done it. (Booo!) But it’s exasperating to see how Bad Cyclist anecdotes receive equal treatment to voluminous statistical evidence that cycling makes communities better. It’s maddening to watch public meetings where bike lanes are raged over like they’re landing pads for Martian armies. The transportation data is incontrovertible: streets that accommodate for cycling get safer. Fewer people get hurt. Fewer people get killed. People on bikes and people walking on the street. Everybody. Even people in automobiles.”

He then goes on to talk about our shared humanity and the fact that most bicycle riders are just everyday people. I think he’s mainly trying to reach the car drivers and convey his critical messaging…“Ease up on the aggression, and please—please—put that stupid phone in the glove compartment” …but he’s sugar-coating this supplication in his “love on all sides” messaging. Nicely done.

Overall it’s a superb piece. My one disagreement is his idea that bicyclists can somehow rope in the vigilante rider, the oddball who behaves badly.
“It means cycling groups trying to police themselves from within. That idiot on the regular Sunday morning ride who constantly runs red lights, screams at pedestrians and spits at drivers? That idiot needs an intervention.”

That is nonsensical. Just as I don’t expect other car-drivers to rein-in the thug I encountered in my morning commute, Lord only knows our bicycle community is a heterogeneous lot and there’s no way we can police every rider out there.

But at least we try…we’ve got Bike Arlington and PAL and WABA programs and BAC. Do car-drivers spend their Monday nights sitting around meeting tables trying to improve road safety and reduce the carnage? Do they bring in police officers and transportation planners to help sort out traffic signaling and intersection signage and enforcement issues? I don’t think so…

[wheelswings]

@Steve O 139475 wrote:

That’s when the sidewalk comes in handy. No one walks on it along there.

Actually there is hardly any sidewalk on 16th approaching Glebe, especially next to the Mt. Olivet cemetery, and what little sidewalk there is has poles through the middle so it’s not ride-able (and hardly walkable, which is why you don’t see pedestrians).

[wheelswings]

@run/bike 139468 wrote:

Was it a silver Toyota Corolla? I’ve had LITERALLY the exact same experience in the exact same place and it was a pissed-off dude in a silver Toyota who couldn’t stand to be BEHIND a bicycle that was moving the speed of traffic.

Interesting. Yes — an older silver corolla, I think. Wow.

I did not think to get the plate number until we were already on Glebe. I tried to read and memorize it, but no luck as we were in different lanes then. I was wishing I had a helmet camera…

[wheelswings]

I had another creepy encounter on 16th St. this morning near Virginia Hospital Center. My prior two issues on that stretch involved drivers going the opposite direction and swerving into the ambulance tracks in the speed humps right in front of me. Pure stupidity (oblivious drivers looking only for cars) but terrifying nonetheless.

Today’s episode was different. I was riding eastward in a slow, congested string of cars heading toward Glebe Road. I had taken the lane, keeping near the bumper of the car ahead, when all of a sudden the car behind me guns it into the left (oncoming) lane and then forces their way in front of me… I had to stop to let them in so I would not crash. I yelled and gave them the birdie, repeating loudly, “who ARE you?!” There was no place the car could go – they were literally inches from the car in front – and they started driving with their wheel against the right curb to make sure I wouldn’t pass. It was weird… I kept asking myself, why are they behaving this way? Clearly they did not like driving behind a petite bicycle rider in flowery skirt and big yellow backpack, but their alternative was simply to hug the bumper of another car. It did not leave me scared so much as sad that such ill-tempered people exist in this world.

Then I came to Glebe and right away experienced one of those truly decent human beings who stop their car in opposing traffic to make sure you make a safe left turn across their lane. I gave them a huge thanks. I spent the rest of my commute (up the Crescent and across DC) contemplating the vast spectrum of human’kind’ and human’not-so-kind.’ I am grateful for the kind ones.

[wheelswings]

Your questionnaires were very, very useful — thank you.
I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but they were my primary source of information on the candidates — I don’t have a whole lot of time to follow politics these days!
I’d say it was all useful…including the various odd responses that followed…
Perhaps the least valuable question asked the candidates if they’d be a “champion,” ’cause how they answered might tell more about their sense of humility than about their commitment to bicycle-related causes.
But it was all really interesting and useful as a voter. Thx!! w&w

[wheelswings]

We just got home from Eastern Nationals in Virginia Beach…had a fabulous time biking, hiking, and trail running at First Landing State Park.

[wheelswings]

@bikeeveryday 138635 wrote:

Yep. C6 fracture, both hands sprained, right arm bruising, right hip dislocation, right knee bruised/laceration, left big toe dislocation and fracture, and concussion. Helmet cracked all around. Thanks for the well wishes.

Good heavens that is scary!!! Especially the C6 fracture and the concussion. And no doubt it hurt like hell with all the dislocations and lacerations. Miserable! Thank goodness you are alive and on the mend. Hugs from w&w.

[wheelswings]

@bikeeveryday 138629 wrote:

I have a late entry: March 5, 2016 around 3:45 pm on Tuckerman Lane. T-boned a car that pulled out in front of me. Garmin says I was doing 28 mph… Unfortunately, this ended my Freezing Saddles #bikeeveryday streak…

Started PT last week, and hope to be back at work in May, approximately 2 months after the collision. Congrats to all the Freezing Saddles winners!

Yikes. Sounds terrifying. Multiple fractures, I presume? Sending healing wishes!! w&w

[wheelswings]

@Steve O 138533 wrote:

From Wikipedia:

In the United States, an antique car is generally defined as a car over 25 years of age, this being the definition used by the Antique Automobile Club of America.

Although you look like you could be in your 20’s, I know better.

Got it. So the next time someone tells me, “wheels&wings, you look young as an antique car,” I’ll be sure to take it as a compliment. [In fact I am a bit over 25. ]

[wheelswings]

UGH. If that truck is “antique” then so am I… thanks for letting me know, Steve O.
http://www.blueovaltrucks.com/resources/f-series_history.htm

[wheelswings]

I’ve been following this thread with curiosity. I ride the trails (and roads) almost every day and have rarely experienced the bad behavior described in some of the prior posts.

The initial incident that triggered this thread – a girlfriend being followed – is indeed serious and deserving of police notification. It is the potential for such incidents (and worse) that has led me to carry mace and a shriek alarm. I ride the trails (including the less popular ones) at all hours including late at night. Like others, I am afraid of the deranged psychotic people I have never met.

But in terms of everyday interactions, I don’t feel the male-chauvinism or harassment that some have described. Such biases are still entrenched in many workplaces, in the legal system, and in other venues, but I’ve hardly experienced them on my bicycle.

Maybe I am just lucky. Or oblivious – after all, I honestly don’t care what others think of my riding –they’re welcome to bicycle commute “better” than me if they wish. Or maybe small stick-figures like me don’t get the same attention as people with fuller builds. The literature is replete with articles about the social acceptability of teasing larger people. That is very sad, and I think it affects both genders.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jonny-bowden/obesity-bias_b_1947085.html

I’ve been trying to think of instances where my gender has come into play on the trails. I can remember two times in the last decade when I’ve been drafted inexplicably for large distances by guys on road bikes (I ride a heavy old mountain bike…not fast) and I thought to myself, this is just plain weird. Sometimes I get mocked for the elaborate warnings I give when I’m passing. But I don’t see this as gender-related… and I honestly don’t care, because safety is tantamount. There are definitely ill-behaved people on the trails, but I write them off as stupid rather than somehow prejudiced against my gender.

What concerns me most, of course, is coming home alive. And unfortunately I would say I’ve had at least as many (or more) scary experiences with aggressive women drivers as with men.

I sense that some kind, thoughtful male riders hesitate to interact with females on the trails or roads, not wanting to scare us. I hope this thread does not increase the silence. Many female (and male) riders do indeed appreciate friendly greetings from fellow riders of either gender. I think it’s a nice way to build community on the trails.

[wheelswings]

@Crickey7 138089 wrote:

Speaking totally hypothetically, is it bad to keep riding if you might have a broken rib or two?

Ouch. I hope this is “totally hypothetical,” as you say.
I rode every day through my cracked ribs this past November. I’d injured them once before, so I knew what I was in for…
-Like Tim and Sunyata note, the breathing can be painful. Not just the deep breaths… the shallow ones too.
-It gets much worse before it gets better. Give it a few days and you’ll be really suffering. Sorry.
-It’s easy to feel freaked out, ‘cause the ribs are so close to your heart and lungs. It helps to know the pain is normal and ribs DO mend.
-Broken ribs leave you feeling very vulnerable and risk-averse for the few weeks while they are healing…wary of every little pothole.
-Use ice for a couple days, and then switch to a hot water bottle.

Hope you’re okay. w&w

[Author]

Posts