[worktheweb]

On Thursday I took a bunch of pictures of the sunrise in Alexandria and Google conveniently made them into this little animation. Definitely was a beautiful morning.

I’ll miss the sunrise for a while, but I will definitely enjoy the sunsets.

[worktheweb]

I commute everyday with an Arkel Bug and an Arkel TailRider Trunk Bag. The Arkel Bug converts into a backpack and does so very well. It holds a lot of stuff, and the optional rain covers keep things pretty dry in the rain. Daily it holds a change of clothes, shoes, lunch, gloves, and its own cover with room to spare. It holds a helmet when you’re off the bike, and holds your U-Lock when you’re on it. The TailRider I always ride with, it holds my breakdown kit, 2 tubes, my wallet, batteries, you name it. It has even held a helmet once when I didn’t have the bug with me. It is surprisingly capacious and sits right on top of my rack. I have a rear light mounted to it on the handle with some velcro. It has an integrated rain cover, and nothing has ever gotten wet in there. Both of those bags are from several years ago, the newer models have an even better retention system.

When I need to carry more, I use an Arkel Utility Basket which looks to be discontinued, but they have some similar ones, like this. It is big enough to hold a full grocery bag of the giant paper bag variety. I use it when I have to haul a lot of stuff, but not everyday. In the extreme winter, I use it to more easily carry my boots. They fit easily with room or whatever else I want to bring.

On the front I have the Arkel XM-28s (from many years ago, they look to be a lot different now with more compression straps) and they were used to carry my camp stove when touring along with a lot of other essentials. I’ve only used those for tours. With those bags I’ve done the full C&O twice, and the Full GAP/C&O once from McKeesport, the Pine Creek Rail Trail, and some other miscellaneous jaunts. The retention systems are simply excellent (you can flip the bike, the won’t fall). They’re expensive, but they’ve gone thousands of miles with me in rain, snow, tropical storms, and floods and they still look great. Highly recommended.

[worktheweb]

I thought that was a cool interactive too, but I’m wondering where they’re getting those numbers. They list the annual number of car related deaths at 8009 in 2010. But wikipedia claims the actual number is 32,999 (22,187 in passenger vehicles according to this from NHTSA). Big discrepancy.

Also their cycling numbers are close, but don’t quite check out with NHTSA. The other thing about these numbers is they’re looking at general American populations. Most people don’t ride bikes regularly. DC has more than most, and according to LAB data in 2010 it was a 3.1% share for commuting, which is just a segment. But since data is limited, if we go with LAB’s number that there are 731,286 commuters in the US in 2010 and NHTSA’s number of 618 fatalities, that would mean in 2010 (assuming that commuters are all cyclists, not true) 0.085% (8.5 per 10,000) of bike commuters were killed .

In 2010 there were 210,114,939 drivers in the US (source) so if we calculate the percentage that year for all passenger vehicles, we’ve got 0.011% (1.1 per 10,000) of passenger vehicle riders who died in 2010.

So, unless I did that wrong (and I may have, this is kinda off the cuff with google and a calculator here), if you look inside the active population and not the population at large cycling is 8 times more likely to see you getting killed (in 2010 with spotty data). Now there are probably a lot more people riding bikes in the aggregate, so the percentage is probably lower, but in terms of vehicle miles (which isn’t what they’re calculating), I would think commuters predominate. Maybe it is a factor of 4 or a factor of 2 instead of 8, but cycling on the whole is more dangerous for the people who do it when examined by itself. That said, heart disease, cancer, and other ailments are more dangerous than either of them, and being active reduces your changes of getting those things. You may end up winning in the long run, even if your particular mode is more dangerous.

[worktheweb]

@ShawnoftheDread 98401 wrote:

Some if the pedestrian items are on Sherwood Hall and Ft. Hunt, terpfan. Might be useful to you.

Unless it is something new, the Sherwood Hall bike lanes are already done (I bike on them everyday).

South County always gets forgotten. Unfortunately the more affluent areas of the county seem to be better at getting improvements. When you think of the huge sums of money that get funneled into McLean, Tysons, Dulles, and Reston for projects, it boggles the mind how little actually gets done in the South. The board of supervisors is more interested in making a glittering metropolis by the malls and business parks of Tysons than maintaining and improving a place where thousands already live. The only place schools, infrastructure, and urban planning get funds is in the North. The only reason that Route 1 is getting expanded is that Moran got the money from the federal government in exchange for the Ft. Belvoir BRAC explosion. They at least have the foresight to reserve a right of way in the middle of that expansion for future transit, but that’s probably more Delegate Scott Surovell’s hard work than the board of supervisors. The whole situation is very frustrating.

[worktheweb]

If you’re on Verizon, the new cool phone is the Droid Turbo, which may be what replaces my RAZR Maxx HD when the contract expires in December. It has a 3900 mAh battery (more than twice the capacity of most iPhones) that should last for 2 days on a charge plus and it can give you 8 hours of charge with 15 minutes on the charger. It also has a quad hd display, a 21 megapixel camera, kevlar woven into the back case, a fast processor, lots of storage space (32-64GB depending on which one you get), and all the stuff you’d expect. It is also “water resistant” and has bluetooth low energy (useful if you want to use a HRM or other sensor with Strava).

At first I was skeptical about Strava (I’m not a racer, I just commute a lot and love to tour) but I ended up loving it for the deluge of data it provides me about my rides and how I’m getting stronger as a rider. It breaks your ride into “segments” where you can compete against others and more important for me, yourself. Stoplights and traffic make total ride time not as meaningful as you’d like, but uninterrupted segments really show you how you’re progressing and make setting incremental goals a lot more fun and easy. Also, to help your goal of riding more, I find that tracking my miles and getting on the challenges on Strava helps motivate me to get on the bike more. I used to average 3 days a week, now I’m more like 4-5 days a week. Since I’ve started using it (after many years of riding without it) I’ve gotten noticeably stronger and faster and it has added an element of fun into the mix. YMMV.

[worktheweb]

A bit of a headwind these last two mornings, but it has been beautiful out. This morning I had a smile when I saw someone with a pumpkin pail over his helmet on the MVT.

[worktheweb]

I’ve had some success with a mixture of white vinegar and water, between 25/75 and 50/50 depending on your preferences. I have a spray bottle that I fill up (usually 25/75) and it has largely replaced every other spray cleaner for household use. It is surprising how well it can clean things, and it is non-toxic, cheap, and food safe. The vinegar does a good job of removing all kinds of stink. Scrubbing in some baking soda works for really stubborn stuff. Of course, check for colorfastness in an inconspicuous place, but I’ve never had any problems.

[worktheweb]

@Dirt 96297 wrote:

WABA is starting a new project in Old Town Alexandria called #StopCampaign. Basically we’re helping promote lawful cycling at major intersections in the area.

…

1) On the simplest level, please pay attention to traffic signs in Alexandria and yield to pedestrians.

I commute on Union Street everyday and have seen the heavy police enforcement push on this route. I agree that people should yield to pedestrians, and to other road users who have the right of way. Unfortunately, the enforcement isn’t in the areas where people aren’t doing this (say King Street and Union, where you set up your sign), it is where there is no traffic at all in the mornings (Wolfe and Union & Queen and Union, for example). They are essentially shooting fish in a barrel, charging people $76 for slowing down, looking at the intersection to make sure it is clear, and continuing. I’ve seen people get tickets when no other traffic has been present. They may be violating the letter of the law, but certainly not its spirit. Indeed, forcing bicyclists to stop at every single stop without regard to traffic conditions decreases overall safety. Having no desire to get hit with a ridiculous fine, I stop at every single one now — and I’ve had numerous cars dangerously pass me at stops (in the past, my average speed was the same as theirs, no negative interactions). I’ve also come close to being rear-ended by other cyclists who don’t expect me to stop, even though I signal it. This asymmetric enforcement does nothing but harm the safety and finances of an already vulnerable class of road users. If Alexandria truly wants to be “bicycle friendly” they should consider adding the Idaho Stop to the books and then go after cyclists who fail to yield. After Idaho did it, accidents went down, which I think is the point, isn’t it? Then we can educate the public about why a different standard for cyclists is safer and more efficient, and hopefully, everybody would be happier as a result.

I appreciate that you’re getting out there trying to make things better, and for that I thank you. However, as a card-carrying member of WABA, I would rather have the organization advocating reasonable laws and appropriate enforcement instead of implicitly rubber stamping the status quo.

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