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This morning felt really good, definitely an improvement compared to yesterday. Not having a blasting headwind really makes a huge difference. After the first 15 minutes things got pretty comfortable. Two days in a row of beardsicles, always fun.

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@lordofthemark 130968 wrote:

I am going to focus on just one, about trying the different approaches to preparation.

Try coffee prepared in a French press, a pourover, an immersion brewer, an aeropress, nitro cold brew, a siphon, a Moka pot, a jebena, an ibrik, and, of course, an espresso machine

Which of these, other than the espresso, is the most “must know about”? I am guessing French press?

My favorite method at home and at work is the Aeropress. It makes delicious coffee, is pretty cheap, and easy to use. Nitro cold brew is also something worth trying, kind of like a Guinness with the cascading “waterfall” and a delightful and unique smoothness.

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I will be there and can be a part of an MVT convoy afterward if anyone wants the company.

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I’m all for people riding bikes as much as possible.

The challenge as I see it is that there are points awarded based on mileage and when you’ve got an electric assist or can run in moped mode that mileage is pretty much meaningless. The competition is a lot of fun, and part of that is the playful rivalries that happen as people push themselves to ride more in conditions that send most people inside heated conveyances.

While I don’t want to turn people away, allowing the miles/points to be “easy” fundamentally changes the dynamic. When you’re pedaling, you really have to think about how you dress — too much and you sweat and get super cold, too little you get super cold anyway. If you can just switch on a motor, you can dress so warmly that you might as well be in a car. If you’ve got a fairing that keeps the rain off you that is another benefit that makes the miles for that day easy.

Perhaps an asterisk team would solve the issue. Not a part of the general population leaderboards but off on their own able to compare on a level playing field. Still part of the community and part of the fun. My favorite part of FS last year was all the great friends I made. I look forward to meeting even more of you this year, regardless of what powers your wheels. I don’t think we should be stopping the camaraderie that makes the competition so wonderful, but we also don’t want to make the competition meaningless. Not an easy line to walk.

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@Rootchopper 129518 wrote:

There’s a walker who I have passed near Daingerfield Island on the Mount Vernon Trail who gets really upset when I ring my bell. He turns and yells at me as I pass. 2x this week

Is the the older Asian gentleman who is frequently there in the evenings? One time that guy jumped over toward me screaming, so I stopped and informed him that by the law and the rules of the trail I’m required to give an audible signal when passing, which is why I rang my bell. He was unimpressed to say the least and kept yelling at me, so I got on my bike and wished him a good day. Most people thank me for using my bell or at least give a hand signal acknowledging it. It definitely surprised me how angry he got at something that seems so insignificant.

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I actually changed my commuting route in the evenings to avoid the buses and their exhaust on Madison Drive. On particularly bad days I’d leave there with my lungs almost aching and I’d frequently feel the grit of the diesel particulates between my teeth. I can’t imagine that was doing anything good for my health. The problem is all but gone for the WMATA buses with their natural gas, but the tour buses from out of town are quite unpleasant.

I remember a study (perhaps one of the ones mentioned above) that raised the alarm about the higher level of respiration done during activity and a potential for greater harm from particulates. Particulates are extra nasty because the really small ones can go directly into your blood stream and cause all kinds of harm. Aside from re-routing around the worst of it, it hasn’t stopped me from riding. If I wasn’t getting the exercise from all my biking, I’d be in significantly worse health. It would be nice if buses and trucks could be made to lower their emissions.

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It was a nice morning to be out on the bike.

I had a little excitement on Washington Street as I went one lane left to pass a stopped bus (I signal and do so safely) a guy starting laying on his horn for about 30 seconds (really). Of course, as I get to the passing point, the bus gets going, so I pull behind him and continue. I’m going faster than the traffic in the middle lane, so I get a few cars between me and the hot-headed car, and the bus goes to stop again, so I pass, and this guy from several cars back now does another 30 second horn blast. Once I pass the bus, I’m going faster than surrounding traffic again (being slowed down by other cars, in fact), and I never see that car again. By the time I get to the MVT, I notice two busses at Slaters, they don’t pass me until around the airport … I don’t get it, I’m clearly not holding this idiot up, I’m going faster than he is, but he feels a need to be an ass. I guess he missed the “Share the Road” signs on Washington Street …

One thing I feel good about — I didn’t give the guy a response. No glance, no single fingered gesture of disapproval, not even a flinch from his horn, just kept on going as though he didn’t exist. I made it a point to savor the Fall color lightly shrouded in a veil of mist and not let him ruin my ride.

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I’ve run Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires in the past, they’re heavy but ride pretty well and I never flatted them. Unfortunately, I ran them at a pressure that was a bit much for the rim, which caused the rim to fail, and in the process destroyed the sidewall. If you run them at the right pressure, they’ll serve you well. They’re tanks and slower than other tires, but the flat protection is really hard to beat. They also don’t seem to have the tread peel off like Specialized Armadillos. Right now I’m using a Continental Touring Plus tire which is much cheaper and hasn’t flatted yet. It replaced another CTP that was slashed by some rebar in Anacostia but kept riding until I noticed it at home …

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@ian74 125693 wrote:

I’m not sure I understand, are there police enforcing stops on Union all the time now? Everyday? AM/PM rush?

It is still sporadic and relatively infrequent. The last time I actually saw enforcement was last Fall (a year ago), however, with the Washington Post article and other reports from cyclists it appears they had another enforcement wave. As for its current status, I can’t really say.

I’m just tired of being singled out for something drivers get a pass for, even though they drivers are the ones who can injure and kill. 33,000+ dead from cars and 6 people dead from being hit by bikes in the average year … only going after the cohort that creates five orders of magnitude less danger is irresponsible. I’ve got better things to do with $91 dollars than to give it to the city of Alexandria at the behest of the Old Town Civic Association, and I’ll save a lot of money that I might have spent at the businesses I used to pass every day down there too.

I’m sure APD will get complaints about all the cyclists on Washington Street, but there isn’t much they can do about that … after all, it is perfectly legal. There are even “Share the Road” signs on the route. Unintended consequences …

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The ride home on Washington Street was a bit less pleasant last night — had a guy in a maroon Acura decide to honk and get aggressive in the HOV lane. He pulls up beside me to yell at me and I notice he’s a single driver and mention “Hey there’s only one of you, you’re not allowed in the HOV lane” — not a fan of the truth, he cut in front of me aggressively, but that was right before traffic stopped, so I just filtered around him. He eventually left the HOV lane to be aggressive in the center lane. The funny thing was that I wasn’t going slower than the traffic, he just hates people on bikes. The Southbound evening route isn’t as pleasant even without the aggressive driver, the huge mass of cars trying to turn to get to 95 really makes for a lot of stop and go South of King. That said, the backup on the Parkway was particularly bad last night as I rode by, so I may do a few more runs to see if it was a one-off thing.

I rode in via Washington again this morning and it was amazing how much faster it was than my other route. It saved me about 7 minutes to a normal checkpoint and got me in within 3 minutes of my record time (I wasn’t trying for it). It is a lot less scenic, but having a ~10% reduction in travel time is significant.

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@GovernorSilver 125601 wrote:

I wonder if I rode behind you this morning. For a while I followed a bigger guy wearing, I think, red pants/tights/shorts, until we got separated by a traffic light on Abingdon. Didn’t notice his seatpost falling out of whack though. Good you were able to replace it so quickly.

I was wearing a grey wool jersey and black bibs and knee warmers, so probably not me (I was rolling through around 9, had a very late morning). I had a wrench to torque the heck out of it and it came loose a couple times after that, but I made it into DC and the guys at BicycleSpace were able to get me a new one.

I may have to try the route in the evening then. The only downside of the route this morning was the door zone issue (HOV and parking restrictions had just ended), but when there were parked cars, I was able to get the space I needed. It is funny, in the past when I’ve had to drive in and I’ve seen other cyclists on Washington I thought to myself “Why are they biking here, there are much more pleasant routes” and now I’m considering abandoning those routes myself. I do feel a little bad that I may potentially slow the HOV commuters down, but if the alternative is to open myself up to Alexandria Police Department harassment and fines, I don’t feel that bad …

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Encouraged by Terpfan and GovernorSilver I decided to take to Washington Street today. Not bad at all and definitely faster. I was surprised. I have a feeling it is considerably faster, but I had a seat post fail on me while I was riding, so I had to pull over to fix it so I don’t have the actual numbers (the seat post angle suddenly and painfully went from level to pointing dramatically skyward — it has since been replaced).

How is the riding in the evenings? In the times when I’ve driven it during the evening rush there always seemed to be considerable aggressive driving and stupidity, is that your experience on the bike? For some reason people always seem worse in the afternoon.

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@consularrider 125276 wrote:

While I don’t like the quality of the accommodation, I look at this as being similar to the narrowed work zones with reduced speed limits that are just as frustrating to drivers and cause much larger backups.

I understand that there are narrowed zones and reduced limits for cars, and I don’t mind slowing down in a work zone while on a bike. However, the engineers would not make those narrowed lanes for cars out of mulch, nor do they expect motorists to get out of their vehicles and push them. They expect that from us. They could do this the right way, they just actively choose not to do so.

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What gets me is that this kind of accommodation would never be permissible on the adjacent parkway. Thousands of people depend on the trail as transportation artery for cycling, just as thousands of cars do the same with the parkway. It is tiring to be treated as second class citizens yet again. They could have laid down pavement or crushed limestone maintaining the same width, but they continue to treat us as an afterthought.

I suppose it could be worse … they could have just closed down the trail. I don’t understand why a National PARK continues to favor 4 wheeled motor vehicles speeding through over those on 2 wheels or two feet who are actually visiting and enjoying the park.

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@DismalScientist 124936 wrote:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/09/21/no-more-whizzing-through-stop-signs-for-bicyclists-in-alexandria-police-step-up-enforcement/

There were 24 tickets issued and over 300 warnings. Furthermore, the person cited in the article said he deserved the ticket, but was complaining about price. It sounds to me that cyclists engaging in Idaho behavior were not being ticketed, although maybe they were warned.

I know for a fact that last Fall’s enforcement wave targeted people who were doing Idaho stops when there was no other traffic (bike, car, or pedestrian) present. Maybe they’re easing up, or maybe it depends on the officer you get that day. As Amalitza said, the real problem is that they’re actively targeting a single class of road user, cyclists.

If Steve O’s article’s stats are correct and motorists roll through stops 80% of the time and we do it 15% more than that (92% of the time) and we’re generous and say that in Alexandria cyclists are 2% of mode share and motorists would be say 90%, you would expect that there were would be 939 tickets in the same period (since there would be 45x more cars with the percentage adjustment) given to drivers in the same area. Clearly that’s not happening, not even 1/10th of that is happening. I would think it would be safe to bet that no tickets were issued to cars in the same period for failing to stop. It is disproportional, discriminatory, and an utter failure to give equal protection under law.

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