But Wait! It's not over yet!

[Dirt]

Don't forget about BHFWD (Bike Home From Work Day) which starts uhhhhh.... NOw. :D

Falls Church Pit Stop (Grove and the W&OD) is having festivities until 7pm. :D

Rumor had it that Tri360 might be doing something near the location of their soon to be open shop on N. Westmorland Street, near where we had Happy Hour at Chasin' Tails. Don't have much info on that, but I'm headed that direction to see what is hapnin!

Rock on folks. I have to say this again.... I love y'all for riding. You feed my soul!

Hugs and kisses,

Pete

[Veik]

About to headout myself. Looking forward to Falls Church Stop.
Looks like its the only one where I am going.

[mrkenny83]

I thought the Falls Church stop wouldn't open until 4:30?

[KelOnWheels]

Wait... we have to go HOME?!

No one told me this. It's not called "Bike to Work and Back Day"!

I was expecting limo service! That's not included with my free t-shirt?

I think it would be entertaining to see 12,000 people with bikes on the Metro ;)

My legs actually feel pretty strong (ask me again when I get on the bike) but the top half of me would REALLY like a nap.

I wish there were more afternoon stops, that would be fun to meet up and hear everyone's stories of their day.

[vvill]

Any poor souls still at work reading this - yes, Tri360 has a stop there with cookies, Gatorade, and... socks, warmers, etc! Very swag-worthy. I ran into Tim there! And then dbb at the West Falls Church stop.

The BikeArlington newsletter that was sent out a few days ago confirmed the Tri360 stop but yeah it wasn't listed as a stop on the official BTWD site.

[dbb]

Socks and cookies. What's not to like? I continued out with Arlingtonrider and Dirt out to the Falls Church pitstop for yoga, ice cream and friendship.

http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w490/dbb-bike/BiketoWork201223.jpg

Even dogs got into the act!

http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w490/dbb-bike/BiketoWork201222.jpg

[PotomacCyclist]

LOL

I thought about going. But I ended up running and doing a strength workout. I didn't feel like riding out to Falls Church after that. So I ate instead!

[eminva]

I was coming home just as the afternoon pit stops were closing up -- got some socks, thanks Tri360! -- and just before I got to the Falls Church pit stop, I observed a cyclist being detained by the infamous cop-in-the-bushes. The cop was asking for ID just as I passed. I have no idea of the particulars, but I assume he rolled the stop sign at the intersection.

Seriously?! On Bike to Work Day? You can't leave it for one day? Talk about a bummer of a way to end the day for that poor guy.

When I passed through the Falls Church stop during the morning commute, they asked cyclists to fill out surveys. I included Mark Blacknell's suggestion that the stop signs be reversed (stop for cars; through for trail users) at those intersections where cross street volume is less than trail volume.

Liz

[vvill]

Yeah I saw a bike cop warn quite a few cyclists while I was at the Grove Ave stop, but I assumed he wouldn't be writing up anyone, and he looked a bit apologetic about it.

I got some awesome socks (http://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/480789_10150894713818374_647338373_9550857_1533717 166_n.jpg) from the Tri360 folks (photo courtesy of Dirt). Most appropriate for something picked up for free on Bike To Work Day.

[Dirt]

That particular bicycle officer could be a lot more polite in his dealings with the public. I've had dealings with him 4 or 5 times and he's very condescending and preachy. Just talking with him and Arlingtonrider on Friday, it was very hard for me to not be snarky. I guess I have a chip on my shoulder from previous interactions. Certainly that is MY issue, not his.

[pfunkallstar]

That particular bicycle officer could be a lot more polite in his dealings with the public. I've had dealings with him 4 or 5 times and he's very condescending and preachy. Just talking with him and Arlingtonrider on Friday, it was very hard for me to not be snarky. I guess I have a chip on my shoulder from previous interactions. Certainly that is MY issue, not his.

If I'm thinking of the same bike officer, then our collective chips could form some sort of snide pyramid of bicycle wisdom. Then again, if I had to hide in bushes, enforce a stupid law (REVERSE THE STOP SIGNS!), and deal with road weary cyclists (he was out there last July and looked like he had sweated out about 10 lbs), then I would probably have some social issues as well. PERSPECTIVE I SAY!

[Dirt]

If I'm thinking of the same bike officer, then our collective chips could form some sort of snide pyramid of bicycle wisdom. Then again, if I had to hide in bushes, enforce a stupid law (REVERSE THE STOP SIGNS!), and deal with road weary cyclists (he was out there last July and looked like he had sweated out about 10 lbs), then I would probably have some social issues as well. PERSPECTIVE I SAY!
Very well put. He's got a tough job to do. I totally respect that. I just will take that into account in the future and that will make it easier to contain my inner snarkmonster. I've always been a "respect is earned, not granted or commanded" kind of person. When confronted negatively on repeated occasions, it becomes significantly less likely that someone is going to earn my respect. I should be more accepting if I'm going to hope that people grant me the same kind of opportunities to prove myself a better person than I sometimes show. :D

[americancyclo]

this has got to be the same person who informed me once that 'this is not the tour de france'. Damn! I've been doping all week for nothing!

[Dirt]

Back to positive stuff:

Tri360's little expo was really awesome. Major kudos to them for getting out and supporting the community. I know it was an effort to get them on people's radar when they finally open, but it was still nice to have them in the community. My Bad Kitty socks are definitely some of my faves. The cookies were yummy after having ridden around so much for the day. I really liked seeing their selection of Orbea bikes. They're gonna be a pretty tri-focused shop, but they brought out two flat-bar equipped road bikes that would be awesome for more casual cyclists who want a nice bike, but don't necessarily want drop or aero bars on it.

The West Falls Church afternoon pitstop was a lot of fun. I really liked that Little River Yoga was out there. I really liked the little session that Stair did for us. It reminded me that I need to spend some time with an instructor more often. Getting into a rut with stretching and yoga pretty much negates a lot of the benefit that you get from it. The music was great too. Most of all it was awesome having Bikenetic out there supporting the cycling community. Truly an awesome shop and team of people. The joy with which they do what they do is an inspiration. :D

[jabberwocky]

When I passed through the Falls Church stop during the morning commute, they asked cyclists to fill out surveys. I included Mark Blacknell's suggestion that the stop signs be reversed (stop for cars; through for trail users) at those intersections where cross street volume is less than trail volume.Its a nice idea, and its true that trail volume is probably much higher than car volume on some of the smaller roads. I think the issue though is that visibility for cars is really bad... Sometimes I think cyclists should try driving some of those intersections and see just how far down the trail you can see before the hood of your car is over the crosswalk. For most of them, its very little.

The issue would be that if there was no stop sign, cyclists would go through those intersections at 20-25mph (hell, many do that with the stop sign). Visibility for motorists just isn't good enough for that to work. They'd need to be able to see a hundred or so yards down the trail before any part of the car enters the intersection.

[consularrider]

...
Tri360's little expo was really awesome. Major kudos to them for getting out and supporting the community. I know it was an effort to get them on people's radar when they finally open, but it was still nice to have them in the community. My Bad Kitty socks are definitely some of my faves. The cookies were yummy after having ridden around so much for the day. I really liked seeing their selection of Orbea bikes. They're gonna be a pretty tri-focused shop, but they brought out two flat-bar equipped road bikes that would be awesome for more casual cyclists who want a nice bike, but don't necessarily want drop or aero bars on it.

...
Just an interesting note was that one of the Tri360 people was talking with riders about what they would want to see for a B2W pitstop, swag, services, food, etc. Nice to see them doing research as they get ready to open this summer and looking ahead. Also like that at least one of the owners lives close by.

[Tim Kelley]

Just an interesting note was that one of the Tri360 people was talking with riders about what they would want to see for a B2W pitstop, swag, services, food, etc. Nice to see them doing research as they get ready to open this summer and looking ahead. Also like that at least one of the owners lives close by.

Oh yes--we're going big time in 2013!

[rcannon100]

So who won the bikes :confused:

[Tim Kelley]

So who won the bikes :confused:

The names were announced at each pit stop on Friday morning. Jim Moran announced it at Rosslyn and the winner locked up his own bike and rode off to work on his new bike!

[eminva]

I would add that I really appreciated all the bike shop mechanical staff being present at the pit stops. Was giving my bike a spa treatment on Saturday morning and realized there was a little issue that I could have used some help with, if only I'd known on Friday.


Oh yes--we're going big time in 2013!

What could be bigger than vuvuzelas? Thank goodness the kid went camping with the scouts, so there was a 24 hour period when I didn't have to hear that thing this weekend . . .

Liz

[vvill]

I didn't bring my vuvuzela home until yesterday (I had more than a backpack of swag...) and I was surprised how easy it was to play. My 3 y.o. loves playing it...

[KLizotte]

I second kudos to the bike maintenance folks at the pit stops. I made use of the freebie service at Crystal City.

[PotomacCyclist]

I discovered at the pit stop that deferred maintenance on a bike is not recommended. I wasn't completely surprised to hear that my tires have dry rot or that the chain is stretched too far. I'll need a new cassette, chain ring and chain soon.

I haven't treated my mountain bike as well as I do my triathlon bike. And I've put a lot of miles on it this year, and last year too. Might be a good opportunity to go with more appropriate tires. I never ride off-road so I might try some sort of cyclocross or commuter tire on the MTB, instead of the rugged off-road tires it came with.