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I was pretty pleased with the adjustments they made. While I am sure the new asphalt has some “creamy goodness”, I’ll leave the formal assessment to Dirt’s refined sense of taste. They also cleaned up the speed bump just south of the Humpback Bridge.

Not wanting to damp the positive energy, they seemed to miss one of the three issues they promised – the depressed trail (pic from last week) where they drove across to make the detour of death (pic from Feb 2011) connecting the 14th St Bridge trail to the MVT.

I think I will ask about the final piece of the work in my thank you note. I have been communicating with FHWA at EFL.FHWA@dot.gov I am sure they would love to hear from others!

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Alert Shirt has some stuff as well.

The class 2 (middle noticeable level) is available as a short sleeve shirt. Might be appropriate next spring. Long sleeve are available elsewhere

http://www.alertshirt.coom

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@americancyclo 9424 wrote:

Can we forward this to all the ninja joggers?

Alas, it isn’t clear they would understand. With the reflective stuff in most running stores (augmented by the calls “something reflective please” from cyclists), one would hope they would detect a theme.

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The PB fender might work if the silver bracket in the front of your rack is split. As an alternative, a couple of bolts/nuts might allow mounting the PB fender directly to the bottom of the rack with no use of the seatpost bracket that comes with the fender. A bit less arts/crafts than the cardboard and duct tape solution. Will the bike be at the Thursday happy hour?

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I wouldn’t think just front fenders would change much. I don’t have a front fender and haven’t seen much problem with water getting thrown up on me.

My back fender is one of those seat post mount Planet Bike (from REI or Performance) and seems to have a wide range of adjustment. I have it just about horizontal so it might fit under a rack. Might be a good alternative to the arts and crafts approach Arlingtonrider proposes.

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Winter is generally pretty straightforward. Absent the infrequent big storms, snow generally isn’t a problem. It is just cold. Most of the days the trails are clear. I rode through the winter last year with regular 28 mm tires on my hybrid and after one snow storm was forced to walk the bike along the MVT to the District (where the paths were clear and dry!) I was forced to metro a couple of days as well.

I bought a beater (old Peugeot with 1.95 tires) from the coop in Alexandria for the handful of days where the hybrid needs to stay in the barn.

Based on my relatively short 5 miles commute along the MVT into DC, I would say studded tires would probably be less value than appropriate clothing.

Plan on finding small patches of ice so your most valuable tools will be common sense (I’m screwed!), appropriate clothing and good lights.

The good news about winter biking is less trail crowding.

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@Arlingtonrider 9171 wrote:

Or maybe . . . even . . . (dare I say it) . . . the bus or metro. (just so we can appreciate the suffering of others, of course! .

Now that I have been riding for a couple of years, I have learned to dread the one day a month I have to ride the Metro. I’m pretty sure I can still imagine how they are suffering, I don’t need retraining.

I’ll take wet or cold any day. Gives me a chance to leave the backpack with the laptop in the office.

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I’ll share some of my Army training

Say after me – I’ve been colder before, I’ll be colder again. I’ve been wetter before, I’ll be wetter again.

Makes you want the hot shower at home or at work even more!

@Dirt 9161 wrote:

That’s what I call the Granny Weatherwax “Faith” school of rain riding. Ride in whatever and have faith that you’ll be dry someday.

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I second the Showers Pass. I rode all last winter with one and it kept me dry on the wet days and cut the wind on the cold days. A couple of layers of warm stuff underneath it and I stayed warm. REI sells them.

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@Arlingtonrider 9106 wrote:

I’ll jump onto the bandwagon in agreement with you guys about the lack of safety consideration given here. That turn is way too tight, especially in a place where signaling one’s intentions is important. Did you send your note to anyone in particular at the FHWA, dbb? Does NPS have anything to do with this? It seems ridiculous for them to not address this now.

I have been communicating with FHWA at EFL.FHWA@dot.gov I am sure they would love to hear from others!

I sent a note to Tim Bevins from the National Park Service addressing the need to round the corner a few minutes ago.

It might be a useful exercise to identify some of the jurisdictional boundaries for the popular bike trails so we can offer input to the folks that actually own the trail. It isn’t completely clear who “owns” the Crystal City Water Park path from the MVT to the Water Park, for example.

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When the area is crowded around the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial (typically in the Spring and Summer in the afternoon), I go up on L’Enfant Plaza towards Banneker Circle and take the bike path to the Case Bridge. The connection between Banneker Circle and the bike path needs a curb cut and that has been requested of the District. On the Hain’s Point end of the Case Bridge, I ride towards Buckeye Drive (past the bus facility) and towards Ohio Drive by the river. Back towards Jefferson Memorial (with a bit of riding on the sidewalk along East Basin Drive until I get to the cutoff to the 14th Street Bridge. I avoid the peds along the mall and around the Tidal Basin.

Winter is cleaner – Tidal Basin both ways.

Have fun!

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The issue of the tight turn was addressed in a thread last March but didn’t get any traction. I think we could get better designs but riders would have to be involved much earlier in the process.

We can certainly help through the involvement of the folks on this forum.

Dana

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For those scouring the Performance or Bike Nashbar sites for vuvuzuela mounts for your ride, it seems to be a custom application that may not yet be available commercially. Might be an opportunity for any entrepreneurs out there. Doesn’t require recharging like an airzound and might even include a “defeat the earbud” setting.

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Great ride yesterday! Pace was slow but expected as there were families with kids who had probably never ridden that distance (or ridden this decade!). Weather couldn’t have been better and ride support was superb. The vuvezelas at the Rosslyn stop were an added treat.

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Crossing at Lynn was well guarded and safe.

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All in all, a fine time was had by all.

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@Arlingtonrider 8921 wrote:

Weather is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow. Ride is scheduled to end around noon? Shirlington Oktoberfest is scheduled to begin around noon? Ride ends right near Shirlington?

Excellent linkage. Well played! See you tomorrow.

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