[DCAKen]

Me: Fleet footed vigilante

You: First time fixie thief

Next time you attempt to steal a bike, make sure it’s not a fixie. I’ll bet you didn’t expect me to react so quickly when I heard you break the lock on my upstairs neighbor’s bike out in front of our building. You were just mounting the bike when I ran out of the building (without any shoes on, no less) and started chasing you. You just didn’t have the muscle power to accelerate before I caught up to you and grabbed onto the seat, making you lose your balance and fall. And you certainly were drawing attention to yourself as you kept cursing me as you ran off.

Finally, only try to steal one bike at a time. You left the other bike behind with its broken lock as you tried to ride off. The police have added it to their collection of recovered bikes.

[DCAKen]

There have been a couple of times when I’ve passed cyclists while running up some of the short steep rises of Rock Creek Trail. I’d make an extra effort to say “Passing left” (well, extra sarcastic) to those who neglected to call out their passes earlier.

[DCAKen]

@Tim Kelley 44244 wrote:

http://ddot.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/

Also, twitter works well if you have that.

Try DC’s 311 page, where you can submit service requests for a wide variety of issues, one of which is “Bicycle Issues”.

Please use this service request type to report bicycles issues including abandon bikes, bike ramps, bike lanes and bike racks. Abandoned bikes are those parked with rusted chains or missing parts. Once investigated, bicycles will be tagged with red/white stickers. The owner has 10 days to move or claim the bike before they are removed.

[DCAKen]

How about a locking skewer for the front wheel? I use a Pitlock skewer, but there are others.

[DCAKen]

@lordofthemark 44115 wrote:

Of course there are some drivers who drive with lights on at all times.

Or cyclists who have their lights on all the time. That’s the nice thing about having a Schmidt dynamo hub.

[DCAKen]

Very timely. I was just thinking it’s time to replace my Planet Bike fenders. They’ve been good, but front mudflap has fallen off and one of the rear attachment brackets has failed (metal fatigue).

[DCAKen]

I was on the RCP trail at Porter Street one day and came across a car on the trail, with the driver trying to change a tire. The car was blocked half the trail, but the passenger side door was wide open, blocking the rest of the trail. When I asked her why she had to change the tire there, she replied that she didn’t want to block traffic. It must have been too difficult to have gone a half mile farther to the zoo, with plenty of space to change the tire in the zoo’s parking lot.

[DCAKen]

I’m a daily commuter through RCP, but going against the commuting flow (north in the morning, south in the evening). The traffic on the road really depends on the time of your commute. Prior to 6:45 am, the worst backup is where Beach Drive meets Rock Creek Parkway. The stop and go traffic can extend beyond the zoo entrance. By about 7:15, expect heavy stop and go traffic between Broad Branch and Piney Branch due to the red light at Park and the stop sign at Piney Branch. After Piney Branch, it flows pretty smoothly down to the parkway, but expect lots of cars.

If you want to take the trail, you can take Bladgen and jog north for a bit to catch the trail at Broad Branch. If you take Piney Branch, you can go south to Klingle Road and get on the trail there.

[DCAKen]

Midnight Madness…the most rides done between midnight and 2 am

I’ll provide the prize for that.

[DCAKen]

90% of the time, I ride with the traffic. It’s pretty rare that I’ll filter up past a line of cars. I get a little irked when I wait in line and another cyclist filters up to the front, then proceeds to trundle along after the light changes, slowing down everyone behind them.

@Riley Casey 43105 wrote:

I’d +1, +2 and +3 the suggestion on hand signals for turns. Nothing says I love you to a driver, to other cyclists and pedestrians like clear and ample hand signals. Maybe they convey vulnerability, humaness, what ever but they seem to disarm the crankiest of drivers.

Pay attention to lane positioning, also. Too many cyclists made left turns from either the right side of the lane or the bike lane. If you’re going to turn left, get over to the left side of the lane.

[DCAKen]

I’m in the anti-drafting camp, either as a drafter or draftee. When I notice you have latched on to my back wheel, the first thought that will go through my head is “Do your own damn work!” I won’t curse at you, but I’m not going doing anything helpful like pointing out any debris in the trail or broken pavement. I’m looking out for my safety, not yours.

[DCAKen]

@vvill 40926 wrote:

FWIW I went from platform => toeclips => SPDs => Crank Bros

This was my progression also. I used to get a hot spot on my foot with the SPDs but I have never gotten them with the Crank Bros pedals

[DCAKen]

It looks like tomorrow will be our first real Freezing Saddles ride. The NWS has issued the prediction for Arlington

A chance of rain and snow between 10am and 1pm, then snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 39. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

[DCAKen]

@ronwalf 40583 wrote:

Oh man, proof of my dork-hood is now forever etched into the interwebs:
Freezing Saddles: Virtual contest pushes area cyclists to rack up real mileage

It’s a nice article, but the subheading (when you copy the link into Facebook) is pretty annoying: “Popular app Strava allows cyclists, runners to compete in never-ending virtual contests, but is it unsafe?”

[DCAKen]

@ShawnoftheDread 40083 wrote:

It seems like glowing edge strips would be more helpful than centerline strips.

The edges of the trail are so crumbled or covered with debris, you’d hardly ever see them!

[Author]

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