[EasyRider]

Bump/last call … anyone with a Surly Troll that I could take for a quick spin to figure out which size is for me?

[EasyRider]

I’m just a commuter who reads Heine’s blog for entertainment, but he has praised the Soma Wolverine and a carbon frame Calfee, and owns a titanium Firefly. He’s not a total retrogrouch, but he did put those Herse cranks on the Firefly!

[EasyRider]

Good lord there were a lot of gnats out yesterday evening. My high-vis mesh vest must have trapped dozens of them.

[EasyRider]

Silly question, but are you leaning the bike against something when you put it away that is moving the shifter? Or maybe a worn spring is making the cage move in the wee hours.

[EasyRider]

I’ll be surprised if the line marked “westbound” (the orange line) on the detour map doesn’t actually turn out to be unofficially eastbound on weekday mornings and westbound on weekday evenings. The orange route is easier, faster, and safer than the yellow one.

[EasyRider]

Yes, and I noticed in the comments that a reader linked to a very similar, thought “successful” mugging in April 2016. Same spot, handgun involved, similar victim, also a Friday afternoon. Hard to believe the perpetrators aren’t the same.

For those who have been mugged at gunpoint on a area trail, what’s the “right” thing to do in response, according to police, and what did you actually do?

Also, on a map, that kinda looks like a good spot to get mugged – a narrow trail wedged between a highway and a power substation. As a cyclist, I never use that stretch because it’s just easier to use the neighborhood streets and join the path a little farther west. For joggers, I could see it being more appealing. What other stretches should trail users be cautious of?

[EasyRider]

Replacing the surface with something better might prevent some solo falls, but as long as runners and cyclists are sharing a dicey intersection in the dark, I think there will be accidents no matter what the weather or decking material. I fell there 4 years ago, because of ninjas, wet boards, and a lack of caution on my part. Since then, if I have any doubts, I just get off and walk my bike through the zone around that stop sign. It just takes a few seconds of my time and in the dark it’s enjoyably spooky, too 😮

As for Gravelly Point, surely there must be a better place for the port-a-johns than at the trail’s edge, plop in what used to be the primo plane-watching spot? Not only does it lead to accidents when people step out onto the trail, in the summer months those things create an utter miasma. Is there a reason they can’t place them in the parking lot or near it?

[EasyRider]

Bikenetic tells me the new Surly Trolls will be available in November. On paper I’m between a small (16″) and a medium (18″). The geometry is a bit different from the previous years’ models, but barely, so I’ll head over to the shop tomorrow to see if they’ve have a Troll or 1×1 in one of those sizes that I can try. If they don’t, are there any Troll or 1×1 owners out there that would be willing to take a spin on each other’s bikes for 5 minutes?

[EasyRider]

I would suggest trying just a short section of the towpath with your CAAD10 and 25mm tires, if you haven’t already. In particular, the 1 mile stretch between Chain Bridge and Fletcher’s Cove. This section is easy to incorporate into the Arlington Loop, it’s a short distance, and the scenery is nice. If you find it’s just not doable on 25mm tires, you can switch over to the paved CCT at Fletcher’s. If you’re digging it, keep going into Georgetown, another 4-5 miles.

I’ve found that if I’m riding on 32mm tires and smaller on the towpath, keeping my speed up keeps me more comfortable. That’s because my legs are supporting my weight, instead of my hands and rear end. If I’m on fatter tires, I can go slower because they soak up the bumps better.

If pedaling miles and miles up and down the towpath and similar surfaces, I’d want at least 32mm tires, and wouldn’t sweat labels like “cross” or “gravel”.

[EasyRider]

Haha, of course!

[EasyRider]

Thanks very much. Time for me to test ride the Troll.

[EasyRider]

Thanks very much, just what I needed. We’ll try the loop around the north part of Johns Island.

[EasyRider]

@mstone 142020 wrote:

Go even slower. Even if someone is tailgating, at low speed a collision doesn’t matter much.

Agree. Slow ’em down and ride defensively is about all you can do. That northbound downhill to Gravelly Point is a problem area. There’s also a dirt path down to the water near that blind curve that fishermen use. You should assume that someone could step out onto the MVT from the bushes without warning.

[EasyRider]

Cross threading a bottom bracket is easily the dumbest thing I’ve done. I had the bike turned upside down and was replacing the original loose ball bottom bracket on a Trek 930 with a Shimano cartridge. With the bike upside down, I must have gotten confused about the threading direction. Then I screwed the plastic piece in first, cross-threading it. Of course, I didn’t notice any resistance when I screwed in the plastic piece, because it’s plastic, and I was using a 12″ Crescent wrench. Only when I tried to screw in the spindle piece of the cartridge on the opposite side and it wouldn’t engage did I realize what I had done. Thankfully I was able to back the plastic bit out, destroying it but not the frame’s threads in the process.

[EasyRider]

It looks almost as nice as the mattress that was in about the same spot last year!

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