[mikoglaces]

@jrenaut 68941 wrote:

You might want to actually look up when jaywalking.

I think there’s a jaywalkers’ code that requires jaywalkers to look straight ahead. If they don’t see the approaching vehicle then it cannot hurt them.

[mikoglaces]

@PeteD 66757 wrote:

Me: Cyclist, being a PAL and stopped at Great Falls/Little Falls Light, going north on Great Falls.
You: Mercedes GL behind me.

It’s not my fault that Great Falls is a downhill slope, and I was speeding, but you decided to keep up with me, until we got to to the speed bump. I’d write a letter to the Falls Church city council to see if they’ll replace your suspension.

–Pete

I love going at speed over speed bumps when cars are behind. Am I the only guy that finds it irksome when cars pass me just as we are getting to a speed bump?

[mikoglaces]

@bristimjet 64838 wrote:

I just graduated college and want to start cycling but don’t know anything about good bikes. Can someone help me out on ideas for new gear that’s good for a beginner cyclist that’s a reasonable cost. If you have any other advice for a newbie please don’t hold back. Thanks in advance!

Geez, it can get really complicated and time-consuming, and expensive, to choose your first bike. Assuming you’ll be riding on the road, get a road bike. #1 thing is to get the right size. If you buy at a shop, they can fit you. If you buy a used bike, use google to find advice re sizing. As between new and used, I almost always buy used. There are good deals to be made. You can save money, and then resell and move to a nicer bike if/when you want. On the other hand, if you are new to the sport, depending on your budget, a new bike may be preferable because a shop would be sure the bike fits, and would have a range of bikes. Many shops have sales this time of year selling off 2012 models as 2013 models arrive.

[mikoglaces]

@DCAKen 64497 wrote:

Me: Coasting down Ridge Road in Rock Creek Park

You: Also on a bike, checking your phone and taking the lane.

When I hear shouts from drivers that I’m blocking traffic, I sometime think that the only way I could do that is if my bike was perpendicular to the flow of traffic. Maybe those drivers had encountered you before. There’s a nice, but parking lane on the other side of the road…you couldn’t go the extra 10 feet to stand there?

Cyclists and runners stop right on the path to chat, tie their shoes, fix flats, whatever, all the time, totally oblivious to everyone else on the path. makes me nuts.

[mikoglaces]

@nikki_d 64416 wrote:

Me: in a bright orange jacket (fashionable DKNY orange, not safety orange, but it will do) entering the sharrowed lane in the 1100 block of L St from the L St bike lane.

You: the jackhole in the truck that felt it was necessary to tap on your horn multiple times behind me.

I really like the way you floored it and aggressively pulled into the middle lane. It got you to that red light an entire 5 seconds faster than me and you ended up behind 2 cars instead of 1. Well done sir!

I just love it when drivers do that only to beat me to the red light! Classic.

[mikoglaces]

Wo, that sucks. Hope I see you on the trike.

[mikoglaces]

I did this last year and am registered to do it again this year. It was a well-run event. Mass start at 8:30 a.m., so you can leave DC area at 7 or so and arrive in time. Also, in a mass start century like this you have an excellent chance of ending up riding in a group of riders that are riding at your pace, as i did last year.

[mikoglaces]

@Subby 62392 wrote:

I had absolutely no sense of MUP safety when I was solely a runner.

Exactly. We cyclists have to remember that when we ride. Example from my commute home yesterday. I was overtaking two runners on the CCT. I had moved to left and was about to call out a pass, riding close to 20 mph. The runners stop and turn towards me, still in the right lane, and look my way. I think hey, they haven’t moved left, they see me and they’ll stay in their lane. Nope, they moved left even though they had to have seen me and started running my way and I swerved into right lane.

[mikoglaces]

here’s the way to handle folks who get in the way when you’re commuting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCnir5KlXEw

[mikoglaces]

Happy travels and I look forward to the next grinder.

[mikoglaces]

@slowtriguy 61459 wrote:

You: Lexus driver who desperately needed to save 5 seconds
Me: Bicyclist riding legally down Stafford between Washington and Fairfax

Ma’am, I was riding legally at the time you tried to pass me at Stafford and Washington, and again when you passed me illegally on Stafford between 11th and Fairfax, saving all of 5 seconds before I arrived at the same light. You might want to recheck the traffic codes, particularly the bits about bicycles having the right to use a full lane when necessary and the bit about leaving more than a few air molecules of separation when you pass a bicycle.

For bonus points, you might want to consider reading the bits about not passing other cars illegally on the right on a one-lane-in-each-direction road.

For ELITE bonus points, you might want to consider the wisdom of aggressive driving around folks who work in the same building as you do.

But it’s just the natural order of things that a car passes a bike. At least that’s the thinking. My favorite: when they “pass” or start to pass around a curve or approaching a stop sign. So you arrive at the stop sign when they do, and the stupid car is straddling the yellow line because it couldn’t really pass you before the sign.

[mikoglaces]

Ditto. Awesome ride. Thanks Pete-for the ride and the waffles.

[mikoglaces]

anyone up for riding from Vienna at say 6 am to arrive at ride start in Leesburg at 715?

[mikoglaces]

I did the Culpeper Century last year, and it was great. It was a mass start event. We went off at 8:30. The first half hour we rode in a large group, as pretty much no one wanted to ride past Ted King (http://www.iamtedking.com/) who was there with a local racing club. The pace though was moderate, maybe 17 mph (I didn’t keep track). Ted and co. pulled off at the 1/2 hour mark or so, and then the pace picked up and the big group broke down into smaller groups riding at various paces. Anyway, even without Ted King and that dynamic, since it’s a mass start event if you ride your pace you’ll end up riding with other folks.

Culpeper is rolling hills. The Seagull is flat flat flat. Me, I’d rather do hills, but if 100 mis. is a long ride for you then Seagull might be better. But Seagull has thousands of riders, whereas Culpeper is small. Another reason I prefer Culpeper. (But I’ve never done Seagull.)

[mikoglaces]

@birddog 60804 wrote:

Custis trail at the Oak st crossing: https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N+Oak+St+and+highway+29+arlington+va&aq=t&sll=38.898644,-77.076275&sspn=0.003941,0.006518&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=N+Oak+St+%26+U.S.+29,+Arlington,+Virginia+22209&ll=38.899107,-77.075411&spn=0.007882,0.013036&z=17

After passing a bunch of folks on the rolling hills of the custis trail, I stopped at the bike stoplight here and leaned against the wall before the intersection because I saw cars stacked up there. Then I got passed by at least 8 people who proceeded through the light.

SHOAL ALERT – stop at those lights. OR at least look before crossing AFTER shoaling me. OR you could do the right thing and wait behind the person in front of you for 15 seconds. The person in front of you might know something about what’s ahead – crossing traffic. The next bicyclist death will occur on this trail either at one of these intersections or the lynn st death crossing.

I have been hit at that spot. I was going toward DC. I had a Walk light (this was before they installed the bike light). I slowed anyway because cars don’t always stop. A car stopped, so I released my brakes. The car sped up and started to turn right. I ended up on his hood. Maybe a year later i am having breakfast with a local cyclist and cyclists from out of town and the subject of accidents comes up. The other cyclist says he’d been hit once by a car, and it turns out it was at this same spot. Moral: Be very careful there.

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