Bike To Work Day 2013

I usually try and make it to the Bethesda pit stop but this year I made it to Silver Spring while taking my daughter to school.

We were running late and the guy with the camera caught me off guard so I did a good amount of blathering.


Meanwhile, three years earlier...

It's crazy to see how much my girl has grown. I think I must be doing ok in the father department if can watch her growth and development (as well as the graying of my facial hair) in the pro-bike culture movies she's... HOLY SHIT! Am I wearing the same god damned clothes!?  Jesus.

As usual it was a great event not matter the pit stop. Props to the sponsors and everyone involved.

Cool Tool: BikePlanner.org

From the bit I've fooled around with this tool seems to be pretty accurate. Check it out,  Bikeplanner.org

My Commute Stinks!

At least it does this week. Last week the DC region was ripped a new one by a storm that came down from the Ohio valley knocking out power to a kagillion people. Being without power for close to a week has some ill effects on the community especially when the highs were in the 100's. One effect that is now making itself painfully clear to me is that everyone without a generator had to throw out everything in their refrigerators. Riding through neighborhoods this week on trash day has been pretty disgusting as at the end of every driveway is a trashcan filled with rancid meat and dairy products. Another ill effect is the state of the Capitol Crescent Trail. Here are some photos of the storm damage taken this morning.

A Turtle Saved Is a Turtle... Somethinged

I saved this little guy from becoming an ineffective speed bump on Sligo Creek Parkway this morning. He seemed pretty pissed none the less. 

A Quick Tale From The Commute

Last week while biking home from work, the car in front began driving erratically and slowed down to around 10mph. I went to pass the car and saw that the woman was texting, holding her iphone in the middle of the steering wheel. I leaned over and screamed "STOP TEXTING!!" into her open window. Startled, she tossed her phone onto the floor and sped off. Social justice feels so good sometimes.

Xtracycle: The Longer Haul Trucker

As previously stated, I have been slacking. Here is my attempt to catch up.

For a long time now, I've been wanting a sport utility bike of some kind. I think this has to do with the amount of kids I have. When the first one was born the idea crept in that it might be nice to have one some day. By the time number two arrived I was in a state of full on man/gear lust. At first I thought I might just spring for a bike trailer and the I could tow the kids to school and go to work in one trip. The problem with this is that I park my bike in my cube and it would suck to have to negotiate a trailer through the office every day. I definitely wanted an SUB.

Being a Surly fan I considered a Big Dummy, but I am a cheap scrounging bastard so the consideration was fleeting. The logical step was to put an Xtracycle on the LHT(yeah you know me), but that too had a stiff price tag (cheap scrounging bastard*).

I decided to use the vast social media empire I built over the years to my advantage. On February 21st I tweeted "anyone in DC want to sell me their Xtracycle?". At the time I thought this was one of the douchier things I've done, which it was, but it worked!
Soon I had a shinny used Xtracycle Free Radical with bags waiting to be installed. I had to purchase another chain and tandem length shifter and brake cables for the extended rear. I also had to do things like measure the elevator at my office to make sure this SUB would make the trip I wouldn't be hiking a 7 foot bike up the office stairwell.

The install went smoothly with no troubles. I had heard of LHT owners complaining that the Xtracycle didn't fit well because of the LHT's longer chainstay but I didn't run into this problem.

The Xtracycle and the Long Haul Trucker seem work pretty well together; the LHT is strong and is already geared for hauling heavy loads. The Xtracycle design is impressively simple, it's easy to install and has a cult following that documents tons of mods and DIY projects.

Now it's time to get my DIY on.

Monday! Thou yeasty milk-livered haggard!

Market Saturation: Too Many Bike Shops?

You can never have too many bike shops. As of late February, I will pass three bike shops along my commute: City Bikes, on the trail at Connecticut ave, Silver Cycles, on Georgia Ave, and now The Bicycle Place, which is moving to Brookville Road a few blocks from where the Capital Crescent Trail lets out.

Bike shops are like assholes, some times they're full of shit snowflakes, no two are alike, and passing by three shops twice a day means I should be pretty well covered. The question arises, with help so close by do I really need to pack a tube and pump?

Drilling For Oil On The Capital Crescent Trail

I'm all for reducing our dependency on foreign oil but I draw the line at drilling on the CCT. They should at least finish exploring the Metropolitan Branch Trial before the commit to destroying such a vital natural resource. 

As you can see by the time stamp I was pretty late to work today.

These bouts of surveying and core samples (or whatever the hell they are doing) have become an annual event on the CCT. Every time they drill the back fill the hole with fresh dirt which sinks in making a nasty pothole. I know, this is the least of the trail's worries. With every hole they dig the Purple Nurple creeps a little closer.

Bike Commuting Can Be Dangerous

Statistically your pretty safe biking to work on roads heavily traveled by automobiles but that doesn't mean things can't go wrong. See the video below of a perfect example of how a group of fellow cyclist, biking to work, were taken out by an driver no doubt engaged in various types of electronic communications.



HANGUP AND DRIVE BUDDY!

A Craptastic Commute

I feel exceedingly fortunate while I'm bike commuting. I feel this way when I see traffic backing up or people slumped behind the wheel fighting to gain a few more feet. Rain or shine my mind is racing; one side of my brain is having fun riding the bike while the other side wanders happily from one thought to the next.

This is what happens during the ride.

Before the ride things are different. I am busy getting ready; the usual three S's, make lunch, let daughter help make lunch, find my bike clothes, play with daughter, get daughter and wife out the door, find the rest of my bike clothes... etc.  It's in this frantic pace that I sometimes forget how fortunate I am, especially on a crappy day like today. I have already acclimated to the warmer days and this 40 degree rainy shitfest isn't very inspiring.  I bitch and moan to myself and sheepishly ask my wife for a ride into the office, she calls me a pussy... point taken.

After they leave, I bitch and moan some more... I'm gonna get soaked and cold and when I get to the office I'll be soaked even more so. I'll have to set up the shanty town, ring out my socks in the parking garage and hope everything dries for the ride home... there's nothing worse than putting cold wet bike clothes back on, etc.

I finally get ready and force myself to push off from the front porch. One side of my brain immediately started having fun while the other thought about pollen, then bees, then if Hesher is going to be any good and if Osama was wearing shoes when they got him and when will chanterelles come back and so on and it seemed my craptastic commute ended the moment I started pedaling.

A Cyclist's Guide To Impressing Your Coworkers

My first and only rule on how to impress coworkers in to occasionally take your work shoes home and forget them the next day.



Nothing says "I'm a take charge kind of guy" like wearing Specialized mountain bike shoes around the office.

Also, turning your office space into a shanty town doesn't hurt either.

Yep the next few rungs on the ole' corporate ladder just got a little closer.

Friday and I have not reached an agreement but will continue to negotiate.

Wrecked: Walking Speed Wipe Out

In my last post I mentioned that the LHT was out of commission and I would be commuting on my road bike for the time being. I've put thousands of miles on my road bike and have never come close to falling off... until this week.

I was waiting to cross over Georgia Ave. on Forest Glen and if timed right I can get across before traffic from the oncoming turning lane entered the intersection. When the opportunity arose I mashed down putting all my force into the pedals. I hadn't gotten past walking speed when on my second stroke the chain slipped off the ring and I was sent over the bars and onto my back in the middle of Georgia Ave. I was stunned, in less than two strokes I had managed to launch myself out of the saddle and over the bars. WTF?!

I rolled out of the fall, grabbed my bike and sprinted out of the intersection. Before I could make it to the sidewalk a gaggle of pedestrians had gathered to see if I was ok, which was cool. However I was still pretty shocked and trying to figure out what happened and if I damaged the bike. As people commiserated and recommended holistic solutions for cuts and scrapes I noticed I bashed the shit out of my shifters.

This combined with a rear blowout the next morning was enough to make me yearn for my LHT.

Maybe I can find some cheap replacement shifters at the Pedal Pushers Swap Meet in Eastern Market tomorrow.

Lastly, it's April 1st, 2011 and we all know what that means.

Happy Friday mother fuckers!

Small Talk Paradox: "How Was Your Commute?"

Office small talk; it's something we all take part in whether we like it or not. Being a bike commuter makes you an easy target in these sometimes awkward moments. When you're in the elevator or at the water cooler or any other pocket of the office where you are forced to be in the company of others, the silence can be deafening. You and your unintended companion are left glancing around grasping for an icebreaker of some kind. It's in this moment when you, the bike commuter are most vulnerable.

"Weren't you freezing out there?"
"Weren't you burning up out there?"
"How far do you ride again?"
"What time of year do you stop riding?"
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" (ok I made that one up)

Most of the time coworkers take the path of least resistance and go for the simple "So! How was the ride?", followed by "You're crazy man!" after my response. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice gesture and I do appreciate the thought. This person wants to hear how cool my commute was, and that's cool. However, the question is asked of me so often I started giving it right back to the source.

"My ride was awesome! How was your drive in?"

This is met with a wide spectrum of responses; anywhere from detailed counter traffic strategies, "Well this morning they were stacked up all they way to the blah blah so I took the parkway to the blah blah..." to head shaking and guttural noises, "nnnmmmuuurrrph."

Most of the time though the question is met with a slight grimace as if to say "You know it sucked, why the hell would you ask me that? It's cruel to fuck with me this early in the morning?"

This led me to ponder the trend... it seems to be a common assumption that being a bike commuter, my daily ride in is always great and that any commute by car is always shitty. If that assumption is both true and common why aren't people more open minded about bike commuting?

The same person who complains about the traffic every day gets to work with two assumptions, that my ride in was awesome and that I'm crazy for doing it.

My assumption is that a good percentage of these people live an easily rideable distance from the office.

I apologize, that was way too many assumptions for one post.

PSA: If you or anyone you know in the DC area has a coworker like this direct them to this website immediately.

It's gonna be a humpalicious Wednseday, enjoy!

Wednesday Morning On The Capital Crescent Trail

The trail is looking a lot better than it did a few days ago but there are still rough patches. This is video of the stretch between Jones Mill Rd. and Connecticut Ave.



This was the roughest part of the trail north of Bethesda. Aside from a few icy patches the rest of the trail is ready to ride.

Capital Crescent Trail Conditions And CLIF Bar Love

If you commuters out there are wondering how the Capital Crescent is doing and if it's ok to ride again; here are today's conditions.



The Montgomery County Parks Department needs to invest in a zamboni. The trail is still mostly covered in very hard bumpy ice. The ice tires help a lot on the LHT but dammit I wish they were fatter. I'm tempted to ride my mountain bike to cushion the ride.

Hope this helps.

I got a care package yesterday from Lisa over at Clif Bar. I'm trying not to be such a whore but I love the crap out of their bars and am looking forward to trying out all the other crap they make.

Feel free to share your experiences with anything pictured above.



Friday, you magnificent bastard...

Snow Ride Video!

I shot some video on Wednesday of the my morning commute on the Capital Crescent Trail. What little snow there was, was (was was) sticky so I didn't have any problems on my touring tires (like I did last year).



When I got to work I found a deal on some Innova studded 700x35s.

There are a little thinner than my Continental Contacts but hopefully that will make them better in the deep stuff. I got them mainly because the were cheap as hell and the reviews said they were decent. It's like they were made just for me. I'll do a review after I break them in a bit.

Nice Beaver!

Why thank you, I just had it stuffed...

Some beavers moved into Sligo Creek. It will be cool to bare witness to their engineering prowess right on my daily route.

Biking To Work Vs. Biking

I love riding a bike. I ride a bike almost every day. I love riding a bike. Yesterday I took the LHT (yeah you know me) on a grocery run. It was beautiful out and as I said before I really do love riding a bike. I was feeling good so I threw a few more errands into the trip. Taking shortcuts through the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Silver Spring, I was able to avoid the main roads which are no fun. I hit the grocery store and with panniers stuffed full of food I headed home. The whole trip was pretty uneventful.

After a few hours of puttering around the house and playing with my daughter, my wife said "Oh, so how was your ride?". I had to stop and think. How was my ride? I honestly couldn't remember. I could clearly see myself at the bank and the grocery but I had no memory of the ride.

My first thought was, "Shit, has riding a bike become as mundane as driving a car?" I quickly dismissed the thought because it was silly. What lingered was the desire to do some more recreation oriented cycling. I need to get mountain biking and fast. There is a big difference in your state of mind between riding your bike to work and riding your bike to see where the trail leads.

I have been pretty busy as of late. Whenever I get an invitation to ride with a friend I usually decline because there is so much crap to do on the weekends. My friends give me shit about it and rightfully so. I justify this shit by thinking  "It's ok, I ride my bike every day and that's a hell of a lot more than my friends do." Which is true, being able to ride to work is great. I can't really put into words how bike commuting has improved my life, but at the end of the journey I'm at work and that kind of a ride shouldn't be in place of actual cycling, you know... for fun.

Zen And The Art Of Bicycle Neglect

I started biking (again) in 1995. My first mountain bike was a 95 Giant 870 ATX which I still have and ride on occasion.



For something I held (and hold) so dear to my heart I treated it brutally. Over the years I've ridden it into the ground only to dig it up and trash it again. My friends and I used to race right down the middle of Difficult Run. The water gradually got deeper and we would reluctantly float away from their bikes as the frames clung to the bottom of the creek. I remember the time the hub bearings seized while I was riding around the monuments with my girlfriend (wife). This of course was the result of too many creek races. One time the drive side crank sheared off while I was booking down 16th street on the way to work. The chain bounced and skidded on the pavement while I was left going full speed through traffic, my right foot aloft with a crank arm and chainrings dangling, still clipped into my shoe.

I digress.

Through these experiences I've learned to take better care of my bikes.  I don't ride them into the ground anymore but I come pretty close. There is always that question, "How hard and far can I push this component  before it brakes and I'm left walking?". That question was on my mind as I cleaned my horribly impacted chain this morning in the 40 degree sunshine. It was pathetic, the drivetrain looked and felt like someone melted black crayons into it while I was pedaling down the beach. I'm glad my neighbors didn't come out while the embarrassing de-funking was taking place.

As I de-funked I noticed that my 36t chainring was beginning to shark-fin which meant that besides the teeth wearing down the chain had stretched. In the past I wouldn't have given this much thought. I probably would have let it go for another few seasons until it snapped or got so bad that  my friends made fun of me.

Nowadays I'm trying to find that sweet spot between gear longevity and ride quality.  Sure I could probably push these components another season or two, but what kind of seasons would those be? There would  be lots of extra friction and shifting issues, and then I would have to replace more parts all at once as the drive train components would wear down together. Getting as much as I can out of a piece of gear is the goal but no longer will I compromise the ride as an experience to get it.

LHT Spotted In My Building

Someone else in my building is rocking a LHT (yeah you know me). Small world, I'll have to keep a look out for a like minded individual. It's easy to spot a Long Haul Trucker commuter. Just look for the person who seems happier than everyone else.

2010 blue 26-er

I will find you, and I will pick your brain...

(creepy)