Category: cycling

What’s August Going to Be Like?

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It was t-shirt and shorts day. No need for layers since it was already 65 degrees outside when I left the house. I have been so obsessed with the cherry blossoms in DC that I forgot about the one on the front lawn. It’s a weeping cherry and Little Nellie thinks it looks fine.

The ride in was as splendid as a bike ride could be. My only problem was the fact that I got only 5 hours of sleep last night because it was 80 degrees in our house. We are experiencing a bit of a heat wave here in DC.  The thermometer hit 90 today which broke the record. Fortunately the humidity was low, so there were no dead bodies along the Mount Vernon Trail.

Unfortunately, the lovely weather has brought out the Lancelots, cyclists who think its reasonable to buzz past you without warning at 25 miles per hour. I will not cry when I see one of them under a BMW.

On the way home I diverted into DC for a final ride by the cherry blossoms. It seemed a good ten degrees cooler in DC. There were people everywhere. I rode two laps around East Potomac Park, meeting up with Dana from the Friday Coffee Club. We continued on through the epic traffic jam, on to the 14th Street bridge, and south on the MVT.  I mentioned that it seemed significantly hotter on this side of the river. Dana said, “That’s because we’re in the south.” He should be a meteorologist.

We had a fierce headwind. Dana tucked in behind me and was kind enough not to rear end me when I came to a near stop several times. At the south end of the airport, Dana turned off on the Four Mile Run trail. I continued into the wind.

Near the power plant two passing runners looked like they were having seizures. I heard one of them say “bugs”. A second later I was in one of those spring time bug clouds. Ack!

The rest of the ride was honest work. I didn’t see any interesting waterfowl. Or raptors. My recent regulars weren’t around, but I did see Hardware Store Guy. He owns the hardware store near my house. He rides a red Serotta up and down the MVT in the morning.

Tomorrow I get the day off. My daughter has a lacrosse game and my wife turns 37 again.

Big Nellie Turns 32,000

I hadn’t planned on riding at all today but the weather was so nice, I couldn’t help myself. I took Big Nellie, my Tour East recumbent, down to Mount Vernon with a quick loop around Fort Hunt Park. In my travels I got a good bead on the Fort Hunt bald eagle nest. It’s easily the biggest one around.

On the way back home, I stopped to take a picture.

Big Nellie Turns 32

Big Nellie finally made it. Now she’s only 400 or so miles behind The Mule, my Specialized Sequoia.

February by the Numbers

I biked 494 miles in February. All but 48 miles of that was bike commuting. I rode to and from work 15 times, 8 times on Little Nellie and 7 on Big Nellie.

For the year I have ridden 1,084 miles with 34 bike commutes. I don’t think I’ve ridden more than 32 miles in a day.

As the weather improves, my bike commuting pace will slow down a bit. I have another college safari to do at the end of the month, plus a full slate of high school girl’s lacrosse games, a business trip, three nights of a high school musical, a college student move out, and various and sundry high school graduation events. I hope to average at least ten bike commutes per month.

Oh, and I forgot, as I was writing this, a weather forecast appeared on the TV. We are supposed to get snow next week. I may get to try out those snowshoes I bought after Snowmaggedon after all.

Incoming!!!

I woke up at 5:30. Actually my bladder woke up at 5:30. My brain was still asleep. It was a fierce fight for anatomical dominance but my bladder won.  My trip to the end of the driveway was invigorating. Not because of my bladder. It was in the 20s and the wind was blowing.  Maybe I should get wind resistant jammies. I briefly considered driving to work, but then I thought, “Why not freeze my noo noos off instead?”  And so I rode Big Nellie into the frigid morning.
Despite the big fairing on the front of Big Nellie, I was having quite a rough time getting any speed going.  I hit the hill on Park Terrace Drive going only about 10 miles per hour.  In a few seconds, I was doing 32 and ducking behind the fairing to preserve the flesh around my eyes.  Tears were shed involuntarily. Dang.
Onto the Mount Vernon Trail without a stop to cross the Parkway. Ithink I will call this maneuver “Pulling a Moses.” How nice of people to provide a gap in traffic. The Dyke Marsh boardwalk was free of rime, too, so things were going swimmingly.
I didn’t blog about my ride yesterday but it was notable for two wildlife sightings. Along the river near Dyke Marsh a tree was absolutely filled with red winged blackbirds. They were making the trilling sound that reminds me so much of my days as a kid playing in and around Dead Man’s Pond.  (Sounds a bit like something Luke Skywalker would say, no?) Sadly, the pond was filled in by developers long ago. When I got to the northern side of Belle Haven Park, I spotted a bald eagle about 200 feet up in the air flying from the river across the trail toward the Beltway/US1 mixing bowl.
Yesterday’s flashback was provided so that I could place today’s wildlife sighting in context. As usual, I was hoping to spot a bald eagle in the Belle Haven nest.  Instead, I spotted one about 30-50 feet high gliding straight toward me over the trail.  All I could think of was, “It would suck to be a mouse right now.” Just before getting to me, the eagle flapped its wings, turned and gained altitude as it headed for the nest. Double dang.
I slogged into the headwind through Old Town. The beaver dam is starting to get built up again. I wonder if this isn’t the work of the National Park Service official beaver dam disrupter or just a very stubborn beaver. The water level is almost up to the trail again so I suspect the disruptor will be back soon. Damn. (So to speak.)
The rest of the ride in was work. As usual, once I cleared the airport, I had nothing to block the headwind. The bike seemed unusually sluggish. On the way home I learned that my front fender was dragging on the side of my front tire. I must have been really sleepy this morning because I didn’t hear it rubbing even with the fairing to amplify the sound. Once I freed the tire, I could enjoy the tailwind all the way home.
And so I completed my 30th bike commute of 2013.  Normally I don’t hit 30 until sometime in March. Tomorrow I am driving in. The forecast is calling for afternoon snow showers and a wintry mix for the evening rush. Not gonna happen on two wheels.

El Gran Errando – Sums It Up

Part of the rules of the Errandonnee Challenge is that you have to submit a control card.  Here’s goes mine:

Errand No. 1

Errand No. 2

Errand No. 3

Errand No. 4

Errand No. 5

Errand No. 6

Errand No. 7

Errand No. 8

Errand No. 9

Errand No. 10

Errand No. 11

Errand No. 12

  • Date: February 19
  • Category: Wild Card (7-11 in Hollin Hall) (7th category, 1st time, 2nd night time errand)
  • Miles: 1.0 (Actually 29 but I can’t really count my commuting miles)
  • Total Miles: 107
  • Observation: When a raccoon crosses your path, it must be your lucky day. Buy a lottery ticket or two.
  • Photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/rootchopper/8491047904/in/photostream

Final Observation: I honestly can’t believe I did this. It just goes to show you what throwing in the towel at the start can do when you are El Gran Errando.

For ease of use, here are the pix .

The End of an Errand

The ride to work today was a gift.  A tailwind made it a literal and figurative breeze. Little Nellie was my hoss du jour, because of the threat of rain for the evening rush. About two miles from home a raccoon sauntered out in front of me. It was a big one. It could have been a normal sized raccoon with its fur fluffed up against the cold. Or maybe it was a momma full of babies. In any case, it made it to the middle of the street and stopped. It turned its head to check me out, the, as if it were saying “D’oh!” turned around and scampered back the way it had come. Actually, it was more like a waddle than a scamper. Maybe it had too much scampi at the garbage buffet.

I was hoping for more wild life on the way in. There was the usual heap of geese and ducks and a great blue heron all scrunched up out in the river. No raptors or exotics. (I am soooo spoiled.)

I am starting to get the Rosslyn Circle of Certain Doom down to a science. Just assume that, when the light turns red, three cars will run the red to turn onto Key Bridge. Then proceed. You see car drivers never flaunt the laws like bike riders. Never ever.

The ride home was started by a jaw dropping moment.  It was light out. Not, almost-sunset light out, but honest to bejebus light out. And it stayed that way all the way to Belle Haven Park.  Even beyond there was enough sunlight left over that the headlights of the cars on the Parkway were tolerable.

By the time I arrived at the stone bridge 2 miles from home it was dark. I was running my Stella headlight on “high”. I headed for the 7-11 near home and stopped to do my last errand of the Errandonnee. Since it was my wild card, I thought it would be appropriate to buy a couple of lottery tickets. And so I did. Since it was in the dark, I also knocked off my second ride at night.

Errand 12: Wild Card

Now that the Errandonnee is in the books, El Gran Errando will retire knowing that this challenge was muy bueno.

Robineering

The weatherman warned that there might be snow this evening. Or their might not. I want his job.

Just to be safe Little Nellie got the call today. I can say for certain after riding her 20 miles today that the tweak to the saddle position is a rousing success. And the repair to my shifter cable likewise.

The ride in was nothing to write home about.  And since I am at home as I write this ther wouldn’t be any point to doing so if I did.  Cruising along between the Humpback Bridge and the Memorial Bridge I spotted two robins bopping along the side of the Mount Vernon Trail. They didn’t have their bright orange breast feathers yet but they were definintely robins.

There were a bunch of soldiers doing what must be a required fitness task. They put on massive back packs and walk along the trail. I can tell they are being timed because they look down at their watches and because there’s another soldier timing them at what looked like the finish line just north of the 14th Street bridge.  One of the soldiers was actually running with his pack on. All I could think of is, “Dude, your body’s going to remember this in about 20 years.”

The ride in was dry with a head wind. The ride home was in a spitting rain.  The tailwind made it tolerable. Once the sun went down it was exceptionally hard to see as the light from my helmet lamp and the cars on the parkway were reflecting off of all the water.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Rather than race around trying to get flowers for Mrs. Rootchopper, I diverted to the Safeway and picked some up. (Here’s hoping the Mrs. does read my blog.)  It took me five minutes to pick them out and buy them. It took ten minutes of walking around in the rain beforehand trying to find something to lock LIttle Nellie to.  I ended up just locking the rear wheel to the frame near some shopping carts.  Sadly, this is all too familiar in Mount Vernon. Fairfax County is way behind on accommodating biked as transportation.

For those of you who are into the errandoneering challenge, I scored two rides today. 1 bike commute of 29 miles (errand number 6) and one trip to the grocery store (errand number 7) in the dark (a one-half mile diversion off my bike commute).  So that gives me 1 of 2 night time rides.

Happy Ash Valentines Eve.

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Audio Ninja

A few months ago I coined the term “veloworker” to describe someone who tells their boss they’re telecommuting then goes out for a bike ride.
Yesterday I started a new feature of this blog. I call it Danger of the Day.

Today my neologistic skills meet Danger of the Day. I give you the audio ninja.
As every winter bike commuter knows, a ninja is a person who wears dark clothing on an unlit trail at night. Ninjas wear no lights and eschew reflective material. When backlit by a car’s headlights, ninjas are invisible.  So far this winter I have had about 20 ninja near misses. Early in the winter I saw a bike commuter and a ninja disentangling themselves after the cyclist ran the ninja over south of National Airport on the Mount Vernon Trail.
Today during broad daylight I encountered a runner on the trail as I approached the base of the switchback bridge to Rosslyn. She was clad in black cycling clothes. Protruding from the bottom of her colorful woolen winter hat, I could see white earbuds. The earbuds were wired to an iPod or smartphone which she held in one of her gloved hands. She was running on the center line of the trail. As Big Nellie and I came upon her from behind, I rang my bell. She stayed in the center of the trail. I slowed and rang the bell again. Without looking she moved to the left directly in front of me. I started to pass her on the right and she moved back to the right in front of me, again without looking. I think that maybe she saw that bikes were coming down the bridge toward her on the left side of the trail.  By this point, I was so close to her I nearly clipped her heels with my front wheel. I was tempted to use my fairing to deflect her into the weeds. Unfortunately, like my bicycle death ray, this sort of thing only really works in my imagination. Instead, I yelled “Give me a break!!!” or words to that effect.
So today’s Danger of the Day is the audio ninja: a trail user  so zoned out on  her music that she has no situational awareness whatsoever.

Like Savoir Faire, #bikedc Is Everywhere

During my bike commutes, I often see my regulars. These include Hoppy Guy, Three-step Runner, Fitness Woman, Grafixnerd Clone, and French Braid Cyclist. I don’t know any of them. In fact, with the exception of Hoppy Guy, we rarely acknowledge each other.

Once you start becoming known in the #bikedc community, this sort of annonymity goes out the window. In the last two days I have seen Bob (@Rcannon100) twice. Last night (as I forgot to mention in my blog post) I ran into Chris (@bilsko). This morning I saw Nancy (@nduley) who has become one of my regulars.

For many years Mrs. Rootchopper and I would wonder how we knew so many people in the DC area and never ran into them. When I am on the bike, that’s no longer the case. I’m lousy with names but there are now so many people in the #bikedc twitterverse that I can’t keep track of people’s actual names.

Then there is the strange case of Alex and Bec. There I was riding alone in the Tour du Port in Baltimore, when I hear a woman say, “Are you from DC?” Alex and Bec had spotted my pin from @SharrowsDC, a #bikedc blogger of ill repute.

I often get spotted by other cyclists when I am on my Bike Friday or my recumbent. Riding BOUDs (Bikes of Unusual Design) makes me stick out. Another give away may be my biking clothing which is to say my non-biking clothing. I wear a helmet and pretty much everything else I wear above my feet is whatever clothing works for the weather. My Marmot Precip jacket and pants are for hiking. My holey sweater was once a regular wool sweater. Some of my base layers are cheapo shirts from some random department store. For gloves I often wear mittens. It’s Hobo Chic.

Ironically, one of the reasons I started cycling as an adult was the fact that it was so hard to get a group of people together to play a team sport like basketball or softball. Now, it’s pretty easy to get a bunch of people together for a ride. I notified a bunch of #bikedc people about the Vasa ride in March. Nearly all of them signed up. It’s going to be crowded out there!

I wrote all the above during the day. I rode home. I saw no one I knew. Go figure.

Puppy Bowl Hangover

The fam and I went to Rocky and Chelli’s house in North Arlington to watch the Puppy Bowl last night. Some fool put on a football game that lasted until 11. We ate too much and drank some ourselves some beers. Still crazy after all these years. Wait, no. Oh, nevermind. The point is we didn’t get home until 11:30.

After 5 1/2 hours of sleep I was awake.  I decided to take my daughter’s car in for service since it had a flat-ish front tire. So I put Little Nellie in the trunk and drove to the mechanic. I pulled Little Nellie out of the trunk and the pedals wouldn’t turn. I should know better but I pushed on the pedals a couple of times in the hopes of freeing things up. No such luck. I looked down and saw the rear shifter cable looped over the left crank arm.

I unlooped the cable but now the cable was all stretched. I played with it and my 2-cent mechanical skills allowed me a full 10 gears to ride to work with. That ought to be enough, thought I, and off I went.  I was a little underdressed for the 28 degree weather but I warmed up soon enough. The ride in was pretty uneventful. I passed Bob Cannon (@rcannon100) on the MVT as he was heading south and I was heading north. He didn’t notice me. I am so inconspicuos on my clown bike.

I survived the Rosslyn Circle of Doom and an entire d

Beaver Dam Gash

ay smashing words and numbers into littler words and numbers. Just before 5 I headed home. It was LIGHT OUT!!!!! I didn’t bother to turn my headlight on until I was in Old Town. On the way there I stopped to check out the cut in the beaver dam north of Slaters Lane. The National Park Service has a crack Beaver Dam Demolition Team. They come and breach the dam whenever it gets high enough to cause flooding near the trail and the adjacent playing fields. Beaver Dam Demolition is a full time job. The NPS-BDDT is out there working every week.  You can see the beavers sitting off to the side flipping them the beaver bird.

I didn’t have to pick up the car. Mrs. Rootchopper picked up our daughter and they did it for me. The mechanic couldn’t find a leak but strangely he charged us for plugging it. Which I suppose is fair because the last time he fixed an actual leak, he fixed it for free. I think I may have to find a mechanic located outside of the Twilight Zone.

In the last half mile before home, snowflakes began to swirl around me.  The new name for these don’t-amount-to-anything snows we are having is “conversational snow”.  If this one gets chatty, I may have to drive tomorrow.