It doesn’t seem possible for the sunrise to be so far down river. In about a week it will start creeping northward. Unfortunately, the cold weather will linger long after the days start to get longer. Have clothes, will bike.

There is a short list of things that will keep me off my bike:

1. Sickness
2. Family conflicts
3. Mechanical problems (rare since I own 3 bikes)
4. Tornado warnings (I’ve actually ridden through several without knowing)
5. Lightning (ditto)
6. Snow
7. Ice

So far this year, I’ve missed commuting for numbers 1, 2, and 6. Today, I encountered 7. 

It was plenty cold when I left home. I had broken out my holey sweater and my booties to keep me comfortable. I was dressed perfectly. No discomfort whatsoever.

The holey sweater has lots of holes but they are hard to see.  It’s at least 10 years old and made of soft wool.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I encountered my first wooden bridge on the Mount Vernon Trail. This is a long boardwalk across a section of Dyke Marsh on the Potomac River.  You can clearly see the frost on the boards. This is pretty easy to ride on as long as I lay off my brakes and ride in a straight line.  There are several more wooden bridges that were in the same condition. I took my time and made it across them unscathed.  One bridge had several skid marks and a few gouges from pedals.  It has curves and swales in it. It eats bikes with skinny tires for breakfast.

Little Nellie and the icy boardwalk at Dyke Marsh

About 13 miles into my ride, a bike commuter coming toward me hollered, “Ice!”.  A hundred yards further on I saw what she was talking about. Water had drained from a grassy slope and frozen across about fifty yards of the trail.  Riding over this stuff would be bad news because the trail is tilted a bit toward the river. So I stopped and walked.  Good move. I warned a few bike commuters as they approached. One guy dismounted and said, “New World Tourist?” I said, “Yes” and noticed that he was on one too, except his was shiny red and clean. Little Nellie was jealous.

Bike riders who encountered this icy stretch of trail ride around it on the grass.  This has already started to create quite a mess. Soon mud will be added to the icy mix.  Too bad the Park Service doesn’t sand and salt the trail as it does the Parkway just up the hill to the right. Little Nellie gets no respect, no respect at all. 

Another Bike Friday commuter admires Little Nellie.

Winter. Soon the trail will be covered in ice and snow and I’ll be riding in my basement. So it goes.   

A couple of months ago, a motorist tried to teach some cyclist a lesson about driving on the George Washington Parkway.  It seems this old man has decided that he is the boss of all you cyclists who dare to ride on the Parkway.  According to news reports, this demented fool first tried to intimidate a pack of 5 cyclists by crossing over the center line and veering toward them as the approached from the opposite direction. When that tactic didn’t satisfy him, he did a u-turn and overtook the cyclists, swerved in front of them, and slammed on his brakes. Four of the cyclists escaped serious injury; the fifth was not so fortunate.  He ended up underneath the rear of the car and suffered (among other injuries) a broken hip. He and the others are damned lucky to be alive.

The driver sped away down Collingwood Road, in the direction of my house.  He is an elderly white man driving a gold Cadillac.  There is a $10,000 reward leading to information about him.  I have spent my last three weekend days doing what amounts to a grid search for this car.  I have so far covered over 70 miles of streets in the area near the incident.  I figure that sooner or later I will find this car. The money would be nice but I’m motivated by self preservation. We have to get this lunatic off the roads before he kills someone. 

Here is an account of the incident and a description of the vehicle and driver.  If you are in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County, please keep an eye out for him. 

I had an interesting commute today. I came upon another bike commuter and we played leap frog for about a half mile or so on suburban side street. At one point, she was some 150 feet ahead of me; I was in my usual early morning daze, my head hanging down. I heard her bell go “ding” and I looked up. I saw two deer crossing the road only a few feet in front of her. As they reached the lawn on the right side of the road, I saw them turn. Then I realized they were following 2 other deer. They were running at full tilt and heading straight for me! Thankfully, they stayed on the lawn and blew past me. I had no chance to get a picture. Later, I stopped near National Airport to get a shot of a commuter jet coming in for a landing.

Whenever I tour, I find myself drawn to beautiful old houses. This is the Tower House in Mount Vernon. It once stood alone with a commanding view of the Potomac River. Now it is surrounded by new megahouses, none of which can hold a candle to it. About 20 years ago, Tower House was in disrepair but recent owners have done a terrific job of fixing it up. The wrap around porch and the spectacular tower are two features that will go on my dream house. (I am planning on building it once my Powerball investment pays off.

Little Nellie stands in front of the house. For some reason, this reminded me of the Wyeth painting Christina’s World. Neither Nellie nor I are much for grassy hills though.

We’ve lived in the Mount Vernon section of Fairfax County for over 20 years.  Over a decade ago a homeowner started to build something big behind his little Cape Cod house on Collingwood Road, about 1/2 mile from ours.  That something turned out to be a much larger house.  When he was done, he tore down the Cape Cod.  The big house is actually pretty distinctive looking.  This time of year, however, it’s VERY distinctive looking.  The homeowner has turned his house and yard into a genuine Christmas lighting extravaganza. This can make for traffic problems, especially when idiots pull over and let their kids walk along the narrow road in the dark.  A few years ago he added a low wattage radio station so that people who park in front of his house can listen to Christmas tunes as they check out the lights.

This actually started out as a modest lighting display but he has added to it every year. Sometimes the lights go out then come on sequentially, sometimes he has flashing white lights distributed among the steady colored lights. And every year is different.  If you are in the area, take a meander down Collingwood Road to check this out. /It’s about 4 1/2 miles south of Old Town Alexandria on the Mount Vernon Trail and GW Parkway.

It’s been a little chilly here in DC this week. What’s a bike commuter to do? Dress wisely. I suppose you could look fashionably in the process but who the heck is going to see you?  With this minimal get up, I was completely comfortable with temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s.  Here’s what I wore.

A Bell helmet for safety.  On top of the helmet is a Light and Motion Stella light. Stella is light weight and her battery lasts long enough that I can set her on full power for my 90-minute round trip.  On the back of the helmet, I have a Planet Bike red blinky light.  It works just fine as long as I keep fresh AA batteries in it.  Under my helmet I wear an oversized skull cap. The cap is made of wicking material so I don’t get sweaty. This keeps the air from the helmet vents from freezing my head off and keeps my body heat from going up the chimney.  It also covers most of my ears.  A dial on the back of the helmet snugs things up so my helmet doesn’t flop around.

On my upper body I have a green t-shirt made of similar wicking material.  Over that I have a plain cotton short-sleeve t-shirt. The gray jacket is made for hiking.  It’s the Precip model by Marmot and it is nearly waterproof.  It has huge zipper vents that allow my body heat to escape.  I also route the cable from the head light under my jacket, through a vent and into a side pocket where it connects with a battery pack.  It has a hood that I use when it gets down in the 20s or when it rains.

Not shown are my massive full-finger gloves. These extend half way up my forearms and cinch tight to the jacket sleeves. They have four fingers instead of five; the ring finger and pinkie share a finger compartment.  Very warm and also water resistant.  To top it off. the gloves have reflective material on them which comes in handy when signalling turns.

My legs are covered with long black tights over briefs. Both are made of wicking material.  Finally my feet are covered in Smartwool socks and my normal biking shoes. Each sock is wrapped with a reflective strap for more visibility.  My toes were a little cold when I got to work so I think I am going to slip a plastic bag (courtesy of the Washington Posts delivery man) over each foot tomorrow.

My bike has an additional head and tail light.  My Orlieb handlebar bag and rear panniers have big reflective white diamond on them. My Zimbale saddle bag has a reflective patch on it as well.  If you can’t see me, you are blind.

I have some more stuff that I wear when it gets colder but I am hoping not to use them for a few more weeks. 
 

I haven’t seen a sunrise in a while but the shift to standard time and the shortening of the day gave me a nice surprise this morning. The sun is rising farther downriver giving me a slightly different angle on the proceedings from my usual perch on the boardwalk in Dyke Marsh. The next time I see a sunrise will be Wednesday when it will be about 20 degrees cooler. I can’t say that I am looking forward to the cold.

So I’m meandering around on my bike and my mind is drifting. It’s late November and the temps are in the 60s, probably payback for the freak snowstorm we had in October. For some reason, I get the word “red” stuck in my mind.  Then I wonder how many songs use “red”.  I am lost in red thoughts. I forget that my left knee is screaming and think of a list of red songs. Here’s what I came up with:

I See Red – Split Enz
Yes It Is – The Beatles (If you wear red tonight…)
Roxanne – The Police (…you don’t have to put on the red light)
New Years Day – U2 (Under a blood red sky)
Hi Heel Sneakers – Tommy Tucker (Put on your red dress momma…)
Lady in Red – Chris de Burgh
Red Rubber Ball – The Cyrcle
Red Red Wine – UB40
Panama Red – New Riders of the Purple Sage
 
I thought of Raspberry Beret and Pink Cadillac but they are cheating.  And then there’s A Day in the Life (I read the news today, oh boy…) but that’s worse.  Then the ride was over.

Not much of a list but I suppose you all could add to it.  Give it a go.

Update: Thru the miracle of social media we have these additions.

Mrs Rootchopper came up with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer – Gene Autry
Rick Prescott came up with:
Red River Valley
Red Sails in the Sunset
Casey Jones – Grateful Dead ( “Look out ahead, lady in red”)
Little Red Riding Hood (Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs)

The last of these brings to mind the first album I owned by my own self.

Snoopy and the Red Baron by the Royal Guardsmen.

And another
Black, White and Blood Red. – BoDeans

Mainer Renee Olin showed her new southern roots by adding Rednecks, White Socks, and Blue Ribbon Beer by Johnny Russell.
Steve Fisher all the way ferom Prague adds:
Red Rain – Peter Gabriel
Little Red Corvette – Prince
Red Tide – Rush
Red House – Jimi Hendrix
Red Headed Woman – Bruce Springsteen
99 Red Balloons – Nena

Any more?

I have a friend who seems to defy gravity.  Her name is Florencia, but most people call her Flor.  Ironic, no?  Well, Flor is very passionate about nutrition, mental, physical and spiritual, health and exercise. I first met her on the 50 States Ride in DC.  It was a brutally hot day and the route was very hilly. Most of us were slogging up the hills in our granny gear. Flor was floating, dancing effortlessly on her pedals.  She barely seemed to break a sweat. As it turns out, she also climbs rocks,  Big ones. Cliffs actually.  The kind that most mortals wouldn’t even think about. When I saw some pictures of her dressed all in black climbing some impossibly scary looking wall of granite, I called her spider woman.

For mind and body, Flor likes to do yoga. Of course, for most people this is an earth-bound activity.  Not for Flor. Her latest passion is acroyoga. As the word implies, acroyoga combines yoga with acrobatics. Each Sunday in Meridian Hill Park in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC, people get together to do their acroyoga thing.  Flor has been telling me to check it out for a while.  Last Sunday, the weather was nice, and Little Nellie was looking for a place to ride so we set out to the city to watch Flor fly.

Where’s Waldo?

I love the Mount Vernon Trail. It’s as nice a bike ride as you can find, but I ride it every day on my way to work. Instead of riding the trail from Alexandria to DC on the Virginia side of the Potomac, I decided to cross over into Maryland on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trail and ride to Adams Morgan by way of Oxon Hill Farm, Anacostia, and Capitol Hill.

At Oxon Hill Farm, I took a path down hill through a wooded area.  Out of the corner of my eye I spotted 2 wild turkeys. I stopped to take a picture but lost the turkeys in the browns and grays of the woods.  As I was straining to spot the turkeys, I came to realize that I was practically surrounded by deer. They blended almost perfectly into the trees.

Hiding in Plain Sight

A mile or so farther along, the path emptied into a light industrial area.  Tucked into the southernmost corner of DC, this little neighborhood contained a big job training center, a nursery with vast greenhouses, water and sewage treatment plants, the DC police academy, and a nondescript new police building.  In front of this building stood an odd looking black and gray sculpture.  It looked like a wave of some sort. Nellie went in for a closer look.  Much of the sculpture was made from handguns.  I wondered where they all came from. Actually, I don’t think I want to know.

Wave of Violence?

Guns

Moving on I made my way up yet another hill to Martin Luther King Boulevard.  This took me across a series of smallish hills through some seriously poor neighborhoods.  Just before entering Anacostia River Park, I spotted some posters of photographs hung on a chain link fence. Little Nellie posed with them.

Cuddle Up

After stopping to take in some flag football, I rode out of the park, across the Sousa Bridge, and up Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill. I stopped at Eastern Market to grab a bite to eat.  I briefly listened to a couple of young buskers playing pop music on flute and violin.

Emory vs. Virginia Tech

Busking

All this dilly dallying was going to make me late for the acroyoga, so after a lemonade and a pretzel, I pedaled as fast as I could to Adams Morgan.  After some encounters with stairs, I found a bikeable path into Meridian Hill Park. After a few minutes I came upon a couple. The man was prone on a blanket. A petite brunette woman was straddling his legs and rubbing his back. It was Flor and Rafael, her acroyoga partner.  He would be the base and she the flyer.  After a few minutes, Rafael was ready and Flor began to fly. At times she was totally serious looking. At others she was laughing.  The two of them kept talking throughout with Rafael telling Flor where his hands or feet would be.  Communication and trust are everything in acroyoga. One misplaced hand or foot and the flyer would soon be on the ground.  It happened a few times with Flor and Rafael but mostly because they were attempting new moves.  A couple of times Flor simply dismounted like a gymnast but there were a few landings that would have not met the approval of the Olympic judges. (Crash!)

Looking Serious

All Smiles

Inverted

Spinning

Oops!

John, Am I Straight?

Moving into Position

Downward Acrodog?

Yippee!

Static

Man on a Wire

Sometimes Flor was static either on her stomach or side, reaching out gracefully with toes pointed one way and hands pointed another, head arched upward.  Other times she was rotating on Rafael’s hands or feet.  Totally in control.  Occasionally, she’d go upside down and hang.  This looked pretty comfortable.   

All the while Flor was flying, another couple was doing acroyoga a few feet away. They seemed less in sync but were, in their own way, pretty impressive. Across a park pathway, two women were exercising with hula hoops.  Then a man came and, using a ratchet device, slung a yellow tape between two trees and began to tightrope walk on it!  Behind us, some more people showed up. Another guy deployed his tightrope between two more trees. I had somehow stumbled into a Cirque du Soleil training camp.

After an hour or so, Flor and Raphael took a break. I had a chance to visit with my friend and thank her for inviting me to see this unusual scene. Our chat ended as several people, some with bongos in hand, came into our area. I was feeling a little like Toby Tyler. With only about 90 minutes of daylight remaining, I headed for home.  All in all, not a bad way to spend a fall afternoon in the city.