Last Days of Blindness

Friday’s are usually tough. This week was different. Wednesday brought a day off from work courtesy of some meteorological legerdemain. I took Thursday off in anticipation of ice on the Mount Vernon Trail. I woke this morning with fresh legs. I needed them.

This whole week has been day after day of strong winds out of the northwest. A headwind every morning. It can be dispiriting. It feels as if you are trying to move forward with the huge hand pushing against your chest. By the time I reached Old Town I was already sick of it and I was not even half way to DC. In my mirror I spotted a rider who eventually pulled up behind me for protection from the wind. This lasted for about a mile when the rider passed me, probably after realizing that my recumbent was too low to provide much of a wind break. To my surprise the trailing rider was using aero bars. Misery loves company.

I crossed the Potomac on the 14th Street Bridge. The wind was now a cross wind. With the fairing on Big Nellie I can sometimes tack like a sailboat. I wasn’t having much luck though.

I walked into Friday Coffee Club well around 8 a.m. and it was already crowded. Two tables were full and it was still early. I newbie came in and took a spot at my table. He said I looked familiar. As it turns out, he lives in my neighborhood and has seen me voting in my cycling clothes on election day. Small world. Welcome to Coffee Club, Jeff.

There were perhaps 20 people in attendance. Many of them I didn’t know. Some I had never seen before. And many of the regulars weren’t there. I can’t imagine how crowded it will get when it warms up. At least then we’ll be able to sit outside.

I left Coffee Club in the company of Brian, who works for American University. Brian has a tough uphill ride every morning that he chronicles in his entertaining, informative, witty and grumpy blog. You should read it. It’s way good. We fought our way up G Street through the George Washington University campus. (You can tell it’s a stellar school because they insist on using the word “The” in their name.)

After Brian turned for his long uphill slog, I made for the TR Bridge. It was particularly challenging in the strong cross wind that actually made my fairing flap. I made it without incident and spent the next 8 hours working for the man.

The man is merciful and let me go home to my wife and child. Once clear of the winds in Lynn Street Canyon, I turned onto the Mount Vernon Trail. Tailwind!!!!! Big Nellie pretended to be going downhill the whole way home. Near the airport the trail makes a big “S”. As I turned into the S, the tailwind became a cross wind. I literally had to lean into the wind to stay upright. Once out of the S, I could lose myself in thought.

This week the National Women’s Bicycling Forum was held near DC. One of the themes was that the cycling industry does a lousy job of meeting the needs of women cyclists and encouraging women to ride. As I saw tweets during the event, I thought of all the women I have met through Friday Coffee Club in the past year. According to Myers-Briggs I am a huge introvert, so it kind of flabbergasting to me that I know so many women cyclists around here.:

Charmaine, Reba, Mary, Laura, Lauren, Kirsten, Kristin, Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate, Katie Ann, Kathy, Rachel, Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, Heather, Nancy, Jean, Jane, Liz, Crystal, Claire, Leslie, Meg, Florencia, Veronica, Amy, Erika, Shane, Alex, and Bec.

In the first 20 years of cycling as an adult, I can name a whopping total of six women that I rode with: Becca, Anne, Kate (not one of the above Kates), Bev, Jody, and Mrs. Rootchopper. Times have definitely changed.

By the way, at least two of the women listed above had ridden coast to coast. (One of them actually did the ride during Bikecentennial in 1976.) If you guess who they are, I’ll buy you a coffee next week.

There’s one thing that I am troubled by: what the hell is with all the Kates?

Today marks the end of cycling during Eastern Standard Time. Beginning Monday, I can ride home without headlights in my eyes. It doesn’t take much to make me a happy camper.

Oh Yeah, That Winter Thing

The weatherman has gone to Defcon 1. We are supposed to get 3-8 inches of snow near DC tomorrow. It will rapidly melt, but not before creating a 2- or 3-day headache.

Little Nellie got the call this morning. I found a eye glass mirror in my son’s car last week so I tried that out. I also used sunglasses (actually a clip on my regular glasses). So I was on a vision quest. The sunglasses helped a lot with the sun at a low angle shining straight in my face. This is the time of year when drivers can be temporarily blinded. Mostly they just keep driving and then when the hit something they say, “I didn’t see it!” with astonishment. Be prepared to take evasive action.

I’ve tried the mirror out before. I really don’t like it. I have to twist my neck to see what’s behind me. Big Nellie has a mirror that sticks out of the end of the handlebars. (I can’t use one of these on my other two bikes because they have bar end shifters.) I can glance at it and get a good view. I always know exactly where to look. And it’s big. My little eyeglass mirror is annoying. Two bikes passed me on the Mount Vernon Trail this morning. I never saw them coming. I think I will try zip tying the mirror to my helmet. Maybe that will be better. It would suck if I ran into something while pre-occupied with this stupid mirror.

The ride in was another slog into a headwind. My legs seemed to struggle the whole way. It could be payback for the 6 ½ mile walk I did on Sunday. There were no eagles or herons or Nancy Duleys to break up the monotony of the ride. I say this with a bit of irony – my bike commute along the Mount Vernon Trail is about as good as it gets. I am spoiled by the river and the monuments and the planes taking off and landing and the quaint homes of Old Town and on and on.. I long for a commute through a run down slum with industrial blight thrown in here and there.

Well, as luck would have it, nobody erected a slum with industrial blight during the day so I rode home. The wind was from the east, off the river so it was a two-headwind day. I tried not to take this seriously, but Little Nellie was pissed.

The weather was fine for the entire ride. No sprinkles. No snowgflakes. Reasonably comfortable temperatures. Tonight we may get thundersnow. Cool.

Momma, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Goalies

After yesterday’s 6 ½ mile walkfest, I thought I’d be sore all over. Other than a small bllister on my right foot, I think my decrepit body has weathered the storm quite nicely.

My daughter spent Saturday playing goalie at a high school lacrosse event. She went out Saturday night and managed to turn her ankle. This is the same ankle that she hideously turned in a high school basketball game. She was doing the RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) thing yesterday and left the house on crutches this morning. Until the ankle calms down, she will be unable to drive to school. (Mrs. Rootchopper did the driving today, but I expect that my bike commuting will get pre-empted several times this month.) She’s on crutches for now. The upside is that all the contusions from Saturday’s event will be allowed to heal.

I left home on Big Nellie in broad daylight. What a treat! The sun was right in my eyes several times. I am going to have to start wearing sunglasses. The wind was not a treat. It was blowing in my face the whole way to work. At one point I started down a slight decline on the Mount Vernon Trail. In spite of my faired recumbent, the wind kept my speed down to 12 miles per hour. I passed Bob (Don’t Call Me Rachel) Cannon on his way south. He was all smiles. My misery + his glee = bike karma.

Near Gravelly Point, a cross gust nearly pushed me off the trail and into the river. I felt like I was drunk just trying to bike in a straight line took concentration.

When I got to Rosslyn, the headwind became a tailwind, then a sidewind, then a tailwind again as I navigated the urban canyon. Make up your mind, Mr. Wind!!

I wore overboots to keep my feet warm. It was 30 degrees when I left the house, and the sun warmed things up a few degrees during the commute. The boots were no match for the wind. At lunchtime my feet were still cold.

During the day I learned that Bike to Work Day registration opened today. I signed up immediately.

The ride home was as pleasant as the ride in was harsh thanks to a mighty tailwind and my surprisingly springy legs. Distance walking will cure what ails you.

The misery on the faces of cyclists headed in my direction looked familiar. One guy in particular looked unhappy. He had nothing on his head and an overcoat that seemed to have quite a few gaps to let the wind in.

I followed a ride down Collingwood Road near my house. He had a headlight that was pointed down at his pedals and a blinky light that was low on juice. He probably had no idea that he was barely visible in the twilight. Batteries are much cheaper than emergency rooms. The dude should spring for a few AAAs.

A Walk to the Morningside Nest

Bike riding is excellent exercise. It has one shortcoming; it is not weight bearing. After 150 miles of bike commuting, I could use a little change of pace. Today, I decided to go for a long walk.

The Morningside bald eagle nest on the Mount Vernon Trail is about 2 1/2 or 3 miles from my house. Off I went with my hiking boots on. Even with the brisk pace I set, things move by so slowly compared to cycling. For that matter, things more slowly compared to distance running. I arrived at the nest eventually. I call it the Morningside nest because it is situated on the Mount Vernon Trail across from the Morningside Drive exit from the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

This time of year, when the trees have no leaves, the nest is relatively easy to spot. In a couple of months it will be almost completely obscured by green. The nest is in a tree that is about 30 yards from the trail. I brought my Canon EOS Rebel camera with a decent zoom lens. I was hoping to see an eagle at the nest but that didn’t happen so I took a picture or two of the nest and walked on. Not 100 feet later I spotted an eagle about 100 yards away, perched in a tree beyond the nest tree at the waterline of the river. (You can’t call it a riverbank here because the Potomac is tidal here; the river’s edge varies quite a lot.)

Thanks to the zoom lens on the camera I actually was able to get a semi-decent picture of the eagle. As soon as I snapped the pic, the eagle launched and headed downriver.
I kept walking and spotted a big woodpecker, maybe 12 inches in length, working on a distressed tree. I tried to get a picture but, not being at the top of the food chain, he flew off as soon as he spotted me.

I continued walking to the Dyke Marsh bridge then reversed course. I took a few more pics of the nest. Now with a blue sky in the background I thought I could get a better picture.

I waited for the eagle to return but after 15 minutes I gave up and headed for home. Being used to covering my route home by bike the walk seemed interminable. It didn’t help much that my bum left knee was sending electric shocks into my leg every few minutes.

Despite the knee zaps, I made it home with the feeling that I had redeemed my weekend of couch surfing. It will be interesting to see how my legs feel when I saddle up for the ride to work in the morning

The pix are here.

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.

The Infinite Bike Commute

It’s Friday. Had to get up early. Had to get out of the house. Conversation and smiling faces awaited at Swings House of Caffeine. So off I rode on Big Nellie. She was missing me after three days of wet-ish weather.

All this switching back and forth has cost me my recumbent legs. Ask anybody who rides one. It’s true. You use different leg muscles on a ‘bent. Spinning is the key. Mashing the pedals is bad. Your arms are rendered useless. They really should put a steering wheel on ‘bents instead of a handlebar because it feels more like driving, except when your going downhill.. Downhills are like luge runs. Woosh!

One of the bald eagles was perched in the tree adjacent to the tree with the Belle Haven nest. He was just hanging out, chewing on his talons, and having a smoke. Actually, I made that part up. It’s hard to tell what he was doing. My suspicion is that eagles perch in trees at sunrise to warm up a bit before heading off to the office. Eagles are not allowed to work at Yahoo.

Somehow I managed to make all the lights going up 15th Street. This is a first. I felt like the caffeine gods were on my side. I ahd to get creative at the White House. Crews closed off Pennsylvania Avenue as they disassembled the viewing stands for the inaugural parade. I rode a windy path through Lafayette Park. Some tourists were walking toward me. A little boy spotted Big Nellie and his eyes widened. You could hear his head saying, “Wow!” I waved at him. As I went past, I heard him jabbering to his mom about that cool bike. In five more years, he’d bea tween and would be telling her, “That guy looked like such a dork.”

I arrived at Swings ready to medicate. As usual the crowd was chatty. Espresso and the prospect of the weekend perks (sorry) everybody up.

Today’s surprise attendee was Reba. Reba lives down near me, but I haven’t seen her in ages. Welcome back! Bob (Don’t-Call-Me-Rachel) Cannon was at the same table. Screw Siontz and Kirk; come to Friday Coffee Club for all your lawyering needs. We also had Chris, Ricky Lee, Will, John (Mr. Hoppy 100) and Aaron at our table.

I had a chance to talk to GOTB (Groupie-of-the-Blog) Kirsten (officially the bestest hugger at Friday Coffee Club). She keeps asking me to take her on the Rootchopper tour, the one where I summon bald eagles and members of the #bikedc community out of thin air. If I had any cartilage left in my knees I’d do a swap. I’d have her give me the Ultrarunnergilr tour of trail running. In my 20s and early 30s I ran a lot (My marathon PR was 3:04:29. Never forget it.), but nearly all of it on the roads. Trail running sounds like a lot of fun, although I am not sure I could have ever done the 50K run (over 30 miles) that she did last weekend.

The hope is that when I ride to Rosslyn from Swings I get to go across the TR Bridge without stopping. This has only happened once in the last year. The trail on the bridge is too narrow for safe passage of two bikes so I always end up pulling over and stopping. I will get points for this when I go to bike commuter heaven.

Considering it was Friday and I was tired and grumpy by day’s end, the ride home went lickety split. (Yes. I just said lickety split.) I had a consistent tailwind so I broke 20 miles per hour on several stretches between Rosslyn and Old Town. Yowza.

In Old Town, I checked the flexipost that I hit last night. It looked none the worse for wear. I did notice, however, that it was positioned in the middle of the street directly in line with the right edge of the trail. That explains why I hit it (well, that and my general incompetence). I veered to the right to avoid a couple of cyclists cutting across my direction of travel. When I leaned to head back to the left I hit the post. The reflective material on the post was facing away from me, which explains why my headlight didn’t illuminate it.

I managed to avoid all obstacles, foreign and domestic, on the rest of the ride home. It was another 150 mile bike commute week.

There was a lot of talk about retirement at the office. Retirement is an infinite bike commute.

Very Nearly Unhappy Hour

Whenever I go for a ride, I always check that my tires have air and that they are spinning freely. This morning and evening were no different. It looked like there was rain in the area so I rode Little Nellie to work. The rain stopped within five minutes. The ride was pleasant and uneventful.

The work day ended with my officemates and I going to a bar around the corner for happy hour. I had a couple of pints of (Shiner Bock and Fat Tire Ale). I didn’t get on the road until 5:40 or so.

I made it about halfway home before it got dark and I had to turn on my headlight. It has been a couple of weeks since I rode this long in the dark. The trail was swarming with ninjas. I managed to miss six of them before reaching Old Town.

The Mount Vernon Trail hits Pendelton Street at a T. To my left were a line of parked school buses with their headlights on. I rode just past the stop sign (first mistake) to get a look to my left around the buses. Then I looked straight. There were two cyclists with headlights turning from the street on my right onto the trail. They were passing directly in front of me. I veered to my right to avoid them. Then looked left again to make sure the coast was clear. Then I hit something. It was a flexipost (a sort of flimsy bollar) that had recently been place in the middle of the street. I stopped immediately and righted the post. Since I was in the middle of the street, I quickly re-mounted my bike and continued on my way. Everything seemed to work fine.

And it did. I got through Old Town in one piece and even managed to avoid my seventh ninja of the night once I was back on the trail.

Once at home, I opened my shed. I lifted the front end of the bike off the ground to hang it up. The wheel made an odd rattle. I looked down and saw that the quick release on my front wheel was not closed. The flexipost collision had pried it open. I don’t want to think what would have happened if the front wheel had come off while I was riding. This would be hard to do since the tire is too fat to clear the break pads, but surely a pothole or a good yank on the handlebars could have brought an unpleasant result.

So I am adding checking my quick releases to my pre-ride check list.

Great Caesar’s Heron

The ride in was pretty darn nice. The roads were still somewhat wet out so Little Nellie got the call again. Temps were in the 40s so I gave the holey sweater and my Marmot Precip jacket a rest. After yesterday’s soggy ride home, it was apparent that the waterproofing on my Precip jacket and pants is history. Time to look for a sale at REI for replacements. I have beat the crap out of these two pieces of clothing for the last 3 years. Good stuff.

I read in the Post that February and March are bald eagle breeding season around these parts. I have only once seen a pair of bald eagles this winter so I am not expecting a lot of eaglet action when spring arrives. There was no bald eagle at the Belle Haven nest today. In fact other that a stupifying number of geese there wasn’t much in the way of big-ish waterfowl at all. That is until I came upon a big, scruffy looking great blue heron on the river bank right next to the wooden bridge that takes the Mount Vernon Trail under the TR bridge. (Question: why is it so important that the Key and Memorial Bridges look classy but the TR Bridge looks like a rusty piece of crap? Show Teddy some love please.) This bird was impressive so I decided to stop and walk back with my camera. He was on to me. I must have had birdparazzi written all over my face. He started to walk into the underbrush away from me. He got to the edge of the river and took off about 2 feet above the water. By this point he was too far to get a decent picture but the sight of him in flight made my day. Herons combine awkward and graceful in a way that few other animals do.

Work was less than intense today. I left a few minutes early. I could have ridden the whole way home without any lights but in the interest of making sure I could be seen I turned them all on as usual. No problem with ninjas tonight. Just hoards of runners. Patriots Day is less than two months away!

During the day friend of the blog, Nancy Duley told me that a police officer was shot in Old Town Alexandria today, about 5 blocks from my commute route. The last I heard he was in critical condition. The assailant was chased and crashed his car on Fort Hunt Road about three miles from my house. He was taken into custody. My bike commute takes me through Old Town Alexandria twice each day.

Another friend of the blog, Kate C., is a police officer in DC. She will be riding her bike from Richmond to DC as part of the Police Unity Tour. This event raises money for the memorial to fallen law enforcement personnel. You can read more about it on her blog. Or you can skip straight to her fundraising page.

As for the ride home, it was a piece of cake. I left work a little early so I was in daylight all the way home. I turned on my lights just to been seen. The Mount Vernon Trail was filled with runners in their shorts. Some of them were moving pretty fast. Patriots Day is less than 2 months away!

I could never be a police officer. Just the thought of doing a night time traffic stop gives me the willies. Friend of the blog, Kate C., however, is a police officer in DC. In a few weeks, she will be riding from Richmond to DC as part of the Policy Unity tour. It raises monet for a memorial to fallen law enforcement personnel.

Seattle, You Can Have Your Weather Back

The day dawned cold and sunny. I had missed a magnificent sunrise. The weather report was for cold rain in the afternoon and evening so I rode Little Nellie. The ride in was nothing special. I did get to see a bald eagle at the Belle Haven nest, So that was something.

When I left work in the evening, it was sprinkling out but I was prepared for the worst. For the first half of the ride the wind was blowing me around but the rain was pretty much as no show. When I approached Old Town, the rain started coming down. Sideways off the river from the east. The drops weren’t big but there were billions of them. I was surprised that the weather wasn’t really bothering me. This may have been because there was nobody else on the trail. At all. Anywhere. Maybe they are on to something.

Cars and Cannons

I stayed up late to watch the Academy Awards. As a result I was operating on 5 1/2 hours of sleep when I headed out into the cold morning on Big Nellie. Winds were light so the ride in was not too difficult.

There are two fly over bridges at the airport. The bridges carry the Mount Vernon Trail over airport access and egress ramps. Just as I finished riding over the first bridge, a guy on what looked like a mountain bike but with bigger wheels passed me. He was tall and was wearing a backpack. I couldn’t see around him. As he passed another bicycle came from the opposite direction. To avoid a collision he cut back in front of me just missing my front wheel. When it comes to down hills, faired long wheel base recumbents are king. I rode up the second flyover bridge right behind Backpack Lance. I couldn’t safely pass him so I had to ride my brakes for 1/4 mile. Really considerate of you Lance. Fair warning. Next time you get the bicycle death ray.

I heard that a car drove off the Memorial Bridge into the Potomac River last night so I was hoping to see the car nose first in the river. No luck though. Evidence of where the car blasted through the side railing on the bridge could be seen but the car had already been removed. Apparently the driver was not seriously hurt (which is something of a miracle)

The ride home featured a wave to Bob (“Don’t Call Me Rachel”) Cannon of the Friday Coffee Club as we passed between the Memorial and 14th Street Bridges. The sunlight lasted so long tonight. I didn’t need a headlight until I was well south of Old Town. As I enterred Belle Haven Park, I spied an osprey about ten feet up in a tree next to the trail. He was facing toward me with his back to the river. Ospreys look pretty impressive until you see one next to a mature bald eagle, that is. Then they look like wimps.

As I rode past Dyke Marsh I was treated to an rising full moon. It was orange and a damned impressive sight. I’d have taken a picture but that would have required photographic competence of which I have none.