This is the weekend of DC’s twice yearly “WalkingTown” program: “Join Cultural Tourism DC for more than 80 free walking tours (and a few bike tours) in 18 neighborhoods across Washington, DC.” I’ve done these before, and they’ve been well worth my time. They typically concentrate on a neighborhood’s history, or follow a theme (Civil War cemeteries, public works, new development plans, etc.). Most are just walkup, but a few require reservations. If you’ve got a couple free hours this weekend, take a look at the schedule and see if something catches your fancy (for cyclists, I particularly recommend the Anacostia/Riverwalk ride).
Category: Cycling Page 18 of 34
Freewheeling Spirit, the semi-personal blog of the author of the most excellent Bikes for the Rest of Us (seriously, see this entry on the Flying Pigeon), has returned.  And he does it in grand style, stepping back to consider DC’s just-finished Summer of Bicycle Love.  I really hope the answer to his ultimate question is no.
(We’re just going to skip over the issue of the picture of the batty looking old girl that turns out to be the queen of someplaceoranother).
If you live in DC – or a city of any size, I suspect – you noticed a lot more bikes on the streets than usual, this summer.  For any number of reasons, I’ve been very interested in their stories.  The following was posted to a local DC cycling listserv by someone who had just finished his first summer’s worth of bike commuting. I hope you’ll find it as interesting as I have.
Last year I bought a bike to help lose weight and get back into shape. I rode bike trails all summer, sometimes riding 80 miles a week. By the time 2008 came around I was 60 pounds lighter than I was when 2007 started.
So when spring of 2008 came I was working long hours and needed a way to keep the weight off. By April, gas was hitting $4 a gallon. The choice was clear, it was time to start bike commuting. Thanks to the folks on this list I figured out a route and my first day for bike commuting was April 16th. I started out riding two days a week but after about a month I went to riding three days a week, and taking Metro on Monday and Friday to stage my clothes.
So I’d like to point out some observations about my summer spent commuting:
– I only drove to work four or five times, and only once because it was raining. A couple of times I drove in because I overslept and was running late.
– Riding in street traffic isn’t half as bad as it looks.
– I saved enough money on gas to buy myself a brand new 17″ laptop from Best Buy.
– Despite all the horror stories, I found out that the drivers in this city are remarkably tolerant of cyclists.
– I only had someone come up behind me on the street and lay on the horn one time. Happened on M. St SE on my way home. The driver never even passed me because they wound up taking a right turn while I was still in front.
– The only other negative experience was when some jerk decided to blast me with his horn while I was using the pedestrian crossing over Washington Blvd coming off Memorial Bridge. I hate this crossing with a passion. Half of the time you have to play “chicken” with the cars to get them to stop.
– I only had two close calls. Once, a tourist did a 270-degree turn at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery and almost hit me. It was slow speed so I think it only would have wound up with a crunched bike rather than a crunched cyclist. I think I scared him more than he scared me because I was yelling WHOA like a maniac.
– The other close call was with a pedestrian on that narrow sidewalk on 50. She was coming right at me and I was sure she would see me. Wrong. At 7AM, pedestrians are looking at their feet, sleepwalking. They will not notice the 200LB cyclist bearing down on them, even though they are facing you.
– I learned to ring my bike bell. A lot. Pedestrians sleepwalk. A lot.
– Sometimes you will see other bike commuters do things you should not attempt. Like, riding on 50 where the Glebe Road overpass is. I decided to try it myself the next day. And as soon as I was on the other side I decided to never try it again.
– I really, really, miss the cutoff in Fort Myer. That hill is nasty.
– The Maine Ave fish market stinks in the morning. In the afternoon it smells like french fries and Old Bay.
– Riding in the rain isn’t so bad when it’s warm. One morning I showed up at work, sopping wet and covered with mud from the construction site in Fort Myer. Kevin the security guard took one look at me and said “Cyrus, you crazy!”
All in all it was a very positive experience. I kept in shape, learned a lot about riding bikes, and had fun.
Very cool, no?
(And on that positive note, I’ll leave this place alone until Friday. See you then.)
Yes, he’s coming back for next year. Despite lots of evidence to the contrary, I don’t feel like I’ve really got much to say about it. He’s an amazing athlete who has my respect. I also think he’s a doper and a liar. Go on and square those, if you can. He says that this return is (in part) about pushing the cancer research mission of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Well, if that’s what’s it’s really about, good for him and all of us. If not, well . . .
Anyway, all that said, there’s no doubt that he’ll bring public attention back to cycling. Nike wouldn’t make this video about anyone else:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjcZNR6MiRE[/youtube]
But that wheel, in the last seconds of the video? I hope it catches him, this time.
Next week will bring DC’s primary for the DC City Council. Washcycle, impressively enough, was able to get most candidate to respond to his question on cycling issues. Check it out. For a perspective beyond cycling, check out (my increasingly regular read) Greater Greater Washington.
(And to my former classmates that occasionally drop by here, yes, that’s the same Cary Silverman.)
It seems that Virginia’s Lt. Governor Bill Bolling had placed an order for 150 copies of a vistor’s guide to the Twin Cities for Virginia delegates, but canceled order after finding out that the vistitor’s guide contained a section that highlighted gay and lesbian destinations.
That’s right, the place that produced many fine presidents and giants such as Thomas Jefferson is now subject to the rule of imbeciles and moral midgets that go “eww, gays, icky!”.
Credit to NLS (of which I feel the need to point out that I am not a fan).
After a multi-year hiatus, Bike DC is back.   A previously annual ride in the tradition of Bike New York, Bike DC got to be too much trouble, as every city authority, Federal agency and ANC council wanted WABA (the organizer) to go through their own special permitting process (for “security”, natch.) 
I’d hit a couple of Bike DC’s before the shut down, and quite enjoyed them (especially the one that put us on the George Washington Parkway for a few miles – *that* was fun.)
This year’s edition is a little less ambitious – at 17 miles – but adds in a couple extra DC bits of fun. The first rest stop is on the grounds of Taiwan’s embassy (Twin Oaks, near the National Cathedral) and the far western turnaround point of the ride involves a loop around the former Grand Prix/current RFK Crit track. The organizers are saying that it’ll be a “car-free” route, so I’m assuming rolling road closures. Definitely family friendly
Bike DC is scheduled for Saturday, September 27, 2008. More information, including registration ($35), route maps, and volunteering opportunities is here.
Was a good ride yesterday. Not particularly hard, but it left me pretty wrecked (I would have sworn – during the ride – that I was doing a good job of hydration. In retrospect, I was a mess). Fell asleep early, and then today passed by far too quickly. Oh, and I pretty much failed the whole “if I can do this ride, I can race!” test. So there went my last racing hope of the season. Ah well. Here’s some good stuff (you’ve heard this before, but in the wrong language. This is the right one):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV4H3z60h6w[/youtube]
Achieved a long-held goal of circumnavigating DC on a bike, today. Seems I did a really bad job of staying hydrated, and still have the dehyd headache to prove it.  Oh, and no race tomorrow. No way. More on Sunday.
On September 21st of this year, you’ll be able to head down to Penn Quarter and see a real live pro criterium race in the form of the ING Direct Capital Criterium. It’s a six turn 1km circuit that winds its way among the Federal agencies downtown.
I’ve been waiting for a long time to see something like this happen (in fact, I already know the shot I’ll be aiming for). As it stands, there’s going to be a Men’s 35+ race, a Men’s 1/2/3, and a Men’s Pro. No word on who the teams will be yet.
DId you notice something missing from that list of races? That’s right, no women’s field. Which is especially disappointing, considering that Cyclelife, a presenting sponsor, has its own women’s team.  They’re aware of that disappointment, and while they haven’t promised anything about next year, they say that they hope to include a women’s field when they can.
The official race site is here, and I’ll post more when details become available.