Now, I'm not going to side with the redneck driver — what he did was pretty rash and dangerous — but at the same time, I'm not going to feel too much sympathy for the guy who was hit because he was NOT riding smart. You don't ride double on a busy road. EVER. I've ranted over this topic many times, because it seems to be an epidemic during group rides. There are two sides of the "Share the Road" equation when it comes to bikes and cars. Both must show courtesy towards one another for it to work.

Bill Dark, a Park City resident, responded in an editorial:

"I have to admit that we road cyclists have brought this problem on ourselves. We expect to have the same rights as cars on the highway, but we blatantly disregard the laws that we should abide by… If we were in a car we would never do this, but we feel somehow entitled to on a bike. This is wrong. How can we expect respect from drivers when we show them that we believe we are somehow above the law[?]"

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Bill says the road had too much traffic for two riders abreast. Apparently it's legal to ride this way (which is beyond me, because I'm relatively sure there's something written down saying bikers should probably stick to the right of the white line), but it's just downright rude to do so. Motorists get pissed at bikers for taking up too much space, and to be honest, I don't blame them. Again, not saying it's okay to run over people, but I do see where they're coming from.

"We will not change the attitudes of people like Barto and Delray Hatch, an Oakley city councilman who advocated in a public meeting that bicyclists should be run over. But we can change the opinions of many others. It starts with us."

AMEN!

Went out for a ride today… route included going up through N.Arlington, across Chain Bridge, down the C&O to the Capital Crescent Trail, then up MacArthur Blvd, mess around in the suburban street of Glen Echo, then back down Sangamore to MacArthur to Reservoir into Georgetown, then back to Arlington.

The first 3/4 of the ride was uneventful, except for me getting a little off-track and missing the [well hidden] path off the Crescent Trail. I have to say, the CCT is pretty nice, but there really aren't any good access points beyond the Arizona Ave. Trestle. Basically, in order to get to it, you have to bounce around on the C&O trail (which is perfectly fine… if you're riding on a mountain bike) for about two miles, then swing around and backtrack over the canal and onward. Essentially, beyond that, the next [obvious] exit point is about 5 miles up. Silly me, I managed to make my way all the way up to Mass Ave before I realized the only way for me to get to MacArthur was go back about 3 miles to Potomac Ave. I did NOT get lost. Really.

At that point (turning around), I fell off my bike going uphill… yeah. In short, I was going up a really short, steep path to get back to the CCT from Mass Ave, the ground was wet, and I put too much force on the pedals — enough so that the front wheel lifted off the ground and down I went. No damage, but I definitely felt like an idiot.

I've never been in this area of MD on a bike, and it was really scenic and pretty. MacArthur Blvd sort of has a bike lane. From what I've read, the road itself has long been a battleground for shared space. The bike path/lane is located along the south/west side of the road, which is a little disconcerting as it means biking against traffic… not to mention the lack of a guardrail means no barrier between you and cars whizzing by at 50 mph. Either way, I felt significantly safer riding on that path than on the actual road itself, which had no space or shoulder to accommodate bicycles along the other side.

Anyway, the last 1/4 was a little bit nerve wracking. When I got back to MacArthur Blvd and started heading toward Georgetown, my chain broke. AGAIN. This time I'm not going to blame the bike shop for putting it on incorrectly, but rather me somehow running over one end of it and making the Connex link break apart. Essentially, when I went to shift into my outer ring, it overshifted, so the chain actually came off the chainring to the outside and looped around my crankarm. The chain was drooping so much that it actually started dragging on the ground and my rear tire ran over it, putting enough force on the link that it came apart. (At least that's what I think happened.)

Either way, this time around I was prepared and had an extra Connex link with me, so I pulled over and put my chain back together. I walked back along the road and actually found the two pieces of the link (fully intact - that deserves a for saving $9 and not having to buy another one), which is good.

In total, it was a 27 mile trip… I must have done about 5 extra miles on the CCT trying to find my way to MacArthur, hence the difference on the map below:

Looking for a more out of the box way to excersize. Be the coolest guy on your street cutting the lawn with this bad boy. you can save gas and get those rock hard abs you always wanted. This bike will cut your grass to emaculate conditions. It comes stock with this excentric two tone seat. The rust on the mower gives it an antique look that will have the cat lady next door going wild for your loins. For Ten extra dollars i can throw in a basket and headlight. Is your kid bouncing off the walls, ile even throw in some training wheels so you can put that bastard to work. This model is a three speed so you can really tear it up. Do your neighbor kids have an annoying bike ramp in the streets all the time. well snag that sucker and set it up infront of your trees, this bad mother will easily catch 6-7 feet of air allowing you to trim those troubling branches, as well as demolishing the ramp into oblivion so those damn kids wont be gathering infront of your house to practice for the x games. Comes with your choice of 12/40 oz beer holder that doubles as an ash tray.

"…this bad mother will easily catch 6-7 feet of air allowing you to trim those troubling branches…"

Sun Journal
WCAX
Maine Today

Paul's obituary

Nice remembrance from the "Citizen of Laconia" newspaper

Today was the group's last day of biking — the last point being the coast of Maine and dipping their tires in the Atlantic. One of the riders has family in New Hampshire, and the plan was for several of them to join him on riding the last leg today.

Unfortunately, Jon's son (known as Paul) was struck and killed by a logging truck earlier this morning.

[Side note: the news report is somewhat inaccurate. 1) Paul apparently didn't fall off prior to getting hit, e.g. was NOT lying in the middle of the road, according to witnesses at the scene, and 2) they were riding from Washington, not California.]

Dad told me Paul was riding along the road when the shoulder abruptly ended. The road itself curved to the left on a slight uphill, and I guess there just wasn't enough room for the two of them. He was killed instantly and didn't suffer any pain.

It's times like these that make me realize how lucky I've been. The only time that my bike has landed me in the hospital was my own fault and didn't include a car; although Dad has been unfortunate enough to actually hit TWO cars (not the other way around — he ran into them. One was parked, and I think the other one was going so slowly that he ran up the trunk or something.) But at the same time, it really hits home. Bicycling is a dangerous sport. When it comes to sharing the road, we (as much as many of us hate to admit it) MUST respect cars, even in the cases when they're supposed to yield to us. In any moving car versus bike accident, the car will win. Always.

As much as I rant about dumb people who don't respect traffic laws and ride two/three abreast, I do it because of situations like this. It pisses me off not only because it's rude to the few drivers that do give us a wide berth when passing, but it tends to aggravate the anti-biker ones and make them despise cyclists even more, to the point of driving dangerously around us.

Paul, who wasn't doing anything wrong or illegal, lost his life because of a careless logging truck driver, who was most likely driving too fast for the road. That's the sad reality — the ones who do obey the law and ride where they're supposed to end up hurt or dead.

Another recent bike accident actually occurred here in D.C. A girl was commuting to work and was hit by a garbage truck. She was riding IN a bike lane, and the truck turned in front of her and she was trapped underneath. Again, she was doing nothing wrong, obeying the law, etc., and lost.

That being said… to anyone who reads this and bikes: be careful. Please.

I'm not sure if starting at 8 AM helped because there wasn't much rider congestion. I originally expected somewhat of a traffic jam on the W&OD since weekends are the most crowded, but I was pleasantly surprised not to be stuck behind anyone… mainly because I was that person that other bikers were stuck behind. Holy manoli. Talk about some seriously overzealous riders. I don't consider myself to be that slow — mainly because I've finally talked myself down from being the stupidly competitive 17-year-old that used to chase down triathletes — but really, did everyone else find it necessary to form a paceline on a rail trail? If you want to do a century for time, don't do it on one that uses the W&OD, only because you're going to have to stop about nineteen times at road crossings and also because it's just obnoxious to be that guy who runs down 6-year-olds on training wheels.

So, in a nutshell — yes, I'm glad I went, but not having to pay the registration fee and getting a free lunch and cool tee shirt made it all the better.

Anyway, I mapped out the metric century on MMR, and needless to say, I'm a little disappointed:

Booooooring.

Now, based on last night's ride, I can't say for sure if I'll do the metric. To put it bluntly, I felt like crap. I'm also sleep deprived from watching the Olympics until 12 AM every night, which is NOT helping my energy. The 52.8 mile route removes that stupid loop of Route 7 and the W&OD in Purcellville, which I'm more than happy to omit. However, looking at the sheets, there's another loop ("Hamilton South") that encompasses part of the MS ride I did back in May, and I'm tempted to do that part… but doing so would mean I'd hit 76 miles… and not that's not likely with my lack of training.

So, that being said… the 50 mile route is looking like it'll be in the cards. My average speed as of late has been turtle slow, so chances are it'll take me nearly 4 hours to finish.

The other consideration is that a good chunk of the ride is on the W&OD, whose elevation from Reston looks something like this:
__________________—______________–*–_____

Last year's route is below, not sure this year will be the same, but I think it'll be doable. If not, I can always be a wuss and do the 30 mile route.

Go home, because it's already 5, I need to go biking, and there's no way I'm going to sit here another hour going through the tutorials.

Let me try to reiterate what I just spent 20 minutes typing out. I'm still biking to work; saw Dumb Bike Dad again last week and had to refrain myself from stopping him and mentioning that he's probably causing irreversible brain damage to his baby. 1) I'm not a confrontational person by any means, 2) he was hauling ass going the opposite direction, and it'd be nearly impossible to catch up with him and carry on a conversation ("Say, not sure if you're aware of this, but your 6 month old's brain is getting bounced around in his skull back there") without pissing off at least 30 people nearby also using the W&OD, and 3) he could very well be a crazy person and jam a stick in my spokes, thus causing me to flip over and break some important bone(s).

Oh yes, and I'm signed up for the Reston Century. Booz Allen is being nice enough to cover our registration fees, although it'll mean I have to wear the dorky cool team jersey. There's no way I could train enough to do the actual 100 miles by the 24th, so I'm just going to do the metric century (65 mi). Although… I might consider trying to get up in front(ish) this time after my MS ride experience of being stuck in a pseudo-peleton of people who force me to brake going uphill.