Springing Forth! :)

Here's my bike along some Forsythia - one of the first things that bloom in the Spring. :) I'm always happy to see Spring come - - especially all the COLORS that I see! It's like I've been living in black & white in the winter, and then Spring comes, and we move into TECHNICOLOR! :) It's a sight for sore eyes, and I just drink it all in. And it's wonderful to start wearing lighter clothes and not be freezing. Spring certainly is a time to celebrate! Yea! :)

Snow-Overkill

Well, this winter has turned out to be the SNOWIEST winter in 100 years in Washington, D.C.!! We've gotten a number of big snowfalls this month. Fortunately, I missed a few of them when I went out of town to Warm, Sunny, San Diego for a week. :) When I came back, there was about 20 inches on the ground, and that afternoon it snowed another couple of feet. As a result, the bike path hasn't been available to ride on for most of this month.
:( It would be nice if the Park Service would plow the bike path... In fact, my biking friend Reba said we should have organized on the internet a "snow shovel party" and had all interested walkers, joggers and bicyclists show up with their shovels and unearth the bike path! :) I know there would be lots of people who exercise that would WANT to have their path back!

On a good note, I saw a BUNCH of robins flying around the neighborhood this morning. :) It looked like a "Robin Reunion"! :) And I noticed some trees in front of my office building that are getting some buds on their branches. :) So, hopefully it won't be long before Spring. :)

Ice Circles

Last weekend, some wickedly cold air came around (wind chill was a few degrees above zero), and as a result, part of the Potomac River froze up. As I was riding across the 14th Street Bridge, I looked down over the railing and saw that the ice had somehow formed into various circles. It looked a little like a moonscape. Pretty cool. As the week wore on, the river slowly has been unthawing, and now there are large broken up ice slabs near the circles. Since the Potomac River doesn't freeze up every year, all these artistic shapes are fun to stop and look at. :) (Thanks again to Reba for her great photo!).

Monumental Fog!

This morning when I looked out the window at home, it was INCREDIBLY FOGGY!!! Visibility was less than a half of a block. So I decided to don my reflective vest, and turn on my headlight and blinking rear light. I was VERY careful in crossing intersections, and making sure cars saw me when I was approaching side streets. The fog was so thick that I had beads of water dripping off my helmet visor as I rode along.

As I rode by the airport area, and D.C. comes into view, there was an eerie sight ahead. The fog had obliterated the base of the Washington Monument, so it made it look like the Washington Monument was sitting atop a cloud! Pretty wild! (Thanks to my fellow biking friend, Reba, for this photo! I didn't have my camera with me).

Making of the Mt. Vernon Trail

I wish I had had the chance to meet this lady, Ellen Pickering. I was reading a local bike website today, and came upon the mention of her passing away last May. Evidently, back in 1971, Ellen and another friend, Barbara Lynch, talked about how nice it would be to have a trail along the George Washington Parkway. Families could use it on the weekends, and bike commuters could use it to get to their jobs in D.C. They collected 700 signatures of interested local citizens and sent the signatures to Jack Fish at the National Park Service. The NPS offered to provide the gravel, if volunteers could be found to spread the gravel. No problem. :) In all, over four months, Pickering, Lynch and their 400 recruits shoveled 4,240 tons of gravel and contributed 5,350 hours of labor! Amazing. The first segment of 4.5 miles open in April of 1972, and by the next year, the trail was extended to Mt. Vernon.

The Mt. Vernon Trail is cited to be the nation's most popular recreational trail. :) I ride the trail every day to work, and also use it on weekends to get places - stores, the subway, connections to other trails - the trail is VERY useful to me. It does get a little crowded in nice weather, but during winter, I usually have it to myself. :)

Thanks, Ellen and Barbara, for all your hard work in making the Mt. Vernon Trail a reality for so many trail users (1 million annually!). :)

Nothing is Constant Except Change

Here we are, entering another Autumn season. I love to see the various trees change colors in the area, though they can pose a threat on the bike path. They can be dry on top, but can be wet underneath, so when you ride over them on a curve, things can get slippery very fast. So there's a lot of caution, despite the beauty. I like to hear the crunchiness of the dead leaves on the path as I ride along - it's like riding over lots of potato chips. :) The path can get totally covered with leaves - you can't see the path at all, so it's like you're riding "on memory". I really know the bike path well, since I've traversed it thousands and thousands of times. I know every bump, curve, and rise. I've said I could ride the path "even in a coma". :)

A Trashy Story :)

I was riding to work the other week, about to pass by Gravelly Point, where a lot of people like to park and watch the planes fly overhead. On the weekends, there's a lot of people who visit this spot, and spend the day picnicking, playing on the field, and of course, leaving trash in the cans. On Mondays, the trash cans are WAY overfilled, even having big trash bags set up next to the can to hold the extra trash. Well, on this day, I noticed something new that caught my eye, so I stopped and went back to take a closer look. I wonder if any other cyclists had seen it too, or whether they had just blasted on by... Anyway, this new item was a Solar Powered Trash Compactor! Wow! Very interesting! When I got to work, I looked up online to see if there was others like it and what the deal was. Here's the website I found on it: http://www.bigbellysolar.com/products/ An article I found on the web says that these solar powered trash compactors can accept close to eight times as much waste as a regular trash can. It saves the city money because the workers don't have to come around to empty it much. In Philadelphia, it says the city saves $12 million dollars over 10 years! Very cool. :) I hope lots of other cities get these installed! :)

UPDATE: The Trash Compactor only lasted a couple months - - then disappeared. Maybe it was a "trial experiment"?

A New Bike Commute

A week ago, I moved to a new residence, and my bike commute is now 25 miles roundtrip, vs. the previous 32 miles. It still is a convenient bike commute, located near a grocery store, bank, bike store, and the Mt. Vernon bike trail. :) One good/bad thing about the new commute is that it includes a HONKING big hill.... It's good in that it's fun to fly down at over 30 m.p.h. :) It's not as fun climbing up it at less than 5 m.p.h., but it's good training. :) :) I first climbed this hill when I went to take a look at the residence. I was riding my Cannondale hybrid, which has pretty good low gears. But tackling this hill on that bike left me breathless and I had to make two rest stops. I next rode it on my Bike Friday folding bike. It was a PIECE OF CAKE and I wasn't even out of breath. The gears on the Bike Friday are quite low, and makes almost any hill easy. So, I'm now using my Bike Friday as my commute bike. :)

Also, for the move, I rented a Zipcar pick-up truck. My brother was helping me move, and suggested getting a U-Haul. It was about 4 p.m. on a Sunday. I told him getting a Zipcar would be easier, and we could keep it as long as I needed. I called up Zipcar and spoke to the reservation agent. The lady was very nice and made the reservation and she said she didn't envy my moving event - that she had just recently done that too. So my brother and I made a couple of trips to the thrift store to drop off items not needed, and then a couple of trips to the new residence to unload everything. So, Zipcar saved the day! :)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow :)

When I came out of my office garage, the lady attendant in the booth said that a friend of mine had just been there to see me. I turned around and saw my fellow biking commuter friend, Reba, standing nearby, waiting to ride back to Alexandria with me. That was a nice surprise! She's a lawyer, works a few blocks from me and also lives in Alexandria. We often bump into each other on the way to and fro work, and have a good time chatting. Her husband, Robert, often cycles from home to meet up with her along the way, so we came across him on the way. Just as we were crossing a small bridge where people like to fish, I looked to my left and saw a beautiful rainbow! I shouted that I wanted to stop and take a picture, so we took out our cameras and got our shots. As we continued on, we saw the path was a bit wet -- evidently we had just missed a shower. Good timing! What a nice way to end a workweek prior to a long holiday weekend! :)

TIIIIMMMBERRRRRR!!

Well, it was a good thing I wasn't passing by this part of the boardwalk bridge when this big tree came crashing down on it!! It's been raining A LOT in the past week, and I guess this tree couldn't hang in there any longer. I came around the corner of the winding boardwalk and was surprised to see this tree across the path. There were two guys on their bikes ahead of me and we helped each other lift our bikes over the tree. I was thinking I could have maybe slipped my bike under the tree, but one guy said he didn't there'd be enough clearance. So I'm glad they were there to help me, as it was a little tricky getting over the tree - it was pretty wide.

As we finished riding over the boardwalk, there was a National Park Service truck approaching on the path, with it's lights flashing. I stopped to talk to the three guys in the truck and told them about the tree. They were aware of it and were coming to take care of it. So hopefully the tree and the boardwalk will be fixed by the time I come through after 6 p.m. tonight! Thanks, NPS, for your quick service!! (and thanks to my biking friend, Reba, for sending me this photo you took!!)

Bike to Work Day 2009

Last Friday was Bike to Work Day, so I left home a bit earlier to be able to spend some time at the pit-stop in Old Town, Alexandria. I rode my Bike Friday folding bike, and also had the trailer suitcase hitched to my bike because I was bringing in a stained glass panel I had made, for a silent auction that weekend. I propped my bike and suitcase up against a wall, and went to take a look around at the various vendor booths. There were a good amount of bike commuters there, milling about, having some of the free bagels, coffee, apples, and energy bars. There was music and raffle prizes being given away. There was a vendor booth for a new pedicab service that's starting up in Alexandria - offering both transporting people, and also delivering groceries, which is nice. I've taken a few pedicab rides in the past and they are great fun. :) They could use more pedicabs in D.C. around the Mall area, because tourists walk a TON, and it's pretty tiring. Pedicabs are a nice alternative compared to a taxicab. There was a local bike shop who had a repair stand set up to do any minor adjustments to your bike.


It was fun to see the cool jerseys people wore and the different kinds of bikes people rode. I talked to one guy who was there with his homemade recumbent trike. He said he made the bike from plans he bought on the internet, and the total cost of the recumbent was about $300! He didn't understand why recumbent trikes have to cost so much (they usually go for about $2,000-$3,000). Of course, his bike was steel, not aluminum - so it's a lot heavier. But it was still impressive to see that he had built it himself. :)

So it was a fun way to start the day!

The Fish That Didn't Get Away!

Last night, I was zipping on home with a great tailwind. The Mt. Vernon trail runs along the Potomac River, and I've often seen people fishing along its banks. As I approached the airport area, I saw on my left, a bicyclist and a fisherman. The bicyclist had laid his bike down in the grass, and was taking a picture of something. What I saw made me do a double-take, hit the brakes and turn right around. It was a HUGE CATFISH!!! I've never seen catfish this size before! Unbelievable! That's why I took some pictures, and then also put my pannier down next to the catfish. My pannier measures 16" in length, so you can see that this catfish was probably over 32" long! The bicyclist said he had stopped to help the fisherman pull the catfish up out of the water. He said it must have weighed at least 30 lbs.! The fisherman was Asian, and didn't speak any English, though I tried to ask/motion him if he was going to eat it. He replied in his language, as if I would understand...but I think I got the idea that he wasn't going to eat it. I guess not, since the Potomac River isn't the cleanest river around. Still, I was quite impressed at the size of this catfish. I think if it had been me, I would have taken some pictures, and then thrown him back.

How Much Are the Puppies in the Panniers?

I have seen this couple on their bikes a few times on the bike path on my way home. Just as they pass by me, is when I notice the white furry heads sticking out of their panniers! Oh, cute Maltese puppies!! I always want to take a picture of them, but of course, there's no time, since they've zipped on by me. Well, yesterday as I was biking near the airport, I saw them pulled off to the side of the path, and were readjusting the straps on the panniers. They had 3 puppies in one pannier, a couple in another, and the guy had a few in his panniers also! So I stopped and whipped out my camera to take a picture or two. The dogs were whining a little bit, anxious to get going, I assume. The couple were definitely turning heads as people went by and noticed their doggies!
And, of course, it's Cherry Blossom Time again in D.C. I took this picture on my way to work. The Cherry Blossoms are so pretty - and you'd think you'd get tired of seeing them every year. But every year, the Blossoms make me stop and admire their beauty - especially when the weather is pretty outside and the blue skies are above. I took many photos, walking among their snowy branches...and just made it to work on time! But it's nice to dawdle and take time to enjoy the sights.

Thru the Ice and Snow....

Well, March arrived, and with it yesterday, we got 5 1/2 inches of snow. We haven't seen that much around here in 6 years. Yesterday, I took the subway to work, but decided to ride today. I left about 25 minutes early, anticipating difficult conditions on the bike path. It normally takes me an hour and 15 minutes - - today it took 2 hours, so I got quite the work-out. But, in a way, it was a fun - sort of like an obstacle course. One neat thing was that I stopped to talk to a photographer guy who is out there all the time. He has two huge cameras with long lenses, and I found out he works for the National Park Service. He takes pictures of the bald eagle that is nesting near the bike path. I asked if I could take a look through his camera on the tripod, and he agreed. I saw the head of the bald eagle sticking up out of the nest. So we chatted a bit before I continued on. You can take a look at some photos of the eagles at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74104660@N00/sets/72157613509156390/

I took roads wherever I could, so I could make up some time that way. The path was a mix of various conditions - a few blacktop areas, but mostly snow/ice encrusted. Sometimes I had to get off and walk, as it was just too chunky and difficult to ride. The wind chill was about 1 degree, I think, but I was working hard and didn't notice the cold!

Cold Hard Cash!

When I left to bike to work this morning, the temperature was 14, and the wind chill was 0. Not too bad, considering a couple weeks ago, the temperature was 11, and the wind chill was -11... :) At least there's no snow/ice to contend with!

Riding along the bike path, about 5 miles into my commute, I happened to look down on the path and see what I thought was a handful of quarters. I thought, no, that couldn't have been that many quarters - maybe it was just plastic tabs that LOOKED like quarters. So I stopped and turned around to take a closer look. Wouldn't you know it, it really WAS a lot of quarters!! I set my bike aside and started to pick up the various quarters, nickels and dimes I saw scattered in the grass and on the bike path. I couldn't believe how much there was! Not only that, there were a couple of rolls of DIMES! ($5 each!) I scoured the area a few times to make sure I got whatever I could see before I left. I stopped at the park restroom a little further, to go inside and pull it out to count it. I had a total of over $14.00!! Wow. What a way to start your morning!!

To the Inauguration! :)

The BEST and EASIEST way to get to the Inauguration yesterday was by BIKE!!! :) My office was fortunately closed (everyone would have had a heck of time trying to get to the office anyway, with all the closed roads and clogged subway!). I told people in my office that I was going to bike into DC for the festivities. They looked at me like I was crazy! The bike ride was cold (temps in the 20's, wind chill about 10 degrees!), but you stayed warm biking. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association was hosting a couple of free bike valets, which I had planned on using (at the Jefferson Memorial). However, when I got there, I saw a long line to check your bike in, so I just decided to park and lock it at a chain/post area that runs along the Jefferson. Lots of people were doing that. You hope for the best, that no one would bother your bike.

Turns out I could have brought my bike even closer up on the Mall, which I didn't realize. But it worked out fine - a nice little walk to the Mall after biking, to stretch your legs. :)

The Inauguration was INCREDIBLE - it was like going to a huge rock concert with 1.8 million people cheering! :) :) Everyone was in a GREAT mood and we all got along amazingly well. There was Peace on Earth! A great way to start off the year! :)

After the Swearing-In Ceremony, biking home was fine. We biked right down the 14th Street Bridge, as it was closed to cars. And there were only a few people on the bike path, just like in the morning - so it was a piece of cake! Totally different than experiences people had when trying to take the subway!!

So it was an AMAZING day in Washington, D.C. - and for once, the Bike was King for the Day!! :)

It's in the Bag!

I was biking to work yesterday, and had just started riding up onto the 14th Street Bridge, when I looked ahead and saw a black pannier on the sidewalk. It must have popped off someone's bike rack. I stopped and picked it up and took a peek inside. It looked like the owner was a guy - there was a towel, anti-perspirant, and a guy's belt. So I put it on my rack and brought it to work. When I got to the garage, I took a closer peek and saw there was a wallet inside. So when I got to my desk, I checked through the wallet to hopefully see some identification and/or a telephone number somewhere. The driver's license showed he lived in Alexandria, so we had that in common. :) I found a State Farm Insurance card, with a phone number listed. I wasn't sure if it'd be a home number for this guy or to State Farm. Turns out it was to State Farm - so I told them I found this guy's wallet and bag, and could they contact him as soon as possible, and I gave them my name and number. I knew that the guy would already be starting the process of quickly cancelling cards, etc., and I hoped I would catch him before he got too far. We all know how that goes.

Wihtin a few minutes he called and told me he loved me that I had found his wallet. :) He had been telling his wife that he had been needing to replace this pannier bag because it wasn't staying on his rack very well and that it was too loose. He works not too far from me in downtown, so he said he'd bike over (since he didn't have money to take a cab!). So within a half hour, I met him in my office lobby and he was happy to get his pannier. :) He said, "You must not have been too far behind me on the bridge, because I got to work just about 10 minutes before you, and had realized I didn't have my bag." So, I was happy to be able to return his pannier to him and that he hadn't been too inconvenience. He said he had just cancelled the Smart Trip (subway) card, and was getting ready to cancel his credit cards when State Farm had called. He offered me a reward - and of course, I declined, but did tell him to go buy a new pannier bike bag! :)

A similar situation happened another time when I was biking into work. I had just started biking through Georgetown, and I looked ahead and saw a lady's purse on the street. I brought it to work with me and called the phone number that I found inside. I had reached the lady's husband who worked in Bethesda. At first, he couldn't understand why I had his wife's purse. I told him I was a bicycle commuter and had found her purse in the street in Georgetown. He said his wife had taken a cab that morning to a breakfast on Capitol Hill, and perhaps she dropped her purse in the haste of getting into the cab. He said she would be traveling to Charlottesville afterwards, so she'd definitely would need her purse. So he was quite happy to come and get it after his morning meeting, to then bring to his wife before she left town.

Sure wish whoever had found MY purse in a parking lot near home a couple years ago, would have returned it to me... :( It was soon after Christmas, and I had just gone to the bank to get $300 cash...plus I had Christmas gift cards in there. So, someone definitely had a fun after-Christmas shopping time on my account! :(

But at least I was able to return these people's belongings, and make their day a better one. :)

Flurry of Cold Weather

Yesterday, parts of the area got some snow flurries. I didn't see any in D.C., but my roommate was out running some errands and called to say there were heavy but brief snow showers. I always like to see the first snowfall - it's so magical. :)

This morning the wind chill was 17, when I headed out to ride to work. This weather is more like January! I was expecting it to be pretty cold - but it really wasn't. I saw ice along the shores of the Potomac River.

As I entered Old Town Alexandria, I came alongside a guy on his bike and we chatted while the policeman was directing traffic at a school intersection. The guy said, "It gets a little lonely out on the bike path this time of year - just the hardy and foolhardy are out, huh?" :) He said he's been doing his bike commute over 15 years and had gotten rid of their second car, and is saving a ton of money. I told him I went car-free last year, and he thought that was good as well. :) He said he would like to go car-free, but they had to have a car to tote the kids around in. He asked where I was headed, and I replied D.C. He said he was riding to the Pentagon. So I wished him a good ride as he took off.

Good to meet people like him - I'm not the only "wild and crazy" person out there riding in the cold! :) People wonder how you stay warm outside in the cold weather. It's really not TOO hard. The first few miles are cold - your eyes tear up from the cold air, and your fingers hurt. But by constantly pedaling, you warm up and stay warm the rest of the ride. I wear 10 essentials to keep warm and ward off the cold:

1. Fleece lined jacket
2. Balaclava over my head
3. Fleece neck gaitor
4. Ski liner gloves under my short-fingered bike gloves
5. Winter jersey
6. Long underwear
7. Tights
8. Wool socks
9. Toe warmers
10. Insulated winter boots by Merrell

This combination works well for me through winter. Sometimes I wear rain pants over my tights, etc., to block fierce cold winds, but otherwise, I'm fine. :)

In Like A Lion!

Though Autumn arrived on the calendar in late September, it roared into town last night. There were wind gusts up to 45 mph - and it sure felt like that when I biked across the 14th Street Bridge! It was incredibly strong - I had to gear down to one of my low gears (that I rarely have to use when crossing the bridge). The wind was blowing so strongly against my wheels, that it made me feel like I had a flat tire! I looked down at my tires, but they were fine. Weird sensation! Then, I thought I'd have a great tailwind on the way home - since the wind was out of the Northwest, and I'm headed South. Well, it was for a little bit, but then it also buffeted me from other directions as well. So you might say I was a bit "winded" by the time I got home!

A cool thing I've been thinking of getting is a handheld anemometer that I can whip out when I'm on the bridge and get a real measurement of the wind as it's howling through the railings on the bridge. It'd be neat to see the actual figures pop up on the screen for proof. :)

Bridging the Gap(s)

I mentioned in an earlier post how the National Park Service takes care of the Mt. Vernon Trail that I commute on. This summer, they have been working on replacing various boardwalks, as shown in this photo. Some they are replacing, I'm wondering why, as the bridges seem to be in good shape, but I don't know how old the boardwalks are, and maybe it's time. They do a good and thorough job. There's a long curvy boardwalk near Old Town, though, that they have put a coat of grey/bluish paint. This is a bridge that is pretty slick when it gets wet. I have seen and heard of bikers going down hard on it due to the slippery conditions. One of my bike commuter friends said he knows a biker that was PARALYZED due to a nasty fall he had! So I've always slowed down on it. Maybe this coat of paint has an anti-slippery agent to it? One thing a lady biking friend mentioned to me this week, was that when it gets colder, and frost gets on the boardwalk, we won't be able to SEE the frost, due to the paint. So, just another reason to SLOW WAY DOWN on it.


In a few weeks, the area will be awashed with the golden colors of Autumn. I took this picture last Autumn, as I got near the World War II Memorial. It's a pretty time of year - but wet leaves present another slippery condition - similar to frost and ice. Never fun to fall - which I've done a number of times....