Any DC area RBMers riding BikeDC?

Any DC area RBMers riding Bike DC on the 20th of September?

I'll be riding into the district from Fairfax *early* that morning, so if anybody from the
Fairfax area's going to be riding into the event (the Metro doesn't run that early, and you're
cowards if you drive....) we could probably get a BikeBus thingie going. especially if someone
knows a good route in.

Ten thousand bicycles, and an assload of novices, yeah I know. Probably not going to be the greatest
example of road manners or bikehandling (and I'm not the exemplar of bikehandling either). But it
looks like it'll be a good laugh, and I'd been thinking of joining WABA for a while...and this
seemed like a good time to do it and have a good day out while I was at it.

-Luigi

>Any DC area RBMers riding Bike DC on the 20th of September?

I'll probably be there. Anyway, today by midnight Eastern is the registration deadline to get a ride
packet and number in the mail, so http://www.waba.org is the place to go.

I'm not a member of WABA nor is this a solicitation for BikeDC.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>cwhitman@texastwr.utaustin.edu__________

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 19:57:16 -0400, <3F3438DC.2B3FAE@erols.com>, "Eric S. Sande"
<esande@erols.com> wrote:

>>Any DC area RBMers riding Bike DC on the 20th of September?
>
>I'll probably be there.

You gonna stop for red lights?
--
zk

>You gonna stop for red lights?

OK, no I don't plan to. It's a completely closed course with police traffic control. I don't
normally get that so I figure it's worth a shot. As Luigi says it's supposed to be more of a party.

I hope they sweep the Douglass bridge first, the last time I was on that thing it was broken
pavement central. I plan to ride the

All I have to do is ride normally and stay focused.

Most of the other riders will be from out of town, and Luigi will be tired from his long ride in.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>cwhitman@texastwr.utaustin.edu__________

On 8 Aug 2003 14:51:00 -0700, luigi12081@cox.net (Luigi de Guzman) wrote:

>Any DC area RBMers riding Bike DC on the 20th of September?

As of right now, I am planning on riding. (I've registered, but I also know I have a potential
conflict that day, so I won't know for sure if I am riding until later.)

>I'll be riding into the district from Fairfax *early* that morning, so if anybody from the Fairfax
>area's going to be riding into the event (the Metro doesn't run that early, and you're cowards if
>you drive....) we could probably get a BikeBus thingie going. especially if someone knows a good
>route in.

I'll be riding in early, as well, although I'll be coming in from Arlington. Where in Fairfax?
One route would be the W&OD, down the Custis Trail, and then take the Mount Vernon trail to
Memorial Bridge.

>Ten thousand bicycles, and an assload of novices, yeah I know. Probably not going to be the
>greatest example of road manners or bikehandling (and I'm not the exemplar of bikehandling either).
>But it looks like it'll be a good laugh, and I'd been thinking of joining WABA for a while...and
>this seemed like a good time to do it and have a good day out while I was at it.

Yes, yes, and yes. I've ridden it in the past and it is a lot of novices, road manners are lacking,
and bike handling could be better. It's the only time many of the riders ever ride their bike on a
road. It can be a lot of fun, though.

Jim

"Eric S. Sande" <esande@erols.com> wrote in message news:<3F345858.C39C910B@erols.com>...
> >You gonna stop for red lights?
>
> OK, no I don't plan to. It's a completely closed course with police traffic control. I
> don't normally get that so I figure it's worth a shot. As Luigi says it's supposed to be
> more of a party.
>
> I hope they sweep the Douglass bridge first, the last time I was on that thing it was broken
> pavement central. I plan to ride the

>

>
> All I have to do is ride normally and stay focused

>
> Most of the other riders will be from out of town, and Luigi will be tired from his long ride in.

Bicycle-wise, Fairfax *definitely* counts as 'out of town.' I'm gonna have to reconnoitre the way to
the start area in the week and a half or so after I get back from London.

I told a friend of mine I was riding in and he said "you're nuts." I can take some consolation from
a story I read in _CyclingPlus_ here in the UK about the great British track champion, Cyril
Cartwright. Apparently, when he was a wee lad, he'd have to ride to his races--twenty or so miles,
more?--on an 80-inch fixed-gear bike. So when I'm suffering, I'll just remember Cyril.

Unless of course, and I repeat, there are any Fairfax-area participants thinking of riding down. If
we got a team together and pulled each other there at an easy warmup pace, it would be a lot better.

-Luigi

>I told a friend of mine I was riding in and he said "you're nuts."

No, not necessarily nuts. Remember this is only a race if you think it is. Basically, the two
courses are 14 miles on innner city streets with a flat fast section of about 5 miles along the
Anacostia River, or a 35 mile out and back along the DC side Parkway.

The first is the "family" ride, which is what I plan on doing.

This shouldn't be too bad if you don't insist on being in the lead group.

The other one is the roadie event. However we can ignore that one because all the local clubs will
be out in force. Besides, who wants to ignore the scenery.

If you come in on the W&OD and Custis, coming over Memorial Bridge, you would be 16 miles and change
out from Fairfax at the start line.

That works out to a 30 mile ride on the course back to the start line and 16 miles back to Fairfax,
or about a 50 mile round trip if my math is roughly correct. Doable, it shouldn't be more than 80
degrees F, if that or not raining which is possible. Probably better.

Only problem as I see it is the Custis going back, it's pretty steep climbing out of the
river valley.

So it's a 50 mile day with all the climbing on the back side, that's not easy but it's doable.

And that's my worst case take on it, all the DC riding is flat.

You could maybe cut 15 miles by taking the train back, if it's running with bicycles.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>cwhitman@texastwr.utaustin.edu__________