Winter Weather Warrior Results & Vasa Ride Review

So the results are in for the Winter Weather Warrior contest and......I did it! I made Perfect Attendance! Woohoo!

As I posted when I first began, it wasn't easy. There were quite a few days I just wanted to throw in the towel and stay inside where it was warm. I even had the flu on the very first day of the contest. But I stuck with it and eventually CaBi became a part of my daily life. So much so that when the contest ended and I went back to commuting on my own bike, it felt strange. I'm glad I participated, but I'm glad its over too. Maybe there will be a spring contest?

Last Sunday I woke up at an ungodly hour and headed over in the rain to the Swedish Embassy to participate in WABA's Vasa Ride. It's a 58 mile course that ends back at the Embassy with some warm blueberry soup.  When I checked the website the night before, it said that registration was full and that 600 people had registered! Unfortunately, the number of people who actually showed up fell FAR short of that number! What the heck, people? Are you all made of sugar or something? So it was a teensy bit wet out--at least it wasn't cold! WABA said there was about 70 people that showed up. I think I counted MAYBE 40 by the time I started the course.

Registration tent

Swedish Embassy

Remembering the difficult time I had with my last long ride around DC (The 50 States Ride), I think I overcompensated this time and packed everything but the kitchen sink in my bag...oops. My pack was a little heavy.

-First, I'm really glad I opted not to use Betty this time. It was simply to wet out, and the course was fairly hilly--not extremely so, but enough that a 50lbs 3 speed cruiser wouldn't have been practical or fun at all. I used Jamie, my Jamis Coda Sport instead. He's much lighter and better suited for basic hills. I really wish he had fenders & a rear rack though.

Jamie

-I'm really glad I had a group of friends to do this ride with. Because of the small amount of riders doing this ride, I would have gotten separated at a bunch of points on the course and become hopelessly lost in Blair Witch country. I had no idea where I was most of the time, and was glad I had people to watch out for me.

-I really wish Jamie had a rack. I used my messenger bag to carry everything with me, and ever since I started using a pannier on Betty, I cannot stand wearing messenger bags/backpacks anymore. My neck & back were killing me throughout the ride. I managed to ignore it most of the time, but I know I had to stop more often to stand up straight and stretch my back than I otherwise would have.

-I packed too much. I really didn't want another dehydration/starvation episode so I packed a ton of water, gatorade & snacks. I really didn't need all that.

-I think I dressed fairly well. The only items that I had a problem with were my shoes & gloves. Everything else got damp, but not soaking wet. Unfortunately my feet & hands were drenched. I'm really glad that it wasn't cold out. I was wet, but never cold. If it had been cold out as well as rainy, I don't think I would have shown up either.

No, I didn't finish the whole thing. However, it wasn't because of inability, it was because we ran out of time! I mentioned that I did this ride with a group of friends. We are all coworkers and every time we stopped for a "quick" break, it turned into a blab fest that lasted a bit longer than we meant, oops! We love to gossip! I think our "lunch" break took almost an hour. Anyway, by the time we were 3/4 of the way through we realized that a) we were never going to make it in time for the blueberry soup and b) one of my friends still had to be at work that day, and if he was going to make it on time, we had to hoof it back ASAP. We took a few short cuts to make it.

Here's the course we did:

It was a very scenic ride. We rode by Glen Echo Park and into some very beautiful communities with gorgeous homes & farms. I've never been to that part of MD before.

Did I mention it was raining that day? I was a soaking, muddy mess when I was done. I wanted nothing more than to take a warm shower and put on dry clothes. Even Jamie got a bath!

Jamie takes a shower.

I would definitely do this ride again. 

I don't really have too many photos taken during the ride itself. It was so wet out, I was afraid of breaking my camera. Even my poor iphone is now having issues from having gotten wet. The sleep button won't work anymore. Oh well. Here's a few shots I took:

My overloaded pack.

New home being built.

Rest Stop. for 45 minutes.

So, I hear the Bike Summit is in town. I really wish I could have registered, but I need to save my money & leave hours. Those of you that are participating, have fun! Take lots of pictures for me.

I dropped Betty off at BicycleSPACE for an annual tune-up. They told me it would take about a week before I could get her, but the next day the mechanic called me and said she was all set! Yay! I'm sure the speedy service is simply because they don't have much room for her (she's a big girl), rather than because she's special ;-) I haven't had a chance to pick her up, but as soon as I can escape work, I will be glad to bring her back home! I want to get her tomorrow morning, but if its going to be all rainy again, I think I might wait until its dry. No sense in getting her muddy & wet when she just got clean!

The next ride I'm looking forward to is Bike DC! It will be my 3rd time doing it. Unfortunately, I heard from WABA that NPS denied them the permits for the GW Parkway. That's the best part! C'mon NPS! Quit being party-poopers. I'm also registered for Bike to Work Day, and 30 Days of Biking. Spring has sprung, people, and I am so happy!

Winter Weather Warrior, Springtime & Road Rage.

Hi guys! I know its been awhile. The winter doldrums had me. Remember last week when it was almost 80 degrees? I couldn't even enjoy the beautiful weather because I knew it wouldn't last and it would be right back to layers & heavy coats & scarves & gloves before I knew it and....well, I just couldn't take it anymore. I was definitely in a funk. It felt like Mother Nature was simply taunting me with the nice weather, only to snatch it away again.

I feel better now. The nice days are starting to outnumber the crappy ones. It's getting warmer. The days are getting longer. Spring is just around the corner.

This means that the Winter Weather Warrior contest is finally at an end. Today is the last day! I still need to get my ride in. I'm kinda relieved its over. I was getting a little sick of it, to be perfectly honest. This contest has been great in so many ways; it nudged me out the door when I probably would have rather just stayed on the couch. However, there were days where I really would rather just stay on the couch, and having to trudge out into the cold winter weather just so I could get a ride in to keep up my perfect attendance made me want to kick one of those silly little red bikes (I didn't).

I woke up in a panic last week. It was my day off and I was busy doing some major spring cleaning in the apartment so I stayed inside all day. I was exhausted when I finally went to bed and started to fall asleep when I literally sprang out of bed because I realized that I didn't get my capital bikeshare ride done that day! Oh no! I had completely forgotten about it. I was so mad at myself because I put myself through a lot the preceding two months to make sure that I got a ride in every single day, and what a waste all of the effort would have been just to lose out at the end because I had a memory lapse.

But then I remembered rule 4 of the contest: "Any day that includes a Capital Bikeshare closure is not counted in the "perfect attendance" category."  The system had been shut down that day! They had closed the system due to a storm that was coming the previous night, and didn't reopen until 0630 am that morning! Woo! Saved by a technicality. I hope, anyway. 


Tomorrow, it will be strange to hop on Betty and ride her to work instead of walking to the bikeshare station. I kept meaning to bring her to the shop to take advantage of my groupon and get her a tune-up so she would be ready for spring, but I kept putting it off. Oh well. I was going to drop her off today, but its rainy and crappy out. Maybe next week. At least I know I can always use Capital Bikeshare while she's in the shop!




*************


Did any of you hear about the driver that plowed through the critical mass ride in Brazil? How awful. I don't understand how one human being could purposely do that to other human beings. You can watch the videos here. Be warned though, it is graphic and horrifying to watch.


I've always considered myself lucky. I've only had to deal with road rage twice while out on my bicycle. Before this last Saturday, I would have said only once. I have been in two accidents on my bike, but even then the drivers that struck me were kind, apologetic & helpful. I've encountered plenty of motorists that were impatient, rude, distracted, & unkind, but I've rarely had to deal with the motorist that wanted to *intentionally* hurt me.


Until last Saturday. For those of you that follow me on twitter, you may know what I am talking about. I'm not going to go into great detail because it is a pending case now, but I'll give you a general outline of what happened.


For the record, yes, I am a police officer. I do not like to talk about it much on this blog because I don't want this blog to turn into a "all cop, all the time" sort of place. I don't want to get into debates over enforcement of traffic laws or a discussion of whether that ticket you got last week is "legal".  I like having something outside of work to enjoy & partake in. If you are curious, I am a bicycle patrol officer. Yes, I get paid to ride a bike all day. It is awesome. 


Anyway. I was leaving the station to go home and relax after a very long week. I bike to and from work every day. This particular night, I was riding a Capital Bikeshare bike home. I am wearing regular clothes and there is nothing to indicate that I'm a police officer. As far as anyone was concerned, I was just a girl on a bicycle. Which is why I think this happened.


In a nutshell, I was stopped at a red light and a vehicle purposely struck me from behind. It wasn't hard, more like a nudge with their bumper. But it was enough to propel me forward into the intersection, and for the driver next to me to even comment about what an asshole that person was. I could hear the occupants in the car that hit me laughing. Now, I ignore a lot of crap when I'm off duty. Like I said I encounter rude, impatient & distracted drivers all the time.  99% of the time its not worth getting into an argument over, not to mention it can be dangerous. You never know who you might be dealing with or what could set them off. Yes, I'm a police officer but that doesn't make me Wonder Woman. So I debated whether to say something to this dick of a driver. The light turned green, and I decided to let it go and instead ride reeeallllyyyy slllloooowwwwwlllly in front of him to piss him off. 


And then he did it again. Harder this time. I stopped, pulled out my badge and told him to stay right where he was.


And that's when he said "oh shit" and fled. Or tried to. He got stuck in traffic on a one-way street a block away. Which is where I caught up to him. And that's when he tried to run me down while trying to get out of there.


Long story short, he was caught (by about half the police district) a few minutes later when I gave the description of the car & occupants on my radio. 


I know what the driver was doing. He saw a young woman on a bicycle and thought it was be HILARIOUS to be a dick with his car. He did this because he thought there would be no consequences. He was very wrong.


I was unhurt, thank god. I'm glad he was caught and arrested. But I can't help think of what would have happened if it was some other young woman on bicycle? Someone that's not a cop, someone that is essentially defenseless. Would he have been caught then?


I don't know.


P.S. To the people that stopped to make sure I was okay and that tried to stop him as well, thank you. I didn't get a chance to say anything at the time, but it really did make me feel better that there are still people out there willing to help someone else out.

Relaxation...

Hi guys! I had a long, glorious weekend. How about you?

It started off with using Capital Bikeshare to get to the DC Armory for a DC Roller Girls bout.





Thankfully, the weather warmed up enough that it was a pleasant ride. I did get turned around a bit when I docked the bike at 5th & K to restart the clock, but I figured it out. Thank goodness for GPS, right? I was in a really bad mood when I began the ride (don't ask), but by the time I reach the Armory, I was happy as a clam :) The Derby game was awesome, as always. If you've never been, you *have* to go.

Afterwards, my friends and I decided to head out to dinner, which was nearly thwarted thanks to some silly football game on :( Still we managed to squeeze in eventually.

The next day, I used Capital Bikeshare to ride down to brunch. I haven't been out to brunch in forever, and I lived it up! Eggs Benedict all the way, baby!

Somehow, brunch turned into an all day extravaganza....oops. We closed the place out at last call....

Monday & today were errand days. I had a couple of X-Mas Target gift cards to use up, so I used Capital Bikeshare to ride over and use them up. It was just as the sleet/ice stuff started to fall from the sky. I'm glad I got the ride in when I did, because CaBi ended up shutting down the system (rightfully so--it was a mess out there!). Then today I needed to get some other things done, and CaBi was perfect.

I managed to get all the things I wanted to do, as well as all things I needed to do, done--thanks to Capital Bikeshare.

Tomorrow, its back to the usual grind.

It's supposed to be a bit warmer, thank goodness. As much as I say I love cold weather (I do!), I do get tired of below-freezing weather. I will admit that last week was really getting me down. I was just plain tired of shivering all day. I was sick of my fingers & toes freezing. But the 40 degree weather on Saturday gave me hope. I *love* winter, but its just about this time of the year that it starts to take a toll. The holidays, along with the glitter, music, fun & spirit, are over. Now the only thing to look forward to is Valentine's Day, and even then you still have another month of cold, winter, slog to look forward to...

So when its above freezing, I feel much better. Unfortunately, the warm weather is not expected to last the rest of this week.

Spring is coming. Spring is coming. Spring is coming....

Speaking of, is anyone else registering for the Vasa Ride? I'm going to go ahead and register, I'm just not sure which bike to bring. I'd like to bring Betty, but if its super hilly, I might bring a bike with more gears.

Let me know what you look forward to!

A very snowy day 11...

I will admit, I was very skeptical about any snow showing up here. I must confess that I am not a snow-lover. At least not here in DC. I used to *love* snow--the more the better. But that was when I had snow-days from school & work. I didn't have to worry about shoveling, driving or going anywhere. I could settle in, drink hot cocoa & play video games until my eyeballs bled.

Now that I have to show up, no matter what, it kinda sucks. I still have nightmares from last year's "Snowmageddon". Even though I only live 1.5 miles from my workplace, it became a huge hassle (& hazard) for me to get to/from work. Folks that lived further out could hitch a ride with the National Guard; but because I lived within the District, I had to find my own way--and that meant walking for the most part. Do you remember how crappy the sidewalks & roads were? Yeah. What was normally a pleasant 25 minute walk became an exhausting 90 minute slog. I really could have used a pair of snow-shoes, and I'm not kidding.

So when I heard the forecasters reducing their snow accumulation totals over the course of today, I was glad. An inch is fine with me! No more!

My A.M. commute was fine. Cold, with tiny little biting flakes--none of them big enough to stick around, but annoying enough to sting my face as I rode. I had no issues with getting a CaBi bike today.

While at work, the sleet started. The only thing worse than snow is sleet. Getting damp or wet while spending a prolonged amount of time in freezing weather = bad! So I stayed inside until it passed. But then the sleet turned into big fluffy flakes. Big, *pretty*, fluffy flakes. And it started to stick around. And you know what? I couldn't resist. It was so quiet & pretty out, that I would hate to miss out on it. So I hopped on  my work bike and rode around for an hour & a half enjoying the falling snow. Then I realized I was absolutely covered in the stuff, and I probably should head back inside before I was mistaken for a snowman. The new tires on my work bike were perfect in the snow. I had no problems getting around at all.

It was still snowing when it was time to head home. I was determined to get another CaBi ride in (if only for the double points it would earn me due to the snow). The CaBi handled quite well in the snow and I arrived home without incident. DDOT did an excellent job of salting the roadways so they were all fairly clear, and I didn't slip & slide at all.

Now, if only this snow would disappear by the time I go into work tomorrow afternoon. I've had my fill, thanks.

A few photos...

Outside the metro station.

The work bike.

I need to remember to bring some plastic bags with me to protect my butt from the snow!

Can you tell which bike I used?

Winter Weather Warrior: Day 10

Another short ride today.

I got to my "home" station, and there were 3 bikes available. I tried my key in the first bike, and the little red light flashed angrily at me. No bike for you!

I tried the second bike, same thing.

Would the third bike be the charm?

Nope.

Maybe they were all put down for repair? Maybe CaBi panicked about the winter weather advisory for tomorrow evening and pre-emptively shut down the system? Maybe I broke my key?

A quick call to a customer service rep (yay for 24 hour service), and the issue was quickly identified and resolved. At the time I signed up with CaBi, I used a card that had since been canceled. Oops! Once I updated my billing information, everything went smoothly. My key worked immediately and I rode to a nearby station, docked, took out another bike and rode back home.

It was a pleasant late night ride. Hardly any traffic (vehicular or pedestrian). Quiet & cold, just the way I like it. If I wasn't trying to go to bed at a reasonable hour, I would have gone downtown to the monuments for awhile.

I might dread leaving my warm, comfy living room to head out into the cold winter air for a bike ride, but I am always glad once I do it. If it weren't for this contest, I probably wouldn't have bothered today.

Tomorrow its back to my regular commute. Interesting to see what will happen with the alleged snow that's supposed to show up tomorrow afternoon....

Winter Weather Warrior: Week 1, Done!

Yesterday's CaBi ride was uneventful. Just my normal a.m. commute to work. I was meeting some friends at a bar after work, so I used CaBi to get there too.

I took a taxi cab home, of course.

And that marked the end of a week of Capital Bikeshare rides! Not bad, if I do say so myself.

This week began with a bang. Today was WABA's Resolution to Ride Safely bike ride. Despite feeling a little groggy from last night's imbibing, I dragged myself out of bed on this cold (and snowy) morning to meet with the other riders at 18th & Columbia. I grabbed a bike from the 16th & Harvard station and rode it the starting area. I could have grabbed one from the 18th & Columbia station, but I felt like riding rather than walking.

After a short little talk on what riding "responsibly" means, we were off! The ride was a nice, pleasant roll around downtown with highlights including the White House (obligatory photo op), the Pennsylvania Ave bike lanes, and the 15th St. cycletrack (with only one idiot driver parked right in the middle of the cycletrack). It was a pretty brisk morning, so we kept it moving. The thought of a nice hot cup of hot chocolate kept me motivated ;) I used the same bike throughout the ride, even though there were stations along the way that I could have stopped at to dock the bike and "reset" the clock to avoid additional fees. I don't like having to constantly stop during an organized ride and I didn't mind paying the fee. There was another rider also using CaBi, and he did stop at the stations along the way.

After the ride, I left the bike at the 18th & Columbia station and walked home (I had some time to kill before I had to head out to work--and use CaBi again to commute there).

The other rider that was using CaBi for the ride gave me a great idea for my days off. He says he uses CaBi as a sort of impromptu "bike tour" of DC via the bikeshare stations. He simply looks for the closest station, docks, checks the map for the next closest station, bikes there, docks, checks the map, etc.... He said its a great way to see DC from a new perspective and to see the parts of DC that maybe you haven't before. What a great idea!

And now, I'm off to work.

Capital Bikeshare Day 3: Ride to Nowhere in Particular

I'm feeling a tad better now, but still pretty wiped out.

I only got half of my workout done today, and the knowledge that I still needed to get a capital bikeshare ride done for today was looming in my mind.

I couldn't think of a good destination, so I finally decided to just go ahead, get a bike and just ride for a bit with no particular destination in mind.

The weather was pretty chilly, but it felt good after my last few days of being in a fever. Once I warmed up a bit on the bike, I wanted to keep riding and riding. Maybe downtown, maybe to the Mall, maybe over to Georgetown....

Alas, the boy texted me that he was starving and would like dinner ASAP. Duty calls!

So, after a short ride around Columbia Heights, I returned the bike to the docking station and headed home.

Riding nowhere in particular reminded me of being a kid; of days when I rode my just for the sake of riding my bike.

I look forward to more "pointless" trips like this in the future.