Done with winter.

Hey, how you been? Me? Not so great.

Oh, the year started off with grand plans and intentions. It hasn't exactly gone according to plan, however.

1. If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed that I have been running a bunch lately. Certainly more than I have been cycling. I have signed up for the Rock n' Roll half-marathon next month. I did this for two reasons: I needed a change in activity, and I needed to get in better shape for the Unity Tour.  Although I completed the Tour last year with no major problems, I know I could have been in better shape. With running, I've already been able to shed nearly 20lbs, and I feel much better. Running has been going swimmingly runningly, except for the last two weeks. I took some time off because I've been having a nagging pain in my left achilles tendon, and everything I have googled says DO NOT RUN. I also probably have tuberculosis. I'm not sure. Anyway, I figure a little rest can't hurt. Still, I have actually come to enjoy running (and I used to HATE it with a capital H. And A, T & E).  It's very meditative once you get past the "this sucks" phase. It lets me zone out in a way that cycling doesn't really offer me, at least urban cycling. When I'm riding in the city, I find I have to be hyper-vigilant because of traffic & drivers & pedestrians & little tiny dogs & little tiny people. I usually only get into that "zone" when I'm on empty trails or rural roads. It's a nice change, for once.

2. I hate winter. Seriously. I am giving up all pretense of being a Winter Viking Cyclist. I am sick and tired of having to wear a minimum of 4 layers of clothing and taking 20 minutes just to get out my front door because I need to make sure I have gloves, hat, scarf, extra gloves, extra socks & still feeling like an icicle as soon as I get outside. I am tired of the constant gray. I am tired of fighting with the wind. I am tired of my nose running & my eyes tearing up. Done. Over. Go Away. As a result, I've barely done any "fun" cycling this year so far. I still ride at work, and even that is a bare minimum. I am ready for spring and sun & warmth. So ready.

3. I have been steadfastly avoiding fundraising/training for the Unity Tour. I have had a pretty solid training plan all laid out, but I have been avoiding it because it just reminds me that I ALSO need to fundraise. And I hate fundraising. So this is where I will need your help. I will be doing SOME fundraising events (like the bike-wash and maybe a karaoke night), but any little bit that you can donate online would be SUPER GREAT. The link is over there to the right --------> For those that are not familiar with the Police Unity Tour, please allow me to sum up a little bit:

-It is a 3 day, approx. 280 mile bike ride from Richmond to DC (it winds quite a bit). The ride is designed to raise awareness for the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial in Washington, DC and the men & women that died in the line of duty the previous year (and all years, really). Both active & retired law enforcement folks from all over the country participate, and there are several chapters, all of whom ride from various locations & mileages to DC. The ride coincides with Police Week in DC and we all arrive as one giant group for the candlelight vigil. If you have never attended, I strongly encourage you to do so. It is a moving, heart-wrenching and powerful experience.  Last year, I believe the Unity Tour as a whole managed to raise about $1 million for the Memorial. Last year was my first time doing the ride and it was such an amazing experience. I have been lucky in that I have not been personally touched by a line of duty death this year (SORT OF, but that is a story for another time) but I have in the past. This ride is super important to me. As the ride approaches, I will be posting more information specific to line of duty deaths and the law enforcement memorial. In the meantime, I encourage to you visit the Officer Down Memorial Page. Please consider donating. Every cent goes to a good cause.

4. Speaking of training for the Unity Tour, as much as I love Kermit and how well he performed during last year's tour, I am looking for a more appropriate road bike to ride and train on for the tour. I will admit, I got made fun of for the fenders & pretty pink handlebars. I still kicked that ride's butt though. But I think this year I actually would like to ride something a little more...sporty. zippy. Not 650b. So, if you have a spare road bike sitting around that you'd like to get rid of for fairly cheap, or simply let me borrow for a few months, I would be eternally grateful. I'm not actually looking to add another bike to my stable, but I will if I have to, I guess.... :-) Please let me know in the comments or shoot me an email/tweet. If you are a Bike Shop (AHEM AHEM AHEM NOT LOOKING IN ANY PARTICULAR SHOP'S DIRECTION OR ANYTHING) and would like to donate a road bike or sponsor me or even just give money, I can give you some sweet details on being a corporate donor (it really is pretty sweet). Just email me.

5. And speaking of borrowed bikes, I actually got a a bite on Jamie (my Jamis that is available for borrowing). Unfortunately, the weather was crappy the weekend she needed it, so Jamie wasn't needed. Still, it was nice to know that people out there are paying attention. Jamie is still available! I know the National Bike Summit is coming up really soon--so if there are any women out there that would like to borrow my bike for the summit, let me know. It's totally yours.

6. And finally, I've had a bit of bomb go off in my personal life. This isn't the blog for that (or any blog, for that matter) but its a pretty big reason as to why I have been rather quiet on the blog lately, and unfortunately it may stay that way for awhile while I tend to some personal matters. Everything is OK, but my energy has to be directed elsewhere for a bit. It's a good thing, because I have come to realize what a Negative Nancy I have become in the last year or so. It's not a good thing. I don't like being sarcastic and snarky and unhappy and just generally a drag to be around. So now I can focus on getting better & happier again. I know there's a bunch of bike-related events coming up (National Bike Summit, the Women & Bikes program is launching, various rides are starting up again), but you may not see much of me at that them in the next month or so. (Still planning on Vasa though!) I will still promote them, however--if you have a bike event coming, let me know! I will definitely put the word out.

And that's pretty much it. Please donate, and if you have a good lead on a road bike I can borrow, hit me up!

P.S. I took Betty out for some errands today (it was a gorgeous day, weather-wise) and both Betty & I received a good amount of compliments, so I will take that as a good day.

Some photos:

This is what happens when you don't use a spill-proof lid.

Tesla Bike? One of my favorite car "dealerships" in DC.

Bike on bike on bike. These are Capital Bikeshare maintenance guys (on bikes) helping out a DDOT ticket-writer (on a bike).

Working hard, or hardly working? (Inauguration 2013)

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.

Are you a Winter Weather Warrior?

Or, more importantly, am I?

I knew that Capital Bikeshare was planning some sort of contest, but I didn't know what it would be. I was hoping for an "Around the Capitol in 1 day" where you had to hit every Capital Bikeshare station in DC in one day kinda contest.

But, I guess this is just as good ;)

The rules (and sign-up) are here.

In a nutshell, Capital Bikeshare annual & monthly members are eligible to opt into this 2-month long contest. What do you need to do? Well, ride! Specifically, ride Capital Bikeshare. The rider that takes the most trips during January and February gets crowned the Winter Weather Warrior! (and wins some pretty neat prizes, if you like that sort of thing).

There are some other categories to win: Most Saddle Time (rider with the most time spent on bikeshare), and Long Haul Rider (rider with most trips over 3 miles). There will be a winner in each of these categories in January AND February (the slate is wiped clean at the end of January and begins again February).

There are also some minor categories to win, including perfect attendance (riding bikeshare every single day of the contest) as well as some random drawings.

Also, did I mention that "bad weather" days count as double? You'll have to check the website to see what is considered "bad weather". I like that they don't count days where the system is shut down due to bad weather against the perfect attendance score (like yesterday, *ahem* *cough* *premature panic* *cough*), however I see that they also mention that if you DO take a ride on a day where the system had been shut down, but then re-opened it will count for the winter weather warrior/saddle time/long-haul rider categories. Not sure what I think about that...

I want to do this. I doubt I'll win the crown of Winter Weather Warrior, but I can shoot for perfect attendance, right?

My problem is, how? I only currently use bikeshare for emergencies. I use my own bikes for getting around.

I will definitely have to put Betty up for the season (I probably should do that anyway, but I love riding her).

I'll have to start commuting by bikeshare. The drawback to this is that it will actually *increase* my commute time (since I'll have to walk to the closest bikeshare stations rather than simply ride directly from home to work), and those extra minutes walking add up. And I'll have to figure out a way to haul my stuff around. The bikeshare "basket" is nice, but hardly adequate. Hello, messenger bag....

My commute to and from work is 1.5 miles each way. So that won't be enough to qualify me for the long haul rider. I can't use bikeshare at work itself, because I'm required to use my work's bike. So that's out.

I'll have to figure out some errands that I can on the weekends via bikeshare so I can keep up the perfect attendance.

This should be interesting. As alway, I will document my efforts throughout the duration of the contest.


I hope your holidays were well-spent! I'm looking forward to the end of them, myself. I've never been a big New Year's party kind of person. By the time I get through Christmas, I feel worn out.

I do have a bunch of New Year's Resolutions for 2011. As it gets closer, I'll share most of them with you. Do you guys have any resolutions for this year? How did last year's go?

Is 30 minutes enough?

Generally, yes. Even with obeying all traffic regulations, I was able to go from the Waterfront area to Columbia Heights in about 30 minutes, without breaking too much of a sweat. And that included stops to take photos along the way.

This is the route that I took today. The "end" sign is where I stopped to dock the bike at 5th and K and take photos.




As long as you return your bike to a docking station, rather than locking it up elsewhere while you run an errand, I don't think that keeping within the 30 minute timeframe should be a problem at all. Even if you take up to an hour to get somewhere, its just a $1.50. That's a total of $6.50 for a single one-hour trip if you purchase a day-membership ($5 membership fee plus $1.50 trip fee). How much would it cost to take a cab for an hour? A heck of a lot more. And given the choice between walking 10 blocks from a metro stop to my destination, and riding 10 blocks, I'd take the ride.

Do you think the bikeshare program is affordable and convenient?