Category: Biking in Maryland

by Cycle Jerk

I was going to post about my 4th of July road trip with the LHT but that’ll wait until tomorrow. It was already 92 degrees when I biked in this morning and I think that warrants a public service announcement.

I think the most common question people have when they learn I commute by bike everyday is, “Do you have a shower at work?”. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking summer heat or winter freeze, most people think that having a shower at work is the only way bike commuting can work. It dawned on my this morning while pushing through the heat that not having a shower in the office is stopping a lot of people from even considering the bike as a way to get to work.

I don’t want a shower at work, it would make the process of biking to work longer and more tedious. Taking a shower is an important element of bike commuting in the summer heat but take it before the ride, not after. The best way I’ve found to manage the DC summer is to take a shower right before I leave the house.

If you are a burning hot when you get to work and take a quick shower odds are you’ll start sweating again the second you step out to dry yourself off. Your sweat isn’t what cools you down, it’s that sweat evaporating that does the trick so when you get to work all sweaty find a fan, a big ass fan.

This BAF circulates the air in the parking garage under my building. It’s never on but I can plug it in when I need it. Three minutes in front of this with my shirt held open cools me down enough to enter the building. If  I’m still hot after changing in the bathroom I head to my desk where i have a stick of deodorant and a small fan waiting. After about 10 minutes I have to turn the fan off because I get too cold. If you can’t find a BAF try two small ones at your desk, you’ll be surprised at how effective they are.

All that an no shower! It’s a quick process and because I took a shower right before leaving the house I’m relatively clean.  

Another way to beat the heat is to wear sandals on your ride. Last fall I switched to platform pedals on the LHT (yeah you know me). In the winter I wear my boots, in the summer I’ve started wearing my Tevas. They’re not ideal for long rides but they are fine for a commute and they keep my feet nice and cool.

Now I know that everybody’s physiology is different, some of us are sweaty pigs that stink like a barnyard after a ride. Just give it a try, modify your routine until it works for you. Asking your coworkers to let you know if you smell of barnyard isn’t a bad idea either.

Got a good hot weather commuting technique? Please share it with the rest of the class.

Continue reading “PSA: How To Bike Commute On A 100+ Degree Day”

DISORDERLY: Dep. J. Norton arrested Dorothy Irene Emerson, 41 of Chesapeake Beach and charged her with disorderly after she refused to leave the parking lot outside the Crooked I Bar in North Beach on July 5 at 12:51 a.m. She became disorderly and pushed over a bicycle belonging to the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, causing $400 in damage. She was charged with disorderly conduct, failure to obey a lawful order and malicious destruction of property.
Continue reading “Calvert County Police Bar Patrol on Bikes?”

ABC gets bike safety wrong:
"Never let your child ride in the street even in your own neighborhood. Many accidents happen close to home. Riding on the sidewalk … are safer options."
Sidewalk riding is not only illegal in most places, studies have shown a higher risk of accidents from riding on the sidewalk.
Continue reading “Keeping kids safe on bikes and scooters (not)”

Every time I see a soccer mom texting while driving down the road, watch a couple leave the restaurant with the second bottle of wine empty, or, like last week, have some jerk yell "wish I had me a coke bottle" as he buzzes by me 10 inches from his side view mirror, I get angry …. but this just makes me sad … breaks my heart. Services were this morning.
For the 34 year old killer … this will be his second DUI. He served three days in jail for the first conviction.
– jsselle
Continue reading “RIP Avid Maryland Cyclist Stan Miller”

By Kenny Gamble
BETHESDA, Md. (WUSA) — A spokesperson for the Maryland National Capital Park Police said two bicyclists were injured after a head-on collision on the Capital Crescent Trail near Little Falls Parkway.
Sgt. Lauryn McNeill said it happened Friday around 8:30 a.m. She said a cyclist headed for the National Institutes of Health moved around two pedestrians and into the path of an oncoming cyclist.
McNeill said both cyclists were transported to Suburban Hospital for treatment.
Chief Darien L. Manley said this is not a common occurrence. "I hope that the parties involved recover from their injuries soon," he said.
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Continue reading “Md. Bikers Injured After Head-On Collision”

By Surae Chinn
GERMANTOWN, Md. (WUSA) — Friends and family remember an avid biker who was killed when a driver crashed into him.
It happened around 7 p.m. Friday night on Ridge Road near Morning Star Drive in Germantown.
48-year-old Stan Miller was heading home. It would his last bike ride.
Dorian Janney says, "I can’t believe he’s not coming home. It hasn’t sunk in. I’ve gone to his room, touched his things, I’m feeling sad…sad for those left behind. We’re going to miss him."
Miller rented the basement from Janney’s home. She was more than his landlord. They treated each other like family.
The avid biker, who just celebrated a birthday last week, would sometimes spend weeks at a time in Central America.
Miller was just three miles from home, riding on the shoulder when he was struck and killed. Police say they smelled alcohol on the driver.
Police say the driver refused to take a breathalizer test and when doctors tried to get a blood test police say 34-year- old Quinzy Fraser from Clarksburg, Maryland, assaulted the officer and resisted arrest.
While charges are pending against the driver, friends and family are focusing on their loved one.
They’re making sure to keep his memories alive, that means looking after his many bird houses out back and taking care of Sylvester who sits on the stairs waiting for his master to come home.
Janney says, "Stan was living his life to the fullest."
Maryland law alllows officers to take a blood analysis by force if a driver is involved in a fatal collision and suspected of DUI.
Fraser is being held on a 200-thousand dollar bond.
Police say it could be weeks before they get the blood results and charges are filed in the fatal accident.
Continue reading “Avid Biker Remembered After Fatal Crash”

Continue reading “Larry Black, owner of Mt. Airy Bicycles”

July 10 to 13: The Greatest Bicycle Tour of the Historic C&O Canal. This is a 200-mile trek along the C&O Canal, with no hills and no cars. Organizers promise lots of support and food, and participants can ride at their own pace. Info: tgbt.org.
July 17: Total 200, Washington to Point Lookout, 5 a.m. This is a fully supported bike ride from Washington to Point Lookout State Park in southern Maryland and back. Suggested pace is 18 to 22 mph. Info: total200.com.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Coming-events-97602479.html#ixzz0sYQKZU3F
Continue reading “Coming events CYCLING”

[B’ Spokes: Gee whiz people, just drive the speed limit already.]
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from Stop the Maryland Unsafe Driver by Driver
The town is projected to earn about $500,000 from ticket revenues, about 10 percent of its budget. McCutcheon said the revenues can only be spent on public safety, and she hopes to hire a crossing guard for the intersection closest to the camera. The revenues will not be used to fill deficits in the town’s fiscal 2011 budget, she said.
Continue reading “Anger mounts over new Forest Heights speed cameras”

by David Alpert
…
AAA isn’t quite as honest as all that. Most of their members haven’t intentionally joined an organization that advocates against mass transit and bicycle facilities. Instead, they signed up for an emergency towing service. When Cigna started lobbying on health reform, everyone realized that they were a corporation acting in their own interest, maybe but maybe not the interest of their customers. Yet AAA isn’t treated the same way.
They also say the most outlandish things, or at least AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson Lon Anderson does, like that "community connectivity and walkability and minimizing ecological harm" are "gibberish" on the Greater Washington 2025 report, or comparing the Inauguration to the Civil War: "The last time the bridges were closed like this, Lincoln was president and was worried about an invasion by General Lee."
Then there’s Isaac Kramnick, who distorts political philosophy into a drivers-only credo: "What’s happening at this [camera] site is violating the concept of freedom … The automobile is the symbolic icon of freedom." And "Kramnick points to renowned English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who said in 1651 that freedom is the absence of hindrance to motion."
But EdTheRed points out that "What Hobbes meant by freedom of movement was that peasants shouldn’t be tied to the land, not that some d-bag could drive his automobile as fast as he damn well pleases."
Articles that talk about drivers’ pain often include colorful descriptions by the reporters themselves, like Halsey’s lede: "Drivers call it the "free at last" traffic light. After doing the stop-and-go head bobble all the way from downtown, when they reach the light at Bladensburg Road they feel they’ve earned their freedom from the purgatory of New York Avenue."
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My problem isn’t with AAA’s positions or their fairly effective press operation. My problem is that they get quoted all the time in traffic stories, but no nutjobs on the other side saying something equally insane about how all drivers are evil or something. The only case that comes to mind is Jim Graham calling Maryland drivers the "devil incarnate," but that was reported only because it came from an elected official’s mouth, and Graham came under criticism for it.
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Continue reading “What’s wrong with quoting AAA?”