Bike to Work Day

Five days of buckets of rain. The Potomac is near flood stage. Creeks are jumping their banks. The ground is so saturated that water just pools on the surface of lawns.

And we're out biking.

Today is Bike to Work Day. As a promotional thing, the Crystal City part of Arlington turns it into a week-long event, with a gathering every morning at the Crystal City Water Park. Best of all, if you show up all five days, you get a free bike jersey! Most of my morning coffee bike friends have collections of CC jerseys, so I was determined to get one this year. And then it rained. And rained, and rained. Every morning Monday through Thursday I bundled up in my rain gear and headed out the door before 6:30 AM to give myself time to bike to Crystal City, hang out and schmooze, and then still get to work at a reasonable time (detouring to Crystal City about doubles my commute from 6 to 12 miles). Thursday was the worst - drenching rain that eventually soaked my rain gear.

Friday I decided to embrace the wet. I donned a Hydroskin (sort of like a thin neoprene) kayaking top, high vis vest, bike shorts, and wateproof socks - gear intended to keep me warm, but not really dry - and headed out. It was so much more comfortable than stuffy rain gear! The fact that I didn't have to ultimately get to work helped - somehow I really didn't mind getting wet when I knew I didn't have any goal other than playing in the rain.

This guy has been out in the rain for too long (Falls Church)

First stop: Falls Church. I headed west from my house for about a mile to hit the Falls Church pit stop, hosted by the fun folks from Bikenetic, a popular local bike shop. Saw a number of friends from that crowd (people who race on bikenetic teams, participate in their shop rides, etc.): Cyndi, Casey, Dane, Liz, ... Not too much in the way of give-aways there; I turned down the offer of a industrial quality bagel, but did take a chocolate chip cookie for later. After hanging for a bit I turned around and headed east down the W&OD for 6-7 miles to ...

Shirlington

Second stop: Shirlington. The always sunny Kathy L was volunteering there, brightening up a rainy day. There were free baked goods from Best Buns, a favorite bakery of mine and the Wednesday gathering spot for the local cyclist morning coffee club. I grabbed a bran muffin (my usual order) and, at the urging of the staff, a slice of apple monkey bread (I think they figured they weren't going to get too big a crowd, given the weather, so they were eager to give out what they had brought). In fact, there weren't many people and not much swag other than the baked goods (I did get a water bottle). I chatted with (I don't know this woman's name) about how frustrating it is that all these stops have regular coffee but no decaf. I have been largely off caffeine since my surgery; she is recovering from a concussion and also has to avoid caffeine. I bid farewell and continued to ...

Crystal City Water Park

Third Stop: Crystal City. The girl with the concussion? She left Shirlington after I did, took the same route, never passed me, but was somehow already in line to check in at Crystal City when I got there. I know I'm a slow rider, but I can't figure out how she did it - unless the bump on the head gave her some sort of mutant teleportation powers. Josephine and Cassie were doing the check-ins. I got my Crystal City jersey!!! I also got the free BTWD t-shirt. Crystal City is one of the big pit stops, and there were lots of people there. I hung out for a while, chatted and picked up some small swag items (granola bar, banana) before continuing on to ...

Theodore Roosevelt Island parking lot, which wasn't supposed to be a stop but is where my rear tire went flat. Fortunately, TRI is really close both to the Rosslyn pit stop and my office. I walked my bike up into Rosslyn, figuring there might be bike mechanics at the Rosslyn pit stop willing to fix my flat and if not, I would duck into my office building to fix my flat out of the rain.

The Conte's mechanic both fixing and breaking my bike

Rosslyn

Fourth Stop: Rosslyn. This is a super big stop with lots of booths. Sure enough, there were some bike shops there offering free mechanic services. The Conte's bike shop mechanic fixed my flat for free, which was nice. Unfortunately, he also put my wheel back on crooked. When I took my bike back I realized that the brakes were rubbing. He grabbed it back and rather than straighten the wheel he adjusted the brakes, leaving me with an off-center wheel and misaligned brakes (though I didn't realize this at the time). I strolled the booths and availed myself of the great swagathon that is the Rosslyn pit stop: another water bottle, CO2 cartridge, patch kit, energy bars, another BTWD t-shirt (for Valerie), bike socks - gosh, I lost track of it all. I have to admit, I had left home with an empty back pack to make sure I had ample swag carrying capacity, and I made use of it at Rosslyn! I bumped into Henry, Chris W., Chris R., Erin, Robyne, Rimas and Ken. By this point it was getting on 9 AM, the end-time for most of the pit stops. Some people were planning to head on into DC to the Wharf area, where there was a pit stop that stayed open until 10 AM, but I decided to head towards home, figuring I'd make one more stop, since I would pass by the Ballston pit stop along the way. Ken asked if he could ride with me, since he wanted to visit the Ballston stop but didn't know where it was. So I continued on to ...

Ballston with Ken and SteveO

Fifth stop: Ballston. Since I was riding with Ken, I hustled up the hill out of Rosslyn at a faster than usual, heart-pumping pace so as not to be too much of a slowpoke. Ken and I got to Ballston to find that, as expected, they were packing up. There we ran into SteveO, who had been volunteering but was getting ready to leave. SteveO lives right near me and so the three of us continued on together. The trails were populated with familiar faces - we saw Kurt up ahead of us, easily recognizable by his recumbent bike, and then Cynthia (a tiny little woman who rides like a demon) caught us, exchanged greetings and then passed us by.

At the Bluemont caboose Ken broke off for home (Alexandria) while SteveO and I finished our last bit of the W&OD trail. As we were getting off the trail my bike started feeling squishy again. Sure enough, my rear brake was rubbing again and in addition, I was getting another flat tire - this time, the front wheel. I managed to limp the last few blocks home, where I set aside my bike to dry (to be cleaned and fixed later) spread out and admired my swag collection, and finished off the thermos of decaf I had been toting around and sipping all morning, along with the monkey bread from Shirlington.

Swag!

Did I bike to work? Not exactly - I'm not even working today. Did I bike to my workplace? Absolutely! Did I have fun? Absolutely, again!

Metric Century!

Since my surgery I have changed my exercise habits. I used to do some form of intense exercise (running, rowing, etc.) every other day, with recovery days in between. Now I exercise almost every day, and generally for a longer duration, but the exercise is less intense. But sometimes I still push it.

I am not a fast cyclist, nor will I ever be one, but I have been curious about what kind of distance I can bike if I put myself to the test. Last month I had a 43 mile day when I participated in the VASA ride. Yesterday I decided to see if I could push that a little bit: to 50 miles, and maybe to a "metric century" (100 km, or 62 miles). I started from home and planned a 25 mile ride west, which would get me back home with a round trip distance of 50 miles (plus had ways to get home by Metro if I pooped out early). Then, if I felt like I still had some gas in the tank when I got home, I'd head east down to the bottom of the W&OD trail, and that extra round-trip would take me to 62 miles.

I have to say, I was inspired by two cyclists I chatted with at a happy hour on Weds night: one a breast cancer survivor, and the other a 30-something (or thereabouts) woman with a jaw-dropping history of serious medical conditions who is a healthy and powerful mountain bike racer. The two of them have said "F*ck you" to their diseases and have gotten on with life.

Here's how my ride went:

7:00 AM - Planned start time. Busy emailing - I just can't seem to get out the door on time if I don't have a hard deadline.

7:30 - Still puttering around the house.

8:00 - Actual start time.

9:20 - Bathroom break at Bready Park in Herndon. Also take time to adjust the seat on my bike to try and dial in the fit a little (this is the first long ride on a new bike)

9:30 - The seat is really uncomfortable. Stop again to re-adjust. Much better.

10:25 Reach my turn-around point, cleverly timed so my turning point is also where I take my first real break - to dial into a 10:30 conference call for work. Use the five minutes I have left before the call to turn around and bike back a little to a spot where I had seen a covered park bench - a good place to take the call.

10:30 - Dial into the call.

10:40 - See an older guy walking along the trail a few hundred feet away suddenly keel over and disappear into the small gully alongside the trail. Should I drop the call and run over to help!? Two other cyclists closer to him have seen it too and stop to offer aid. They help the guy up. He seems alright.

10:50 - The guy continues his walk and when he gets to where I am, sits down on the bench where I'm talking. When my call finishes I talk to him for a bit. He's OK - just lost his balance while leaning over to look at a a turtle alongside the trail. He was very concerned that the turtle was going to try and cross the trail and get smushed.

10:55 - He continues east. I bike west to where the turtle is to have a look. The poor thing is all up in its shell. I turn around and as I pass the guy I tell him the turtle is OK, just apparently frightened. He's still concerned about the turtle crossing the trail. We part ways and I start my ride back in earnest.

11:30 - I stop at Green Lizard Cycling / Coffee shop alongside the trail in Herndon and have an iced non-fat decaf latte (such is my life - no caffeine, no fat, no fun) and a Stroopwafel (after checking the packages of all the flavors to see which one has the least fat).

12:15 PM - Lunch break at the Whole Foods alongside the trail in Vienna (salad, Asian noodles, iced green tea - which might have had some caffeine). Continue riding east ...

1:30 - Back at my starting point. 50 miles done. Continue? Yes!! Carefully watching the trip odometer on my bike computer, I ride just far enough down the trail to ensure a round trip of 62 miles.

1:55 - Reach final turnaround point.

2:00 - Another coffee break. Decaf double espresso and a chocolate chip cookie (a real indulgence!). Continue onto the final leg. It's a hot afternoon and I tell the barista my grandfather's theory that you should drink hot drinks on hot days to cool yourself off (drinking a hot drink makes you perspire more, and perspiration cools you off).

2:48 - Arrive home. As I pull into the driveway my mileage reads 62.2, which means I have ridden 100.1 km.

Talking business

3:00 - Valerie arrives home and I when I tell her about my ride I get that "I'm so happy you're this healthy again" / "You're a lunatic" combination look I know all too well.

3:30 - I am in the bath, soaking my sore muscles (and something else I won't elaborate on here).

4:00 - Nap

4:30- I begin calculating how to step up my mileage on subsequent rides to get me to a full "century" (100 miles).

The next morning: I awaken feeling fine. Not really sore, except for the previously unmentioned problem. Spend a few hours doing yard work without any ill effect. F*ck you, heart disease - I'm charting a path to a century ride.



Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/1549534371