The Real Deal: Intermediate Commute

Despite my misgivings yesterday evening about the new route I was testing, today I went for the real deal and my ride was actually pleasant. It helped that I made a slight modification to my route to remove one of the neighborhood cut-throughs. The other cut-through was navigable even with my big front bag on my bike (so much so that a guy on a scooter follow me up the path). Also, I got the worst part of the route out of the way early--there's a stretch as I'm getting off campus where I have to ride on the sidewalk before I can turn into the first neighborhood.

I was surprised that there weren't as many people on bikes during the ride home, not even on the Capital Crescent Trail, but I guess I'm comparing it to a decent weekend when a lot of people tend to be out (I even had a double Brompton sighting yesterday!). There were long stretches in the neighborhoods when I didn't have a lot of cars to contend with, and it was really to nice take my lane and go at an easy pace (though I still made good time).

My morning commute was good too. I took a longer route than usual to get around the problematic areas, but the quality of the ride was much improved. The only sort-of issue was when a work truck came up onto the multi-use path right as I was going down it--that really woke me up!

Anyway, after today's rides I've feeling better about my bike commute options generally. It took me a while to get here this year, but I hope to be able to sustain it.

Total miles: 8.94 (.9 + 3.6 + 4.44)

Observation: When I'm riding on a sidewalk without a treelawn next to it, I feel like I'm riding next to traffic anyway.  

Dry Run 2: Intermediate Commute Home (in which I discover theneighborhood "cut-through")

After a failed dry run in early May, I finally managed to try out my "intermediate" bike commute route. Basically I'm trying to get from Upper NW DC / Chevy Chase to the NIH campus area, where I would be able to catch a shuttle; the ride gets me 1/3 of the way to work.

If I were to drive, getting to the campus would be pretty straightforward. However, I'm not willing to take the lane and ride along Wisconsin Ave./Rockville Pike or Connecticut Ave., so I try to go along neighborhood streets. The ride itself is fine, but I get tripped up by--for lack of a better term--the neighborhood "cut-through" (or maybe there is a better term and I just don't know it?).

I'm defining neighborhood cut-through as a little path that connects two streets (or sometimes trails) at a point where there is no other nearby street to connect them. The entrance to these paths can be hard to spot if you are going too fast, as they look like they might be leading to someone's backyard. I made the mistake of thinking this during my first attempt at this dry run, and ended up turning around because I was afraid I'd be trespassing onto someone's property. It was only after some careful study of Google Maps Street View that I realized I there was a path between some overgrown bushes (see image below).

Cut-through from adjacent street to Capital Crescent Trail

If I had to guess, I would say that the intended function of these neighborhood cut-throughs is to serve as pedestrian shortcuts in neighborhoods with irregular street designs, where people would otherwise have to walk several blocks out of their way if they wanted to go "straight" through the neighborhood. This is great for walkers, and in theory it could be great for bikers--the route I planned was definitely the most direct one for what I was trying to accomplish. In practice, however, it was not a great bike route: as I said, I missed the first one when I tried my dry run in May, and then today I missed another, as entrances tend to be hidden among houses and lawns. When I did manage to find the cut-throughs, I usually had to dismount and walk my bike through the gravel and mulch. Even if I attempted to ride, they were often narrow, some of them have barriers which I have to navigate slowly to avoid scraping my legs against them. Then the cut-throughs open abruptly onto the street and sidewalk, where walker and drivers aren't on the look-out for a biker bursting through the bushes.

Anyway, on the route I tried today, there are no less than four cut-throughs (see image below), two of which are ways of entering/exiting the Capital Crescent Trail. It's a ride of about five miles, and I'm not going fast by any means, but these cut-throughs slow me down even more. On the way home I tried another way that was marked "Bike Route" and there were just as many cut-throughs (so maybe someone thinks they're bike appropriate, but I disagree).

Orange arrows indicate cut-throughs along route
Yellow arrow other cut-throughs in the area I've tried

As I'm not a big fan of these cut-throughs, I'm not sure what to make of this commute route. I don't know that I have very many other options because I don't want to ride on a busy thoroughfare. I've tried riding through downtown Bethesda to get from the NIH campus to home, but that was miserable in a different way. So I guess I may have to keep trying, but for now it's a viable option, even if it's not an ideal one. And I haven't even mentioned what a pain it is to cross Rockville Pike to get to campus!!

Observation: There are a lot of standalone basketball hoops on driveways in the Bethesda neighborhoods between Jones Bridge Road and East-West Highway.

Dry Run: Long Commute Home (Route 1)

I'm not a serious rider and usually do my transportation riding close to home, but I got it into my head that I would attempt the 15+ miles from work to home. Last summer I would do the multi-modal commute on the Brompton to cover the ~3.25 miles between the Metro and work, but I had never done the full commute. I actually envisioned doing this next year after the Betty is built up, but D pointed out that Bromptons are capable of handling the distance even when loaded down with gear--people have even toured with them. So, with D's support, some advice from a committed long-distance bike commuter colleague, and the promise of a nice weekend, I decided I would attempt a "dry run" (terminology per my colleague).

The ride was also a good opportunity to try out the Cellet phone mount for my bike that D got me last Christmas, and the Map My Ride app. Before, if I didn't want to take the route that Google gave me, I would have to print out a map that I could refer to it on my ride. Now that I have the phone mount and the app, I could pre-set my route and then follow it on the app as I rode. It's not quite turn-by-turn directions, but it's a much better setup than what I had before (through I do love printed maps).

At my starting point, fully equipped for my dry run

I had planned on riding only one way of the commute, and my colleague wisely advised me to take the Metro up to work, then ride my bike from the Maryland side and down to DC. Good thing too, because although I survived the day's roughly 20 miles of riding (a lot for me), my legs were dead tired by the end of it. A day later, neither my legs nor my backside were noticeably sore, though I suspect I caught a cold. Overall, I'm glad I did the dry run, even though I don't know that I'll be doing the full commute on a regular basis anytime soon. 

Below the cut, my "ride" notes and my "route" notes for the two parts of my ride.

Would-be Errandonnee

Although the official Errandonnee ended earlier this week, today was such a beautiful day that I went out and did a lot of random errands on both my bikes. Three different trips below:

• Ace Hardware, Whole Foods (3.3 miles) - I ride to Tenleytown and Friendship Heights, and come home with a plant
  
• Neighborhood Bikeway Recon, Pete's Apizza (aborted) (2.5 miles) - I ride along DDOT's planned bikeways for 2014, 41st St. NW and Jennifer St. NW
• Bethesda via Little Falls Park Trail (5 miles) - I check out a potential route for my commute, and convince my cousins I can ride home in the dark

Post shopping trip

Trips were broken up by returns home; observations are included for each.

Brompton cargo options: O Bag with DIY extenders, and Folding BikeBasket

D calls me a pack mule, and a quick glance at what's on this blog is consistent with that--I like to find ways to carry things on my bikes. Herewith my two current Brompton cargo options:

Brompton O Bag by Ortlieb
I got the O Bag as part of my bike's package deal, which was great because the impetus for getting the bike was my multi-modal commute. The bag is well made, and though I haven't ridden in any torrential downpours, I'm confident that it's as waterproof as claimed. It's also sizeable, and could easily contain a change of clothes, my toiletries, my lunch and sometimes my breakfast too, and work papers.

O bag on Brompton

The features I found most useful about the bag:

• Rear roll-top detachable bags: These are handy for carrying items I want immediate access to. The attachment system is secure enough that I put my wallet, keys, and cell phone in these pockets, yet the bags are not difficult to detach. The reflective logo on each is also appreciated.
• Shoulder strap: Having the strap to the bag (in addition to the top handle) is great for those times when I need to lift my folded Brompton while carrying my bag. The strap as well as the buckles attaching it to the bag are sturdy, so I don't worry about failure given how much the bag can carry. When I'm riding around, I tuck the strap insider the front flap so it doesn't rub the wheels or accidentally catch on anything. As a bonus, you can also use the strap on one of the small detachable bags.
• Plastic feet on bag bottom: The bag can stand upright on its own, a helpful feature when I'm on a train platform and want to set the bag down. The feet also spare the bottom of the bag itself from some wear.

There are other features that I don't use to full effect, but still appreciate. There's a large padded laptop sleeve inside, with a wide velcro closure. Multiple compartments inside--even individualized pockets for pens--help keep things organized, and the light grey interior make it easy to find things. The orange key strap is also visible and removable. These details would be perfect if I was using this as an office briefcase, and maybe in the future I will.

The only real shortcoming of the bag--at least for amount of stuff I was putting in it--was the length of the front straps for the bag closure. At their original length, even when fully extended, I didn't feel like I was getting all the available volume at the top of the bag. I'm not the first person to notice this problem, or to try to devise a solution. I only needed a couple more inches, and I didn't want to physically alter the bag, so I decided to make little strap extenders (with D's help, naturally):

Strap/buckle extenders for O bag

I bought a couple of replacement stealth buckles from Ortlieb and some black nylon webbing from REI, and attached the male and female part of each buckle using a small length of strap. The extender buckles fit right into the male/female parts of the existing buckles, and it's actually a little easier to open the bag using the extenders since they're not sewn directly onto the bag. The extenders add about 2.75" of length to the strap, which is just enough so that my things don't feel crammed in, but the front flap fold still keeps the elements out.

O bag with strap extenders attached

Overall, the O bag is great for commuting. Aesthetically it's definitely more tech than tweed, but I think it looks great on my white Brompton, and has a professional feel to it.

Brompton Folding Basket
Last weekend I bought the folding basket for the times when I wanted to use the Brompton for small shopping trips. Others have written about how they use the O bag for this purpose, but honestly it feels too heavy duty for such a casual use. And while I have my Globe and all its various ways of carrying things for dedicated grocery trips, sometimes I just like riding around on the Brompton and I wanted the option of spontaneously stopping by somewhere to pick up something. Also, D recently got me a nice digital camera, and I didn't want to carry it around on a shoulder bag, so it can go pretty easily into the folding basket.

Folding basket on Brompton

Although I've only used the basket for two shopping trips, I'm already amazed by how well the Brompton plus basket system works. I can use my bike in shopping cart mode at the two grocery stores I go to, so I just stick my groceries directly in the basket, and get a good sense of how much I can carry--it's more than I had anticipated. Small tip: I use a standard Baggu bag to hold my things, as it fits perfectly inside, and I can tie the handles to keep things from flying out during my bumpy ride home (see below).

Rear view of basket on carrier block

Baggu bag peeking from inside

There's also something adorable about Bromptons as cargo bikes. The small wheels with (proportionally) large carrying capacity remind me of "shopper" bikes or a classic butcher's bike, but with a more modern design.

Anyway, as I have more experience with this basket, I'm sure I'll have more to say, including any negatives. For now it's added functionality to my already versatile Brompton, which is as high a praise as I can give for a simple bike basket. =)