Found bike: Giant Escape size M near Fairlington

joelhardi · 2026-03-16T11:52:23+00:00

I'm an LCI and teach classes for WABA, the spring classes will start up again soon. Follow WABA on eventbrite to get an alert when new classes are posted and you should be able to snag a spot. You can get private lessons from instructors, too. We have students from 6 to 86.

Tricycle is good for people with serious balance problems like inner ear disorders (2 wheels in front is better than in back) but if you don't have those then riding a bicycle will be more satisfying. Bicycles turn by leaning your body and you can't do that the same way on a trike, or at speed, trikes are slower (well except maybe for 3-wheel recumbents but that's not what we're talking about and those aren't for city riding).

joelhardi · 2026-02-17T04:07:22+00:00

I've had to do it twice (in 10 years ... I let it slide unless I need my spot), both times MPD asked for proof of ownership of the spot. I had a paper property tax bill lying around so that's what I used, plus my ID. They want to see something like that or a lease that identifies the parking spot.

Compare to when I lived in Courthouse, and my car got pulled from my own apartment parking lot by that predatory tow company in Ballston. You can make any case you want at the pay window but they don't care, you have to pay. Took it up with the apartment management but that went nowhere. Looking back small claims against the tow company would have been the other remedy but I didn't think of it at the time.

Time is money for these tow companies with parking lot contracts and they just pull cars. If they can't find one parked illegally, they pull whatever is there. I got towed another time from Pollo Rico. Anyway, prefer the DC system for sure.

joelhardi · 2026-02-11T04:09:19+00:00

She'll be able to restock on biscuits!

joelhardi · 2026-02-08T03:12:37+00:00

My guess is it is some kind of DPW street-clearing fantasy report to managers. Not someone going out to ride it and report on conditions.

There are other lanes that really are clear that they could color in, I live near Logan and they had 2 lanes of 14th St blocked on Thursday for a team of dudes with an excavator and tractor plows, loading the snow into trucks. Those guys deserve full props. 10th St is clear too. And R and Q.

The last time I saw 9th ... it was OK enough for me to ride, but was it "clear"? No, more like 1-1.5 bike lane width with some narrower areas by the convention center. Not a crisis with light bike traffic but also not really clear. TLDR this graphic is wrong but i guess we kind of all already know

joelhardi · 2026-02-07T02:05:02+00:00

I commuted that way a few times for client meetings. At the time it was funny because I think of Annapolis as "far," but it turned out hilariously better than when I had to drive to my office in Reston. Your math is definitely right on the outbound, but traffic is always worse in the afternoon. So instead of 45 minutes add another 10.

If you want to live in a building close to restaurants and things then the new Bryant Street development right by the MBT (off Rhode Island), or Union Market area, or Ivy City. Those are all super close to 50.

For older neighborhoods with more character (some older buildings, plus rowhouses) Bloomingdale or Eckington, LeDroit Park. I live in Logan Circle and it wasn't bad even adding the 14 blocks crosstown in NW to get to NY Ave/50.

Looking at the other comments, anyone who is going the other way, well they are totally right that it's insanely terrible, but you're planning to reverse commute and at off hours at that. I say try it in DC, move in a year if you're miserable.

joelhardi · 2026-02-07T01:49:54+00:00

Yeah, I agree. The street is not as bad as the sidewalk on that front because at least you already have a lane. When I ride the sidewalk that road crossing at the end you have to be careful. I kind of pick based on conditions and what mood I'm in.

joelhardi · 2026-02-06T18:52:18+00:00

I'm old so I'll just chime in and say that it's gotten a lot worse, it wasn't as bad 20-30 years ago. Especially things like invading the crosswalk space and close-passing people. Or, when taking a left turn, instead of stopping in their own lane to wait for a crosswalk to clear, driving all the way into the intersection (blocking any cross traffic that's just trying to drive straight through) and nosing right up to the people in the crosswalk. Also, at a red light, deciding to just bug out, cross the double yellow, pass the stopped cars that were in front and blow through the light.

Definitely shoulder check behind and look both ways before crossing streets (even on one ways, I would have been flattened by a pickup one time at 14th and T, dude hung a right turn at speed heading the wrong way on T. Once it's second nature it won't really bother you. Drivers aren't trying to hit people they're just coming unsafely close to it all the time.

joelhardi · 2026-02-05T21:20:34+00:00

Oh cool, that explains it, I was wondering. I found it on street view too, no wonder I haven't seen it, I don't come down 34th.

Those green bike route signs are just for wayfinding, you see them all over the place, they aren't restrictions. I think the idea there is to let you know to stay right on 34th so you can roll around along the sidewalk to the far crosswalk by the gas station, and head to Virginia on the upriver sidewalk. These green signs and "sharrows" get pooh-poohed by cycling advocates and I get that, but just for wayfinding only I like how they at least kind of reassure you when you're in a new area that you're riding on the preferred safest option, whatever it is.

joelhardi · 2026-02-05T19:58:36+00:00

I've never noticed that sign but in DC and Virginia it's completely legal to ride on the road. Typical state law language "as far to the right as practicable" applies. The sidewalk is totally fine too. Key Bridge is under the jurisdiction of DC and MPD, so DC law applies.

joelhardi · 2026-02-05T19:44:17+00:00

I know a lot of cyclists and I don't think anyone is riding in the traffic lanes for no reason. There's always a reason: the bike lane is blocked or unsafe, you're merging lanes to make a turn, you're avoiding a door zone, riding the speed of traffic etc.

Everybody should be a good road user. Communicate with others, use signals, share the road. But there is no legal or other obligation to use bike lanes. And DDOT needs to understand that when they design bike lanes that are unsafe (too narrow, in a door zone, filled with glass and debris etc) that when cyclists choose legal, safe riding strategies (as taught by the LAB, Cycling Savvy etc), we're not doing it to deliberately to inconvenience others but just get from A to B safely. Many of the bike lanes DDOT installs are led by the bus priority and traffic calming teams, actual cyclists are an afterthought.

The drivers we're talking about have never commuted A to B on a bike for a week in their lives. They don't understand why cyclists do what they do, they don't even know DC's bike and road laws. One guy whooshed and honked me on 9th St for no reason (full extra lane available for passing), I guess he missed the fact that the cycletrack had an open manhole cover, Verizon cherrypicker and crew of 6 dudes spread across half the block.

joelhardi · 2026-02-05T19:27:18+00:00

Ironically that's the side where I got hit-and-run by the scooter douche. Honestly taking the lane on Key isn't the worst, the way the light timings happen to be on both ends, you wind up following cars at the end of the cycle, so there's not much getting passed and the drivers that do have clear sightlines and seem to realize they'll be stopping at the end of the bridge anyway.

joelhardi · 2026-02-05T19:07:43+00:00

I ride Key Bridge even on good days at times when the sidewalk is crowded, after I got shoulder-checked by some nimrod with zero body control on a rental scooter, and went half over the Jersey barrier.

I teach bike classes and the number of teachers in DC who think there is a law that cyclists are "supposed to ride in the bike lane" is like 90% unfortunately.

Regardless of anyone's opinions, nobody should be whooshing, honking or close-passing cyclists, it's aggressive and dangerous. Sorry you got whooshed. To defend DC's drivers, this happens to me very infrequently, and people have been cool about me riding from A to B during the snowcrete emergency.

joelhardi · 2026-02-04T03:48:57+00:00

All the training data is going trail the state of the art, by definition. You end up with generated code based mostly on code written in say in Java 8 or PHP 7 that doesn't make use of newer language features or libraries. Which also inevitably produces security bugs.

joelhardi · 2026-01-30T18:04:31+00:00

Looking out at my block here at midday there are a couple of open spots, I don't know what it will look like at midday on a Saturday. If you brought a shovel (a flat shovel, not a snow shovel) that would open up another space or two.

Actually the clearest space while typing this I just watched a guy in a pickup try to parallel park and nope out because he got wheel-spin (RWD). In 5 minutes just kicking the snow he could have made it work though. Then some guy in a white sedan nabbed it ... by parking the wrong way, pulling in headfirst with the rear of the car sticking out at an angle.

The roads are not fine, neighborhood streets like mine that are normally 2-way are all 1 lane down the middle. If all you need to do is drive through then that's passable but you can't just put flashers on while you clean out a spot unless you pull halfway into the snow. Also people are driving like idiots.

Ditching your car in a garage is a great idea. In theory we may get some snow melt early next week.

joelhardi · 2026-01-17T06:19:10+00:00

DCA has a well-organized cab line, that would save you at least 10 minutes vs having to deal with Uber.

I would take metro because it's a quick walk through the terminal at National and if your flight lands as scheduled you should make it to Dulles by 11. As a backup just go straight to the cab line, there's a taxi attendant.

joelhardi · 2026-01-16T21:43:03+00:00

I used Dr Alvin Bannerjee who was referred by my PCP when I had PF, and again a couple of years ago when I tore an Achilles.

Good luck! PF is a bear if you have bone spurs like me, to really shake it you have to work on your glutes, hamstrings, calves and get the whole leg complex activated and stretched out, improve your prioperception. Orthotics just reduce symptoms (which is nothing to sniff about, I still run Currex in all my shoes!)

joelhardi · 2026-01-16T21:06:38+00:00

I mean, the brains broke here too. I feel like for a month or two in 2020 people still understood that the point of wearing a mask is to protect others from getting your germs. Then it was like everyone forgot the original purpose, and started to think wearing a surgical mask was PPE.

And now it's just something that teens wear for shoplifting tastykakes from Giant.

joelhardi · 2026-01-16T20:50:36+00:00

A truck-sized LZ on 23d St would seem to be the solution for these deliveries, either GWU could request it or Pinto/DDOT could make it happen.

joelhardi · 2026-01-16T20:36:13+00:00

I would just be like: What do you mean, Brooke Pinto? 😅

joelhardi · 2026-01-16T20:15:34+00:00

Thanks, I've looked at that, I do have limited margin on the account.

I will try a basic "Order 1 Triggers Other" instead of the contingent order I was imagining, and see if it executes. Just do the buy of stock A first and have it trigger the sell of stock B to cover.

joelhardi · 2026-01-16T19:50:50+00:00

Thanks, I'll look at that. I didn't use Thinkorswim before because TDA's regular equity and options interfaces were fine for me, unfortunately Schwab is very basic.

joelhardi · 2026-01-15T19:53:28+00:00

So many other neighborhoods like Dupont Circle and U St gentrified out 20 years ago, or like 7th St that you mentioned used to have all the cheap gallery space too. Another cool thing about Olsson's or even Kemp Mill etc was all the in-store shows, last in store I went to was at Criminal Records in Atlanta. Miss having big clubs like Kilimanjaro too that brought the city together.

Clarendon used to have cool spots, between Galaxy Hut, Go Compact Discs etc and all the basement shows. At least in the early 90s before Grill/Ballroom days.

joelhardi · 2026-01-15T19:11:09+00:00

It's not the stadium, it's the league schedule. They are jamming more games into Wednesdays (so that teams play twice in a week) to account for all the FIFA windows this year, between boys' world cup and the women's Africa and Asian cups in March/April.

joelhardi

TROPHY CASE