Washington, DC

[Lutalo]

@Ruslan I love riding the streets of DC. Takes me back when I was a kid growing up in Anacostia. My friends and I would get on our bicycles, salvaged and assembled from assorted spare parts, and ride all over the city. The trail system wasn't as friendly then. Rock Creek Park (RCP) was scary. Back then RCP was where the junkies, prostitutes, robbers, murderers and other violent criminals hung out after dark so, we mostly used the streets; they were much safer.

The bridges were unsafe at night too. Some adult junkies robbed us kids of our bikes one night on the 11th Street Bridge. 

We would cross the 11th Street bridge on our bikes and ride all over the city; even out into the MD and NOVA suburbs. We loved to get lost in the city. 

[radial]

On 9/23/2018 at 1:08 PM, Yanex87 said:

omewhat off topic, but I was cycling on the Rock Creek bike path today and spotted someone on a EUC.  He was in full regalia, including a full face helmet, and heading north.  Sightings around here are pretty rare, so forgive my enthusiasm.  This is Washington, D.C., not Seattle Washington.    Who was that masked man?

I ride yesterday on Rock Creek with the full gear all black with flasher so it might be me on my Kingsong 18L  most of the time if i go for a long ride i always in full gear.

Saw you again this past Saturday on the RCT.  Next time, if you see a guy on a bike waving, stop and we'll introduce ourselves.  

[Lutalo]

7 hours ago, radial said:

Saw you again this past Saturday on the RCT.  Next time, if you see a guy on a bike waving, stop and we'll introduce ourselves.  

@radial I see that you enjoy cycling. Do you still ride your EUC?

[Yanex87]

9 hours ago, radial said:

Saw you again this past Saturday on the RCT.  Next time, if you see a guy on a bike waving, stop and we'll introduce ourselves.  

@radial so sorry i didn't notice you waving if i did i would stop . But i did ride with two cycle's in my side asking about the EUC for about 5 minutes then i take off. Anyways there's a meet up this October 20 hope to see you there.

[Lutalo]

On 10/5/2018 at 12:43 AM, Lutalo said:

We loved to get lost in the city

In case there are any lovers of literary fiction in this thread, or somewhere amidst the visually fixated society in which we live.

This last sentence happens to repeat the title of an excellent book of short stories by a Pulitzer Prize winning author who happens to be a native Washingtonian.  

The short story collection is called "Lost in the City." it contains various stories about life in Washington. The next collection; "All Hagar's Children" is sort of a sequel to "Lost in the City." Stories by DMV writers have been required reading in DC Schools and local college's for many years. I first read "Lost in the City" in 1994. The book was required reading in one of my college lit course.

Interestingly,  my memories of reading and discussing the stories in this book are the only strong memories that I can manage of my experiences taking the class. 

IMO, it's a refreshing departure from popular media's seeming aversion to slice-of-life stories about real Washingtonians.

[J.T.]

Just a friendly reminder for our ride next Sat. Oct. 20th.  I look forward to seeing you there!

 

On 9/20/2018 at 12:42 PM, J.T. said:

Based on feedback, I've posted the next ride here... https://www.meetup.com/ewheelgroup/events/254851251/ 

 

 

[Yanex87]

Hi guys, when i went out last sunday for a ride i've notice this sign. Entrance of Matthew Henson Trail located on Georgia Ave and Hewitt Ave close to Aspen hill.

Edited October 10, 2018 by Yanex87

[Lutalo]

21 minutes ago, Yanex87 said:

Hi guys, when i went out last sunday for a ride i've notice this sign. Entrance of Matthew Henson Trail located on Georgia Ave and Hewitt Ave close to Aspen hill.

That is near the GA Ave crossing. I have ridden the Matthew Henson many times. Never had any trouble. I have even talked to a curious cop on the trail near the Connecticut Ave overpass who was interested in buying one for himself.

Great trail. Not very long, but the marsh areas are quite scenic. The Layhill and Georgia Avenue crossings can get hectic with traffic. 

Edited October 10, 2018 by Lutalo

[RichieV]

Just a reminder that tonight at 7pm the DC ESK8 gang will meet up at Cantina Pepita in Arlington (close to Ballston) for a group ride as they've done almost every Wednesday for the past few months.  Typical rides go to Georgetown then a stop somewhere in the city for the ESK8ers to charge up and socialize and finally ride back to Arlington where the gang typically hangs out for a bit more. Come join!  It's a large friendly group and new people are joining in all the time.  Would be nice to have more ewheel representation, so hopefully I'll see you there :-)

[Lutalo]

1 hour ago, RichieV said:

Just a reminder that tonight at 7pm the DC ESK8 gang will meet up at Cantina Pepita in Arlington (close to Ballston) for a group ride as they've done almost every Wednesday for the past few months.  Typical rides go to Georgetown then a stop somewhere in the city for the ESK8ers to charge up and socialize and finally ride back to Arlington where the gang typically hangs out for a bit more. Come join!  It's a large friendly group and new people are joining in all the time.  Would be nice to have more ewheel representation, so hopefully I'll see you there :-)

I just joined a ride starting at Union Station on Saturday. Is this the same group?

[RichieV]

3 minutes ago, Lutalo said:

I just joined a ride starting at Union Station on Saturday. Is this the same group?

Possibly!  There's a Telegram group chat (called DCESK8 I think) and I recall seeing some discussion about Union Station this past weekend.  They do a lot of impromptu meetups and Telegram seems to be their primary method of setting those up.  The group is primarily electric skateboarders but all riders are welcome.

[Lutalo]

54 minutes ago, RichieV said:

Possibly!  There's a Telegram group chat (called DCESK8 I think) and I recall seeing some discussion about Union Station this past weekend.  They do a lot of impromptu meetups and Telegram seems to be their primary method of setting those up. The group is primarily electric skateboarders but all riders are welcome.

OK, cool. They just announced a meet-up at Union Station on Saturday. I was thinking about joining that one because I thought it was the Arlington group you mentioned on previous occasions

[radial]

15 hours ago, Lutalo said:

@radial I see that you enjoy cycling. Do you still ride your EUC?

@Lutalo, yes I'm still riding.  My wheels are fairly puny (InMotion V8, Ninebot One E+, Gotway Mten3), so it's mostly on the back streets and trails around my neighborhood.  But I'm on the wait list for a Kingsong 18XL.  When that wheel arrives, I'll be joining in the group rides.  

[radial]

13 hours ago, Yanex87 said:

@radial so sorry i didn't notice you waving if i did i would stop . But i did ride with two cycle's in my side asking about the EUC for about 5 minutes then i take off. Anyways there's a meet up this October 20 hope to see you there.

@Yanex87 , that's okay, I'll catch you one of these days. 

Edited October 11, 2018 by radial

[Ruslan]

On 10/5/2018 at 12:43 AM, Lutalo said:

@Ruslan I love riding the streets of DC. Takes me back when I was a kid growing up in Anacostia. My friends and I would get on our bicycles, salvaged and assembled from assorted spare parts, and ride all over the city. The trail system wasn't as friendly then. Rock Creek Park (RCP) was scary. Back then RCP was where the junkies, prostitutes, robbers, murderers and other violent criminals hung out after dark so, we mostly used the streets; they were much safer.

The bridges were unsafe at night too. Some adult junkies robbed us kids of our bikes one night on the 11th Street Bridge. 

We would cross the 11th Street bridge on our bikes and ride all over the city; even out into the MD and NOVA suburbs. We loved to get lost in the city. 

@Lutalo, wow, couldn't even imagine that DC was like that back then.

As for riding, I love DC streets as well, although those stop signs on 13th street made me tired. There are not too many stop signs on the 16th street NW. In September I lived in Silver Spring: riding to and from DC was fun. Now I am back to DC. Hopefully I will make it on October 20th for a ride, not sure yet though.

Edited October 11, 2018 by Ruslan

[Lutalo]

10 hours ago, Ruslan said:

There are not too many stop signs on the 16th street NW. In September I lived in Silver Spring: riding to and from DC was fun.

??. Things were different for sure. RCP was an after dark party spot. A soul and R&B group the Blackbyrds had a very popular hit song out called Rock Creek Park. People all around the world loved the song, but Washingtonians actually knew what they were talking about in that song. 

Yeah, My first apartment back in the day was on 13th and U St. I worked in Silver Spring commuting on a bike most days. 13th St is sort of an off-main, primary route. Commuters take it hoping to avoid heavy congestion on GA Ave and 14th St; just ends up like all the other routes with less traffic lights, but even more annoying stop signs. GA Ave, 14th, and 16th flow better and make for a more interesting EUC sightseeing for sure. 

Too bad that you no longer live in SS. After the ride on the 20th, I was planning on riding back up to SS via GA Ave.  

Edited October 11, 2018 by Lutalo

[Lutalo]

10 hours ago, radial said:

@Lutalo, yes I'm still riding.  My wheels are fairly puny (InMotion V8, Ninebot One E+, Gotway Mten3), so it's mostly on the back streets and trails around my neighborhood.  But I'm on the wait list for a Kingsong 18XL.  When that wheel arrives, I'll be joining in the group rides.  

Nice. I do too much talking about getting the LX. I need to go ahead and get myself on that waiting list also.??

[J.T.]

Just a friendly reminder for the ride this Saturday.  Please RSVP at the link below if you haven't done so already, as I typically always post updates re: the ride and send them out as an email to the yes RSVPs.  I look forward to seeing you there!

 

On 9/20/2018 at 12:42 PM, J.T. said:

Based on feedback, I've posted the next ride here... https://www.meetup.com/ewheelgroup/events/254851251/ 

 

 

[Lutalo]

On 10/10/2018 at 11:03 PM, radial said:

I'm on the wait list for a Kingsong 18XL.  When that wheel arrives, I'll be joining in the group rides.  

@radial I just joined you on the KS18LX pre-order list. ?????? ??

[Lutalo]

I changed my forum apelido from @Lutalo to @Shangotunji because I wanted a cool-assed avatar name like all the other hepcats on the forum. Did not want to be like those regular guys using their boring old regular names.??

[radial]

2 hours ago, Shangotunji said:

@radial I just joined you on the KS18LX pre-order list. ?????? ??

@Shangotunji , awesome!  

[Biped Phil]

The circuit featured statues of winged horses, which for me was educational because where I come from the horses do not have wings, only a vestigial little propeller at the rear.

[Lutalo]

34 minutes ago, Biped Phil said:

The circuit featured statues of winged horses, which for me was educational because where I come from the horses do not have wings, only a vestigial little propeller at the rear.

And naked women sit on the horse. 

[Lutalo]

@J.T. thanks for organizing a fun and very informative ride. Had a great time hanging out with fellow riders. Looking forward to the next ride. 

[Lutalo]

@Neil (yanex) Dude. I rode all the way to Glenmont after we parted ways in Silver Spring. I still had 5 green dots at the end of it. Happily, it appears that I was concerned over nothing. ??