Ride In 3/2

I realized yesterday that I added 3.5 miles to my morning commute at the "cost" of only an additional ten minutes. I never realized how much faster I can travel on trails than through city streets. Must be all that slightly slowing down before flying through stop signs. It's actually probably the traffic lights. In the course of my typical on-street commute, I probably spend a good 5 minutes (out of 35) waiting at lights. Bummer. I'd say that the difference between getting here in under a half-hour, which is a totally arbitrary amount of time that I nonetheless use as a bar to measure my overall bike awesomeness (my record from home to work is 28:01!) and has nothing to do with how hard I pedal and everything to do with whether I catch all the lights. I don't think that's the same for drivers- I'd guess the speed of their commutes is more about whether they get stuck in traffic.
Speaking of high volume, 65 cyclists on the Capital Crescent Trail today between the start and the Manning Place steps. Does anyone know if that staircase has an official name? Maybe we could name it after some local bike luminary? Or some local step aficionado? I swear that I saw the same woman as yesterday riding on her CaBi. I think if I see her tomorrow, I'm gonna ask what the deal is. I love the possibility that she's using a CaBi just for a nice morning recreational ride.
My chain keeps slipping when I'm on the smallest rear cogs. I think it's time to bring it back to the shop for them to do the adjustments that they said they would do after a few weeks. I promise not to use any tools on this bike unless I absolutely have to.
I was behind a white van on Loughboro Road with the following stickers on the back window: an Apple logo, Deftones, Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang and Washington Nationals. I wonder what the driver was like. I would have taken a picture, but I feel like that would be misinterpreted as hostile and litigious. "Why's that bike guy taking a picture of that van? It's certainly not to document his diverse collection of stickers. It's more likely because he's trying to sue him or something!," is what I assume the drivers around me are thinking. I also worry that the cyclists who I pass on the CCT see my muttered out-loud counting and think that I'm swearing at them under my breath. Especially when I'm in the forties. I've definitely gotten some weird looks. Sorry everyone.