Ride Home 4/18

Two emails of note before leaving work today. First, from Arlington County about the Arlington Boulevard reconstruction problem that I had previous written about. It reads:

Hello Brian,

Thank you for bringing this error to Arlington County's attention.  The
website should state that "There will be a new trail along the south
side of Arlington Blvd between Pershing Drive and Rolfe Street, and the
existing north side trail will be improved and pass under the new 10th
Street bridge."  I will make this correction to our website ASAP.

So, yeah, two trails. Though it would still be better if they talked about it in east-bound, west-bound terms. Although I suppose doing it this way is a blow against auto-normativity? Anyway, goes to show what meddling and niggling emails can do. They can change the words on local government websites. And that's change we can believe in.
Second email. From official wife:

I meant to tell you [my co-worker] M. has a court date on Wednesday because he got a $70 ticket for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign while on his bike.  Feel free to blog about the injustice/organize a demonstration.

I wrote back:

Sucks for him. It's the law, but it's a crap law.

I won't be organizing a riot protest, but he really does have my sympathy. It's rare that I come to a complete stop at a stop sign (like most drivers). To get a ticket for it would really suck, but at the end of the day, them's the breaks. I'd probably just pay it, but good for him for going to court. Much like they'll do with Obamacare, I'm pretty sure that a judge can declare stop signs unconstitutional and throw it out, right? An "individual mandate for coming to a complete stop is un-American. That's what I read on World Net Daily at least. Let's just get an Idaho Stop and move on with our lives.
The stretch of 37th between Manor Place and T is a ruddy, bumpy mess and would really benefit from repaving. It's by far the bumpiest stretch of my ride home. Granted it's three blocks, but still, it's really bumpy. Boo.
Pepco van blocking the bike lane on 34th. Boo. Rode the sidewalk for a block. I guess that was bumpier than 37th. I don't get Georgetown. It's so tony, but those red brick sidewalks are just a total mess. I guess if you're only walking on it six steps from your porch to your luxury sedan, it doesn't much matter.
Hey, read that Ken Archer piece on "hipster urbanism" in Greater Greater Washington, if you haven't already. I've never seen someone bested by his own straw man before...
I rode through Arlington looking for CaBis. Zero CaBis. I have some serious doubts about whether people will bike uphill from the Rosslyn metro to Pierce or Rhodes. I think that Juan is going to be driving around a lot of bikes in Rosslyn.
Check out the window of Revolution Cycles.

Nothing says bikes are reasonable transport for normal people like an ElliptiGo and an old timey high wheeler. I think Bikes for the Rest of Us needs to stage an intervention.
I might have seen a 2011 Salsa Casseroll outside of the GMU law school. I didn't stop to confirm, but I've wanted to see this bike in person for awhile. By all descriptions, it's supposed to be a pretty cool bike.