Ride Home 4/5

I remembered to bring a change of socks and a different shirt, but I only had one pair of shorts. It was like putting on a wet bathing suit. Not fun. Tip: bring a complete change of clothes for rainy days.
It was a two-stop day on the way home. The first stop was at Revolution Cycles in Georgetown (they accept commuter checks and I got one yesterday!), where I purchased some bike cleaning supplies. My chain was making all sorts of bad noises, as were my front brake pads. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to clean the bike and lube the chain before leaving for work tomorrow because of all the rain riding. We'll see if that actually happens. I wanted to buy something like this to use in various bike maintenance operations (that's what bike mechanic experts call them...), but they didn't have anything like it in stock. Looks like I'll be flipping the bike upsidedown. That seems like a good idea and I'm sure nothing bad will come of it.
Lots of bikes out this afternoon. I guess I should give everyone props for presumably riding in the rain this morning. Good work, fellow bike commuters.
Hipster (a different one) on a fixie working his way up Wilson in front of the Safeway. Plaid shirt, knit cap, bright pink socks. I regret not getting a picture. He was zigzagging to try to get up the hill. I went past. Virginia is for lovers, Arlington is for derailers.
Next two cyclists I saw on the road were a good distance ahead of me as I approached Ray's Hell Burger Plaza or whatever that shopping center is called. I wanted to catch up with them because it would give me something to do. I like to think that I'm not competitive, but I think I secretly might be. It doesn't count if the people you're "competing" against don't know, right? I caught up with Red Bike by the time I got to the Whole Foods. Grey Hoodie eluded me all the way to Quincy at Fairfax. Good ride, Grey Hoodie, but I'm pretty sure that you benefited from a generous light schedule that stopped me at a few key junctures and allowed him to ride through. Let me again stress that I'm not competitive about these totally asinine "contests."
Second stop was at the Harris Teeter on Glebe. I wasn't the only cyclist parked at their completely pathetic and woefully inadequate parking at the rear of the store. Their bike racks are, for a lack of a better word, craptacular and made even more so by the propane tanks that sit directly behind them. Get better bike parking Harris Teeter! Anyway, more sweet fixie action.

Did I even try to get the whole bike in the frame?

I looked for the rider in the store, but I didn't see anyone dressed as the Green Goblin from Spiderman, so I'm not totally sure whose bike it was. I normally don't do this, but I took my light off my bike for fear of thievery- I didn't want a certain someone to steal it and sell it to buy brakes. Just saying.