Ride In 8/29

Bad film school symmetry this morning. Right after leaving, the driver of a black BMW sedan blocked the turn lane attempting to continue driving straight. Close to work, the driver of a white BMW SUV blocked the straight lane attempting to merge into the right turn lane. I've never been in a BMW dealership, but do they screen specifically for people with anti-social behavior? "I'm sorry, sir. We're ran your Myers-Briggs and we just think an Audi might be a better fit for you." And maybe they aren't worse than the average driver/bicyclist when it comes to interacting with other road users, but then again maybe there are?
Sometimes I engage in rank hypocrisy, indulging in the very pet peeves I rail against. Then, I have to scramble for justifications so as to mitigate my feelings of guilt for engaging in the hypocrisy and sometimes I can come up with pretty good rationalizations or ones perhaps good enough to convince myself that I was doing something different from the exact very same thing that I always complain about, which in this case was riding in front of another bicyclist who stopped at a stop light. And here's how I justified it to myself: he was stopped in a position that was too "dangerous," in that he wedged himself very close to the sidewalk and well in back of the stop line in such a way that would make him vulnerable to a right hook and safety demanded that I ride in front of him to as to prevent myself from being put into a precarious situation. That sounds vaguely convincing, but I'm typing it with no strong conviction.Sorry, dude.
More than the usual number of bike commuters out today. Should be a great week for it, maybe even the best month in the year for riding your bike to work. September and April really are the sweet spots.
Only a few more weeks of riding over the bridge.Only a few more weeks to wear funny socks in order to get a blog shout out.
I passed a kid heaving a teary goodbye with mom and dad as they were leaving after successfully having moved him into school. It was sweet, but it felt very public. Perhaps because it was on a sidewalk, which tends to be a public place. The parents looked just as cut up as the kid. It'll be ok, kid. His hug with his dad was especially long and bittersweet and I think his dad might have been telling him something during the embrace and maybe even used the word "champ" because that's how I assume people talk in the made-for-tv-movie that are my suppositions about conversations I can't hear.

Requisite hurricane damage.

35th wasn't closed, but it wasn't really open either. Car traffic was diverted in parts and halves of roads were closed at various intersections. This most succeeded in stranding bicyclists, who tried to pick their way through the hazards in whatever manner seemed best. The best manner, generally speaking, isn't to stand there with your bike and look confused. Sometimes you just have to go forward.
Traffic cop is back at her post.
Traffic light is still out at Calvert and Tunlaw. There are some temporary stop signs there and that does an adequate job of regulating the traffic, but the whole processed isn't assisted when you've got a bicyclist who just doesn't seem to know what to do (I'm actually not talking about myself). She made the mistake of stopping about 15 feet short of the stop sign, which made it really unclear whether she intended to cross the intersection or was just stopping for some reason. And then when I got to stop sign and was waving a left turning driver through, she kind of rode up a little too quickly and it didn't look like she was going to stop, so the driver stopped and then the drivers heading down Calvert thought that they could go through. If there's a case for vehicular cycling and really biking as if you're a driver, it's in cases like these where differentiation is simply not your friend.
Specialized Allez bike guy pulling himself up New Mexico, pedaling on the biggest back ring with an overly zealous cadence. Sorry.