Ride In 9/28

One of the neat (yup) things about the Strava app, aside from the nice interface, is that it records your total elapsed time alongside your "time," by which they mean the time you're actually moving. And today's split pretty much says it all about the ride in:

Time- 43:51
Elapsed Time- 52:53

That's 9 minutes of not moving or about 16% of my commute time. This seems like a lot. It felt like a lot too. In fact, it was a lot since my ride from the other day was 37:55/41:18. I should get a part-time job as a red light inspector (though it would be less lucrative than working in the OCFO). It took me nearly 10 minutes to ride the mile down East Capitol, stopping at each light after a block of riding. Accordingly, it was hard to get into a rhythm and by the time I got to 15th street after examining each red light along Pennsylvania, the whole thing just felt labored and I wasn't having very much fun. And my shorts felt weird and uncomfortable, so that was bad too.
The signs on 15th Street that say "No Peds in Bike Lane" or something to that effect are laughably ignored by everyone. I suppose there's no use complaining. No pedestrian is going to cross the street to continuing walking down the block, especially when there's a bollard-separated lane right there. Maybe they would if MPD started handing, but that sort of ticky tack spitefulness wouldn't make me feel better. Just take down the stupid fence.
I decided to take long-time reader and friend of the blog Jacques' suggestion about riding up Penn on the other side of the White House. He's correct: it's way overbuilt and allows ample room for bicycling. I pretty much had the whole right travel lane to myself. Extending the Penn Ave bike lanes seems like a no brainer.
The heavy rain started right after Washington Circle, which I navigated ok, but which I still think is something of a traffic nightmare with drivers from the circle trying to move right to get to New Hampshire with little regard for bicyclists in the circle). I stopped at yet another red light to put on my jacket. All that accomplished was sealing in the wetness from the torrential downpour of the previous minute. Rather than taking 28th, I decided to ride M to Wisconsin and visit my old haunts thataway. M Street at that time of morning has an unused parking lane that should be signed as a "variable bike lane" assuming that that's a real thing. In any case, the ride was easy and far less harried than I thought.
I don't remember exactly when the rain stopped as I was distracted by the slow climb on Wisconsin and fire trucks and buses and all that. Thoroughly miffed at this point, I dropped into my lowest gear and dawdled, which only proceeded to make me unhappy since it seemed like it was taking even longer, which in fact, it was. Mostly because I was dawdling. Often, I find it better to pedal a little harder even when you don't feel like it than to take it easy and deal with the self-imposed impatience.
My bike is in a bad way maintenance-wise and really needs some attention that I will not be able to lavish on it for a while. Maybe this weekend. 
I'll never understand why people drive so quickly to only have to stop at a light a few hundred feet away. Is this taught somewhere? Like an Exxon Mobil-New Brake Pad Driving School?
When I got in, mine was the only bike at the rack. Yay?