11/1/11

Ride In 11/1

I don't know why I'm so miffed when another cyclist passes me to ride directly through a red light. I should just get over it. It's not because "he's giving us a bad reputation" (my stopping, by the same logic, should be giving "us" a good reputation and cancel out his scofflawism, right?). I don't know what it is. I need to get over it.
It turned out to be not nearly as cold as it was yesterday and I appreciated that. I also appreciated not getting shot on my way to work, but I suppose that's more of a Halloween thing than a post-Halloween thing. Seriously not cool.
A few things I've noticed lately but have failed to comment upon:
1. Pedestrians really like it when bicyclists don't stop in the crosswalk and block their path. Like, smile-at-you-because-it's-so-nice like it. You should try it some time if you haven't.
2. I complain about shitty road conditions, but how much worse must it be for people with mobility impairments? I watched a woman try to maneuver her wheelchair across the crosswalk at the intersection of New York and 11th the other night and she was having a terrible time trying to make it past the ruts, divots, broken cobbles and pot holes. I guess accommodation stops at the end of the sidewalk (in the best case scenario where the sidewalk is accessible). It sucks and I think that we can, and should, do better.
So, it turns out it was only two things and not a few, unless two is a few. Too few, maybe.
My riding through the previously caution-taped security bollards prompted two bicyclists riding in the other direction to do the same. Be the change you wish to see in the world. I'm the Gandhi of bike commuters. In that I peacefully oppose imperialism and wear a loin cloth. Well, one of those. Sort of.
At each stop light on 15th, there was a group of anywhere between 5 and 10 bicyclists stopped. There's your study, Director. Bellamy. Can we have the L & M cycletracks now? Lots of bike commuters will use those too.
I've been whistling, humming and faintly singing various ditties from Les Mis during my commutes this week. We saw it on Friday and I can't get it out of my head. So, if you've passed a guy who's been mumble-singing about barricades and a little fall of rain and whatnot, it was probably me. It certainly wasn't Nick Jonas.
Plaintively saying "honk" doesn't clear an intersection. It does make pedestrians look at you funny.
Someone has to do something about parent drop-off at Ross Elementary on Q Street. Travel lane becomes a (un)loading zone, bike lane becomes a car lane and bicyclists become an afterthought. Maybe DDOT could study it?
Slow going up Massachusetts today. I know this because I pass the most accurate clock in the world, or at least the one that's the most accurate for the Navy.
Riding in the door zone is perilous because some times you have to leave the door zone. And when you do this, some times drivers don't give you enough room. Case in point, today I was passed to closely by a woman in a gray sedan. She had a bumper sticker that said "Did you say your prayers today?" Apt.

3 comments:

  1. Weird, we saw Les Miz on Saturday, and for some reason I had "Do You Hear the People Sing" on my ride down Wisconsin/M/Pennsylvania this morning.

    At least until I got into the gym and it was replaced by the Elton John ("Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road") that was playing in there.

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  2. Biking gets some weird songs stuck in your head.

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  3. It's funny how I think the same thing about red-light runners. JUST WAIT! You're giving us a bad name!
    I bet there are exactly ZERO drivers who feel like scofflaw drivers give the whole class a bad name.

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