Ride Home 1/3

And here's tonight's aperitif. (I don't know what the "ride in" post is- maybe a swig from your secret work flask?)
I didn't want to change for the ride home and I didn't want to wear the bright yellow jacket that I normally wear but didn't wear this morning, so I left it in the bag. I added a second pair of socks to cover my first pair of socks and put on my bike shoes, which are proving themselves increasingly deficient lately on account of the depleted cleat. The cleat is plastic and keeps my shoe attached to my pedal, or at least that's the idea, but the plastic has worn down to the point of essentially no longer being there and more than once during my ride home, my left leg flew out as if I were suffering from some weird twitchy seizure or engaged some sort of tanchaz maneuver. But more about socks. Initially I tucked my pant legs (both) into my socks. I paused. I reflected. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't say that I'm vain, but as a general rule of thumb, I try not to go out of my way to look overly ridiculous and I just couldn't quite manage it. It's just not my thing and I rolled up the pant leg instead, willing to suffer a slightly cold right calf over the entirely imagined mockery of those I would ride past.
Taking the lane isn't necessarily going to stop the bus driver from pulling around you maybe a bit closer than you'd prefer. A "not in service" bus, too. I sort of think that Washington has too many "not in service" buses. Why can't they run whatever route approximates where they're heading? A "not in service" bus is a really big waste of space. I followed the bus down Massachusetts. Ths bus had one of those WTOP ads abt trfk whch uzes wrd txt spk n abbrvtns i dnt flly understnd n whch nly mst appl 2 14 yr oldz, who dnt drve n e way. Is traffic so bad that drivers have no time to use vowels or real words? I'm so confused.
I spent much of my time on Q behind a woman in a green coat on a CaBi. I debated stopping at the Bicycle Rack to buy new cleats, but meh. When I finally decided to ride around her, I did so right before hitting a red at 15th and she rode past me moments later, squeezing between a stopped car and me. Pretty much my deal is that I'll either ride behind someone or I'll ride past someone, but I hate yo-yo-ing. (Not real yo-yo-ing- I'm rather quite fond of that and would yo-yo more had I a yo-yo and better health insurance and a less expensive tv. )
I'm thinking about franchising Tales From The Sharrows. Wouldn't you want someone to blog their commute in your city? I mean, right now I'm the 37th most popular bike commuter blog in DC- why not be the 37th most popular bike blog all across America? That's aspirational. If you'd like to buy a TFTS franchise, please email me the scanned image of a self-addressed stamped envelope for your TFTS starter kit. Include box tops of your favorite bran-based breakfast cereal. Also an essay about the topic/bird of your choosing. (Also, please no one do this)
Some tips of jaywheeling: it's easier on one way streets. Also, you might not want to do it when some traffic is heading out of a traffic circle.
The lights on 11th at Rhode Island and at P aren't syncrhonized, so every day I watch some driver speed from the green light at Rhode Island to the red light at P and then wait 10 seconds for the next green. It must be annoying for them.
On Penn, I rode parallel to a guy who eschewed the cycle track for the far right lane. His choice, I guess, but the bike lane is pretty nice and relatively "protected" from car traffic (I hate that we have to judge bicycle infrastructure through the lens of safety and not other qualities), though I know that people have very strong opinions about where they like to ride and my opinion is no better or more correct. "Do what you want," I tell them, perhaps in sky-writing, but not really.
All sorts of bike traffic on East Capitol. Watched a cyclist dumbly pass another, leaving the bike lane at nearly the exact same time as some beige sedan approached from behind him. I don't think he even looked back. Not the best move, but nothing too bad came of it. The woman that he passed later tried to turn left, but she kind of screwed it up because she neither made the turn nor came to a complete stop and rode past the intersection and then tried to ride across the crosswalk as a car approached in the opposite direction. She didn't make her left turn because there was a driver stopped at the intersection, facing her, who intended to make his own left turn. She tried to wave him on, but he didn't move, and this for some reason made her not complete her own turn. She seemed frustrated that the driver didn't oblige her, but that's just what happens. People don't do what you want them to do, no matter how much you wave or how many voodoo dolls you make and to expect them to is a bit foolhardy.
Also, it was very cold.