2/2/12

Ride Home 2/2: Not about Andie MacDowell either

Probably one of the worst things to be as a bike commuter is distracted and tonight I was distracted and I knew I was distracted and there was nothing I could do- hey look a bird! Where was I? Oh yeah, distracted. Sometimes I'm pretty sure that 80% of the reason I started this blog was to ward off distraction while riding, something that I believe is vaguely dangerous when operating any kind of vehicle, heavy machinery, composing and operetta or competing in a spelling bee. (The other 20% of why I started the blog is for the endorsements. I'm still waiting, _______ [insert name your preferred "funny" sponsor]) There's little to do to stave off distraction.
I wore a tie while bicycling home. A neck tie. I also wore a hat and gloves and a bright yellow jacket and bicycle shoes, so I was hardly cycle chic.
I thought myself quite clever for using the digital display inside of the bus to determine its next stop along Massachusetts, so I could better prepare myself to stop. And stop I did. And then I bailed to the sidewalk for a while because stopping behind a bus is sort of dumb.
I have a suspicion that the closure of the south entrance of the Dupont Metro is going to make bicycling past the only other open entrance on Q Street different, or perhaps better or maybe even worse. Maybe opportunities for people watching, but people going into the Metro all look the same (terrified) and people coming out of the Metro all look the same (relieved).
One of the ways to really help another driver parallel park even faster is to honk repeatedly at him. It's especially useful if the parking driver doesn't seem to be that good at it. Way to go, citizen!
Trackstanding hipster doofus on a Masi fixie and wearing (I think) Uggs shoaled me, couldn't hold his trackstand, jumped the light and then repeatedly looked back over his shoulder to see how much faster he was riding than I was.  It turned out that it wasn't much faster at all. At 16th I watched him try to chat up (needless anglicism) an over-skinny blonde in leopard print boot-lettos (?) while she was looking for a taxi. She brushed him off. It was the right call. He was wearing a doofy wool hat.  He managed to trackstand his way halfway down 15th while waiting for the light to change and I ended up back in front of him. Fun times. Urban biking is like four fields crop rotation and some people are clover. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.
I hit a pothole on 11th and I thought my front wheel was going to come off.
The warm weather of the past few days has brought out more cyclists and apparently Santa didn't bring bike lights. You're all nincompoops.
I wonder why Congress doesn't support bike and pedestrian spending:

A chicken in every pot...The Capitol grounds is a parking lot. If you didn't know, now you do.
East Capitol past another guy on a Surly, down 11th to D and past International Graduate University. I'm always surprised at how poorly I know Hill East. So many streets that I don't really know and D is one of them. I should probably spend more time biking in the neighborhood and not just through it. My nightly Safeway run and then another couple of blocks home and let's call it a day.
Friday Coffee Club tomorrow. Maybe I'll see some of you then.

3 comments:

  1. Major LOL (literally) read-aloud moment at the trackstanding doofus. I enjoy it when people who try to look awesome end up doing the exact opposite. It's like, I don't even have to do anything. You did that to you.

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  2. You wore a tie? That's it, I'm going to have to run into you soon. Maybe next Friday for Coffee Club.

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  3. @Rachel- I try not to think too much about doofuses, but sometimes they're unavoidable and worthy gently mocking.
    @ultrarunnergirl- Yeah, I wore a tie for work. It was either wear a tie or look like a waiter (black pants, white button down shirt). Definitely come to coffee club. It's fun.

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