2/17/12

Ride In 2/17: Great-Grandma's Birthday

Let's keep this moving.
Three pedals in and I realized that the air in my tires seemed low. Though maybe that's just Friday sluggishness. I've wanted it to be Friday all week, not only because Friday marks the end of the work week and not also because Friday is the day of Friday coffee club and not also because once that girl sang that annoying YouTube song about it, but also because...well, actually, I sort of think it was one of those reasons, but I won't tell you which one. I guess it can't be Friday every day because then we'd have to get new calendars and there'd never be anything good on tv. It'd also be Friday the 13th every single month and I don't think that the superstitious among us would like that very much.
I rode down Massachusetts and past the train station. A little too far past, actually, and I had to wait on the sidewalk by the Bikestation before crossing the street to get back over to E Street. I never seem to do this correctly, mostly because my instincts are to ride in the right lane and the turn to E Street is on the left. I'm sure that when the construction is done (est. Friday 13, 2019) the proposed bike facilities will make this transition easier. No, I couldn't type that with a straight face, not that you can see my face anyway. [For $1000 to WABA, I'll see you a "making of" video of me typing out one of these posts. You actually don't want this. Trust me. The production values would be terrible, the narrator would be unintelligible and the plot twists would leave you scratching your head.]
Making-of panda
 I could look this up, and I probably should, but I'll hazard a guess that the redesign won't make it any easier to cyclists to transition from Massachusetts to E, which is a shame because E is a relatively decent way to get across downtown. It has bike lanes at least. And stop lights every block for those of us worried about getting winded from continuous bicycling. In spite of the always having to stop, I do sort of like taking E, at least as a sometimes break from Pennsylvania Avenue. Though the street itself seems a little bit dead. But it was early, so maybe it livens up.
I'm opposed to the height limit. Even downtown. You may judge me accordingly. I find the buildings to be too squat. It's the 21st century. Let's pretend like that means something, like in science fiction.
[Glockenspiel solo]
Coffee club was great and it was great seeing some new faces. Great seeing old faces too. Not that I'm calling your faces old. We're becoming quite a club. Maybe 10 of us today. We might need a bigger venue, like the Convention Center or maybe just the same venue but outside. It'll be warmer soon and we can sit outside and drink iced coffee.
I don't even really remember much about my ride, except for how absolutely brilliant the weather was. Just gorgeous. On a day like this, I'd regret not riding a bicycle. Apparently so would other people because there were bikes everywhere, especially CaBis. There's no way the Bikeshare trips aren't robbing other modeshares, though probably those trips aren't replacing car trips but instead public transportation ones.
Yarn-bombing:

I sure hope there isn't a fire. It would be a shame to have to ruin such mirthful vandalism.
Spent much of my trip up Wisconsin mad about the low air in my tires and the lower air in my lungs. Not mad exactly, just a little miffed. I tried to counteract this by trying to keep pace with a guy bicycling up the other side of the street. I mostly did, so good for me. It's much better and less anti-social to "race" against someone when there's a whole roadway between you.

7 comments:

  1. You keep outdoing yourself. Today, it's the photos.

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  2. Thanks. I think. And yeah, that's actually what I look like when blogging.

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  3. Happy Birthday to Great-Grandmother! Hope it's great.

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  4. When I get back in town I'm definitely gonna start crashing these coffee parties...

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  5. I approve of the rakish tilt of your headphones.

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  6. In terms of Mass to E, when I come up C Street NE, I either go around or cut through Stanton Park and stay on C, then take 2nd to D, then take D to New Jersey, then turn left off of NJ onto E. Seems less harrowing than Columbus Circle. This route should work for coming up Mass as well. Then again, I've never braved Columbus Circle, so I could be totally wrong.

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  7. @jaybeas- I'll have to try that, or something like it. I think I could get on D from Mass and then do the New Jersey thing. Columbus Circle isn't terrible, except when it absolutely is. D sounds much more sensible.

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