No one ever leaves work early on a nice day and thinks "maybe I'll take a roundabout bus trip home today." At least no one I know. But this is a thing the bike commuters do and since I'm a bike commuter, it's sometimes a thing that I do and it's something that I think you might want to do, assuming you're a bike commuter, and you don't do it already. If you're a bus commuter who does stuff like this, way to make the most of your bus fare! One of these days I'll take the D6 home and really luxuriate in the 17 hours it will take the run the length of the line. Allegedly, a 5:04 bus departing from Sibley arrives at Stadium Armory at 6:26. Yeah, right. For what it's worth, it's probably a 50 minute bike ride.
Anyway, I rode down Nebraska and through the neighborhood and down past MacArthur to the CCT. It's pretty suburban up that way, but the roads were fairly empty and I didn't have to contend with anyone trying to get their Saab home at 45 miles per hour on quiet residential streets. I did have to contend with speed bumps, which I also suppose have to contend with the speeding Saabs. No one thinks about what the speed bumps have to go through. Poor speed bumps.
The Capital Crescent Trail is named about Capital Crescent, who I believe was a burlesque dancer popular with congressmen in the 1950s. Or perhaps, it's named after it's shape as it runs from Silver Spring (sort of) through Bethesda (a city named after the mother of a 1950s southern congressman) and along the Potomac down into the District along Canal Road and to K Street, which is named after the letter K. It's a pleasant path and shaded and makes for a quick route that's essentially antithetical to the city streets that I'd normally take. Also, before 4 o'clock, it's the prime pathway for those hastening their senectitude, whether hastening it on foot or on bicycle. It's also rather melanin deficient. Did I just allude that it was full of old, white people? Well, I didn't elude it.
[The B story line on tonight's Dance Moms is the making of a beef jerky commercial for a meat store in Canton, Ohio. You cant/shouldn't make this stuff up. Or if you can, maybe you should be a producer for Dance Moms. Also, Chloe has hipster glasses. This warranted an "oh my God" from the Official Wife. And she rewound the DVR for me so I could see.]
The wind wasn't so bad on the CCT, but when I turned along the river down by the Kennedy Center, it really started picking up. I'm terrible at estimating windspeed or direction, because after all, I'm not a metal chicken, but I can tell you that the wind was sufficiently strong to make me go slower than I would have without it. I don't mind headwinds too much (because, really, what are you going to do?) and I especially didn't mind it today. Perhaps a bicyclist with some more pride in the power that he or she generates would be a bit more chagrined by moving forward at the pace of a metal chicken, but that's not me. I was just happy to not be on a bus.
It wasn't Bernoulli's Principle, I think, that caused me to almost fall off the trail and into the road upon exiting the tunnels along Rock Creek, but I'm pretty sure it was just the bluster of the wind recommencing. (Recommencing is what you do with you finish a Masters. Trust me- I work in higher ed). Along Ohio Drive, I saw a bunch of superbiker types probably leaving Hain's Point. Many of them had bicycle shirts that advertised either a branch of the military or a brand of alcohol. Good thing I blended in with my Coast Gaurd Reserve Reserve. Never reserve a reverse. Instead, re-serve it. Perhaps at a recommencement party. Also along Ohio Drive, I saw some guys playing cricket. I was nearly bowled over. That's a cricket pun. I'm the Brian Lara of bike commuter bloggers. I wondered how they bowled with it being so windies.
A Japanese tour group by the cherry blossoms. Sorry dudes. A couple weeks too early.
The Anacostia River Walk "trail" was pretty easy. The fish market smelled fishy, but what else is new? I decided to take the new 4th street, SW bike lane and here's what I have to say about that: at least, they're sort of wide. The new lanes (between I and School Street, not D) are easily double the width of the 34th street lanes. Is there no guidance as to the size of bike lanes? Not that I'm complaining. If the street is wide enough to accommodate a wider bike lane, I will gladly take it. And yes, the pavement and man hole covers are indeed terrible, but this is why I ride a steel cyclocross bike and not one made of toothpicks and mini-marshmallows. Or at least, I won't until they come with disc brakes.
There are sharrows on Jefferson, at least by the National Gallery. I don't know how far they go.
When I got to Safeway, a guy, who I believe had a French accent, asked me about my rear rack. Inside, at the checkout, a little girl tried to steal my cherry tomatoes before I was able to bag them. So, that's what happend at Safeway.
Friday coffee club tomorrow. Woo.
You have to go in the opposite direction along the CCT if you want wind. Its usually not to bad on the hill from the Dalecarlia down to Fletchers because you're up off the water, but heading westbound along the flats (ie. from Georgetown out to Fletchers) can be a real slog on a windy day.
ReplyDeleteLive wind (and tide) from buoy in the Washington Channel (Maine avenue)
ReplyDeleteI was going to ride down to my first Swings bike friday this morning but when I opened the door I realized: (1) it will take 2 seconds and no pedaling to be blown SE from NW in that NW bluster (2) the extra ride back NW & NWer to Bethesda would be too disheartening. Instead, my wife made our usual fantastic coffee purchased from Peregrine & freshly burr ground (even wakes the cat up - the burr grinder, not the coffee)