Ride Home 5/25: Rolling Dewdrop

One of my favorite ways to start a holiday weekend, especially one where I'll be driving somewhere and expect to be delayed by a considerable traffic, is to drive as erratically and aggressively away from my workplace in anticipation of my vacation. It's part of the Law of Conversation of Going- if I'll soon be rendered helpless and impotent by a lack of road capacity in the face of overwhelming demand, I'll have to make up for that by demonstrating my dominance over the roadway and its other users. It's maniacal and it's one of the worst times to be on a bicycle. Vacations are supposed to be a time for relaxing (and grilling meats and maybe waving tiny American flags) and yet they seem to bring out the craziest, most needlessly aggressive driving from some people. It's the needlessness part that gets to me the most. Passing someone on the right and then tailgating then honking and then changing lanes again and then getting stuck at the same red light you would have stopped at had you just driven 'normally' seems like its undermining and a pointless self-imposed stress that brings about nothing good and has the potential to bring out a whole lot of bad, especially to someone who isn't in a car. Just calm down a little, ok? For the troops?

Nonetheless, in spite of the crazy, it was still a Friday afternoon and it was still nice to take the bike home, in spite of the hot. I'd leave the bike at work on the weekends, but then they'd have to pay it time and a half. Also, I like using it on the weekend.

Oh, hey, have you noticed the space between paragraphs? I'm doing that now so you can actually read what I'm writing without straining your eyes. You can continue to strain your pasta. Accordingly, I expect page hits to drop precipitously. Here's the old TFTS:

Hard to read text, circa 2012. 

And here's the new TFTS:



Ok, there's no picture, but just look at the above text and its ample white space. Space hasn't been this white since the Gemini missions. Anyway, thanks for the reader feedback. If there are other formatting issues that you'd like to see incorporated into the blog, don't hesitate to tell me. I have little technological aptitude, but I'm confident that I can come up with elaborate workarounds, perhaps through the use of Rube Goldberg blogging machines.

An annoying shoaling situation suggested that I should abandon Q for 15th and I rode the bumpy cycle track to each successive red light. At Rhode Island, I learned that tall, leggy white women in cocktail dresses can still get a cab in this town, not that I was ever concerned that was in doubt. The cabbie was so willing to pick her up that he blocked the intersection, much to the chagrin of the drivers behind him. I think it was chagrin. Horns just really don't have the capacity to express nuance. Well, maybe trombones.

Watched a pedicabbie (pedicabist? pedicabber? pedicab-man? pedihack?) struggle his way up 15th past Treasury. That is not an easy job and that doesn't even take into account treatment by the Park Police.

I'm shocked when people are shocked that I'm shocked when they're shocked by my expecting them to pay attention to what's going on around them and follow some suggested guidelines about traveling in public. No one made you pull your car into the intersection during the yellow light. You didn't have to bike the wrong way on the cycle track. Stepping out from the curb to take a picture was completely optional! I'm all about coexistence, but a little effort would be nice.

Saw a tour bus with LAMERS on the side. That's about right.

Rolling Thunder. It's here. Not that you hadn't heard already. Literally.

Penn and then barriers by Capitol, but enough room to pass through on a bicycle. But then the tents that I saw this morning had metal detectors in them, but there was no security personnel nearby, so I did what any sensible person would do when left alone with some metal detectors and a bicycle, which is ride through one. It beeped. Steel is real.

Lots of different kinds of dogs on Capitol Hill. (And in general. I'm not making the case that my neighborhood has some sort of uniquely diverse habitat of canines.) I think it says something interesting about humanity that of our primary primitive preoccupations was making our pets have sex with each other just to see what would pop out.

Ended up riding behind a woman who I thought was on a fenderless CaBi, but it was just her own bike, which happened to be red and with thicker tires. Bikeshare would never foist a fenderless CaBi on us. They care too much about our well-being.

Around the park and down the street to home. I'm off work until Wednesday. Have an appropriate weekend.