Ride Home 6/6: The Only Honorable Course

Going to be brief. Perhaps.

 Look, I got a new cap:

This is my "new cap" face.

I wore it unironically. I found it good for keeping my head covered. Also, it's moisture wicking and I almost got to find out how much because it nearly rained a little. I like the cap because it has a racing stripe. If it only had speed holes.

It's nice when a driver doesn't cut you off by making a left turn in front of your path. It's less nice when the driver behind her honks about that fact. I'm so sorry that my not dying is so massively inconvenient.

Today's segment of Better Know an Embassy (a blatant rip off of Colbert) features: Chad. There's some scaffolding up. I believe that Chad is doing some masonry work to the outside of the building. And that's pretty much all I have to say about the Chad embassy. And that I ride by it. What else is new in Chad news? Oil stuff, mostly. Tales From The Sharrows will soon be the preeminent source for all irreverent bike commuting observations and news from Chad.

Rode for a spot behind a woman with a Daily Rider button and then rode pretty much all alone. Not sure there were even bicyclists behind me. Perhaps I should get a mirror. Or rear-mounted radar. Bogies on my 6 and whatnot. Stupid bogies.

Here's some road engineering confusion. There's a sign about turning drivers yielding the cyclists This makes sense since drivers are supposed to turn from the farthest right lane, in this case the lane to the right (in picture left) of the bike lane. But look:

A few things: 1) is this striped correctly? Shouldn't there be dashes on the other side too? 2) That's not really enough room, even if the (ticketed) red car wasn't parked over the line. So what's supposed to happen here? Because what does happen here (Q and 13th NW) is that whenever a driver does wish to turn, he just blocks the bike lane. Confusing for everyone.

Some CaBis locked up outside of the H&M. Gotta dock before you shop. Dock, not lock. Were I to turn this into some kind of pictorial message, I'd have two pictures- one of Celtics coach Doc Rivers and one of English political philosopher, John Locke and the second picture would have a big red X over it. This pictogram would appeal to no one and convey very little in the way of a clear message. I suppose both are known for their marshaling of a Big Three- one set being Pierce, Allen and Garnett and the other set being Life, Liberty and Property. Also, I think both played point for Knicks in their late career. Fun fact: John Locke led the league in steals against the Kings.

There needs to be some better way for pedestrians to cross Pennsylvania at 11th. Every day I see them get marooned by drivers who refuse to yield, even though the pedestrians have a walk signal. Might versus right. I think a crossing guard might help, but that costs money. Maybe a separate sequence just for people to cross the street and not have to worry about some driver turning into them. Or maybe one day of traffic enforcement and a bazillion tickets.

Had the pleasure of riding from 7th to 3rd with Councilmember Tommy Wells, who must've had a hell of a day. We chatted, mostly about the events of the day, DC politics in general and our mutual hope for change in the right, non-criminal, direction. To the best of my knowledge, Tommy's bike was not fully loaded, though he did have a rear rack and wire basket.

Therefter, it was a little left and then back to the rigtht, a hard left, straight, straight, straight, right on red and then left, veer right, cut back across the lane left, straight, straight, wave to neighbors and then use the bike front wheel to open the gate and inside and that's it for the bike riding for the night.