Ride Home 9/10: Synchronized Nightswimming Deserves Synchronized Quiet Nights

Nice ride home. But those of you who suspect it might be autumn, I think you're jumping the gun a bit. The autumn gun, I guess would be that shoots pumpkins. "They shoot pumpkins, don't they?" was a terrible, terrible Halloween-themed Western of the late 1960s. A shot (of) pumpkin isn't what they use to make a pumpkin spice latte, though if they did, the latte art would be gourd-geous. Ok, all done. 

 Mass to Dupont and through Dupont Circle to 19th. I really felt like I head a head of steam going (to froth the milk in the latte?) heading downhill and I was able to maintain my momentum through almost the light at Florida/23rd. Sometimes I just want to keep going that I'll just follow the greens rather than stop at a red, but I've ridden down 23rd maybe once before (and even on a weekend) and it wasn't especially pleasant. So, I stopped and waited at the light, but got a decent jump on the green (HINT: that means I jaywheeled) and was on my way again soon enough, taking the outer circle at Dupont and working my way to 19th past car traffic that might or might not have been stopping at red lights. I'm sure these red lights were "confusing," which is the go-to adjective that people use when they don't like traffic calming measures imposed on them and is one of the hallmark phrases of anti-bike sentiment. They don't make Hallmark cards for anti-bike sentiment. At least not yet. "Roses are red/Violets are blue/It's not my fault/I didn't see you" and such. 

Everything I said about riding down the right side of 19th street is wrong and now I ride down the left side of 19th street. I'm not afraid to admit it. Sometimes it takes more than one or two rides to make an accurate assessment about the best way to approach a route. That's why I've stopped sleeping and now I just ride the streets at night, mostly thinking about good routes, but also fighting crime as a masked vigilante. They call me "The Folder," both due to my folding bike and my folding into a little ball at the sight of criminals. If you ever see the "Brompton Signal" in the skies over DC, well, you're probably hallucinating and might seek medical help. 

Pennsylvania Avenue on the west side of the White House was nearly empty, but on the east side it was rather trafficky. I watched a Super Shuttle driver make a u-turn across the bike lane. Not super. I gave him a WTF look and he didn't give a shit. Looks like someone isn't getting an anti-bike Hallmark at Christmas. 

East Capitol was adequate. What's the deal with that Jimmy T's Place place? I ride by it every day. It looks like a diner, but one of the things about diners is that they're open quite late and this place doesn't seem like it's open, like, ever. Is it a greasy spoon? Is it some other kind of food adjective and piece of flatware? I would think that a place in such prime real estate would want to have a lot of people in it, but this is DC and I'm sure there a ten million restrictions put on it by the neighbors because if there's anything people here like it's to not allow other people to like the things in their neighborhood. Mostly because of parking concerns. I guess I should go.

Saw the Official Wife and EtP on the street, going for a walk, about a block away from home. We walked Brompton, too, and I think it was happy for the exercise. So far, Kirby has mastered "sit" and "stay," but "fetch" is definitely going to be a stretch. So long as it keeps rolling over, I'll be happy.