Ride In 9/5: Mops and Buckets

I managed to leave my wallet at home. First time I've done that in a while. Normally, it's a belt or socks that I forget. I guess you can leave your wallet at home no matter how you get to work (bus, horse, dirigible), but it somehow seems worse that I don't have it for my bike rides. Mainly for the lack of ID. Oh well. I'll do my best not to get amnesia on the way home.

With Capital Bikeshare, you can get dockblocked. With Bixi in Montreal, you can get dockblocquebecois.

I rode part the park and down Massachusetts to the still not yet fully paved Columbus Circle and I battled buses and taxis for space, but mostly just stuck in the middle of the right lane because traffic was slow and I didn't want to get hemmed in by a driver who thought that there'd be room for both of us. I watched someone I presume is a new bike commuter try to sneak past traffic on the right and then bailing to the sidewalk when he realized there was no room and then getting off the sidewalk half a block later and then weaving to the left side of the street, only to find himself once again stranded on a median waiting for traffic to clear so he could move again. Dude, I think you're over-thinking it. As do your legs and lungs, your ability to see traffic patterns improves the more you bike to work. You learn to pick your spots and the times to hustle and the times to relax, the places where it makes sense to filter past slowed traffic and the places where there's no point in rushing. It's not always faster to rush.

I decided to take Massachusetts to New Jersey, a diagonal avenue of no small importance, but amply roomy enough to accommodate bike traffic without currently hosting any bike lanes or sharrows. This was my first commute on New Jersey Avenue, NW. It was fine. It'll be better when there's bike lanes. It got a little sketchy around the intersection with New York Avenue/the highway entrance, but from there to R Street, it was basically fine. New Jersey intersects with R between 4th and 5th street NW and after my left turn onto R, it was fairly familiar territory.

I've never noticed this before:

The thing on the left

It's the Shaw Historic Bike Tour. Has anyone ever taken the Shaw Historic Bike Tour?

I did not stop at Kafe Bohem. I wanted to stop at Kafe Bohem. If Kafe Bohem takes off and DC develops a taste for Central European coffeehouses, someone should really buy the vacant Eastern Thifty Market across from my house and open a Hungarian kávéház. You'll make all the money, or at least all of my money.

At different times during this ride I found myself behind riders who were traveling a pace much slower than I normally would but rather than pass them I decided to follow behind (not at a lurky distance or anything) and just go slower. Much as choosing a different route can break up your routine, so can choosing a different pace. Variety is the pumpkin spice latte of life.

I don't think there will be a post tonight. See you tomorrow.