Ride In 10/9: Cured meats are cured of what exactly?

Pretty ho hum ride. It was the Obama debate performance of bike commuting weather.

The one somewhat "exciting" thing that happened to me was my getting honked at by a driver who thought I was crossing the street too slowly. I was in the crosswalk and I had the walk signal and I was deliberately riding quite slowly because I'm constitutionally opposed to hurrying, especially when it comes to clearing a crosswalk. Did he know I was lollygagging? Probably. I'm assuming that's what prompted his honk. Was he decision to honk utterly boorish? Very much so. I'll take my damned, legally allotted time, thank you. Drivers have absolutely no right to expect people to run across streets and anyone who thinks that way shouldn't drive in the first place.  It's a warped mentality and it speaks to a whole host of issues, most of which I suspect, are exacerbated by the frustration of driving in the first place, an activity that I'm increasingly coming to believe is not healthy (in a mental health sense), along with being totally unnatural. I certainly don't like to do it. It doesn't make me feel good. And rushing across cross walks doesn't make me feel good either and that's why  I won't do it. This was at the intersection of Wisconsin and Massachusetts, where the driver previous to the one who honked, failed to yield to me when she turned her SUV around the corner, probably because she was distracted by whatever phone call she was having.

Oh, let's rewind the indignity lowlight reel a little ways back. On R Street I was passed too closely by a fellow cyclist. There was the whole road open to our left, but she passed me within a foot. Cheeky. It's one (annoying) thing to squeeze by another cyclist when there's a small gap between traffic, but it's another (also annoying) thing to do it when there's none. Save threading the needle for sewing machine operation.

Prior to R Street, I rode on 11th. That part was fine, as were the parts when I rode on Pennsylvania Avenue and East Capitol. I felt a little sluggish, but sluggishness is ok. It's not a race. Sluggishness might not be ok if I were traversing salt flats, but that would be an entirely different problem. And if I went at a snail's pace, then would I be forced to ride an escargot bike?

I'm ready for the ride home.