12/4/12

Ride Home 12/3: In France, it's called Jellaux

I forgot to change the batteries in my rear light. It still blinks, but it could blink so much blinkier. I should do that soon. As far as the dark is concerned, I've done enough night rides by this point that I'm not too phased by it any more. The first week or so is always the worst, but then you get used to it, but that's hardly an excuse to not use lights. There are no excuses to not use lights, unless you yourself are either radioactive and glowing or a human-firefly hybrid that has escaped from a secret bunker under NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring (Admittedly, human-animal hybrids aren't explicitly related to the Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, but the government only has so much scratch to spend on secret underground bunkers).

I guess the Vice President was coming home (or going out) and Massachusetts was blocked by a police car with flashing lights and I switched over to the sidewalk, thinking that would be faster but by the time I got to where the lights formerly were, they had been turned off and traffic was moving again and I reintegrated myself into road society, checking in with the sidewalk PO on regular intervals. I turned right at 23rd and turned left at L and I cycled on the cycle track. It must have been the warmer weather because this was the first commute where I saw than more than one or two other people using it. I was shoaled by two guys on CaBis and then I found myself riding behind three other cyclists for a while and the three of us passed other cyclists here and there and it was just great. DC has built it and now we shall use. (I think there's a baseball movie about this kind of thing. Bull Durham, maybe?) Of the things I noticed about the cyclists using the cycle track, there are two that generally held true: they were wearing normal clothes and the majority of them were women. Draw all of your inferences from my anecdotal observation.

The transition from the cycle track to 11th is still sort of a mess. It's a little hard to get over. I'd recommend that you get on the sidewalk at 12th and then use the crosswalk to get over. Otherwise, you're moving across two lanes of traffic, which might or might not be that fun. It certainly won't be that fun if there's a green at the light at Massachusetts because drivers really, really, really tend to want to catch that light.

Mystery potholes in the dark, you so crazy.

11th to Pennsylvania Avenue and I noticed more dashes:


I guess they'll be doing this at every intersection, which is really great. It won't solve the problem of people standing in the bike lane, but it seems like an improvement. Sometimes when in comes to bike lanes, more is more.

Up the hill and down East Capitol. Rode behind a woman on a CaBi who was using her ride to have a phone call, which is something I might do instead of blogging. You can all call in to 1-800-SHARROWS and tune in for a live narration. This seems way more practical than this whole blogging thing. And, as an urban bicyclist, I am a bit lazy.

See you all at the ribbon cutting! Nothing goes better with cycle tracks than scissors!

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