Rides 7/31: Chiffonier

I wanted something different, so I did something different. I hang-glided to work! No, not really. I just rode a slightly different way, riding along the National Mall from the east end to the west end and past museums and monuments and reflecting pools and memorials and so many runners. There is, so I've heard, TENSION between runners and cyclists and for much of the ride across the Mall I shared a path with runners I barely noticed any tension as I willfully ran them off the path, cackling, mocking their stupid outfits and telling them to "put this on your race bib and shove it!" [whatever that means]. Actually, it wasn't nearly so bad as we all moved slowly enough and the paths were quiet and nearly empty thanks to summer and morning. I guess I don't understand how we can decide on one hand that DC's mixed-used paths, in which cyclists and others peacefully (for the most part) co-mingle, are precious gems that we ought to treasure, but when the same behavior occurs on sidewalks, it's pandemonium and mayhem and it's basically Stalingrad + The Walking Dead. I guess that people willfully choose to walk on mixed-used paths, whereas they're not exactly choosing sidewalks- they just happen to be between the places they are and where they want to walk. I don't know- it sorta seems like maybe the problem, such as it is, is overblown. I don't know.

New museum

looks like #TENSION to me

I've maybe ridden up the Rock Creek Trail to work 5 times in 5 years and today was one of those times. It was very nice and not nearly as indirect as I remembered it. Every time I looked over to the creek itself, I thought that maybe it'd be more interesting if the creek housed a few crocodiles. "That's a strange and unsavory thought," I thought. Then I looked over to the four lanes of car commuter traffic running down the middle of the sylvan expanse and thought that maybe crocodiles wouldn't be so bad comparatively. I guess I'm just old-fashioned in thinking that urban parks shouldn't be commuter highways, but then again, I also think the creek should have crocodiles, so I'm not really to be trusted on these matters.

Up the hill to Calvert and up Cleveland and up Garfield to Massachusetts and up that too. Oh yeah, this is why I don't ride in the park. Here's a picture of a bridge:

Like I said, a bridge.

I ended up riding over that bridge during the ride home, down into and through Adams Morgan and across town on Euclid, a street with and then without bike lanes. It's fine enough getting over to Sherman, but after that there's Georgia Avenue and then a university and hospital and reservoir and North Capitol and all of those are substantial enough barriers to west-east movement. I ended up riding down 7th to Q and then over to First NW and then up to R and then over and down and through the monstrous cluster that's the intersection of Florida Avenue and New York Avenue. That looks like this:

I love the grand and majestic boulevards of the nation's capital.

I stopped for pet foot and people food and rode down First NE and its cycletrack. It gets lots of use considering that both ends sorta fizzle into non-bikey-ness and that's pretty impressive. What would it be like if it actually connected to things on both ends! Maybe we'll find out in a few years.

I've decided that I hate riding between Columbus Circle and Stanton Park on Massachusetts, so I've taken to cutting through the congressional offices and closed streets and security theater to get over to Constitution. It's surprisingly pleasant.

It's basically a parking lot

Obviously this expanse could be made even friendlier to cyclists, but I suspect that this isn't exactly a high priority. Maybe if we convince Congress that immigrant children are speeding through it then there'd be some action on it. Maybe.

Saw a Maserati and it inspired a CRAZY IDEA.  This town and its fancy cars and CRAZY IDEAS.

CRAZY IDEA: index the price of parking permits to the blue book value of the car the permit is for. Use the extra money to pay for better bus service. If you can afford a Maserati, you can afford more than the $35 a year to park it on the street. [Of course, this car is registered in Maryland, so no DC parking permit anyway.]