Rides 12/1: Ute Movement

The first day of December and the Monday after Thanksgiving and it was warm and the cyclists were out if not in droves, in plenitude. I followed the usual pathway along the Mall and up the Potomac to eventually M Street, before taking the 33rd Street bike lane towards Volta and then up Tunlaw eventually and then New Mexico. Too warm for winter, but not warm enough for early fall, I wore a mishmash of clothes that kind of worked, but also kind of didn't. They say there's 'no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing' but there's no such thing as good weather with bad clothing either. I don't think my enthusiasm for the ride was dampened in any way, but my brow was.

Though this was nothing in comparison to the ride home, when the heavens emptied as I rode along L Street. I had previously ridden down Wisco and then stopped at the grocery store and everything was going swimmingly until it really started to go swimmingly. It was a mean, torrid rain, the main effect of which was to thoroughly soak through me, though I suppose it soaked other things too, so I don't feel particularly singled out or anything. The rain stopped, at least in such heavy volume, by the time I reach 15th and K and from then, there was no rain, but only darkness.

Along Pennsylvania, I was passed too closely and without warning by a fellow cyclist and I took offense. Is it so hard to not do this? Anyway, a few lights down the road I had caught up to him and I let my worse self get the better of me and said to myself 'oh yeah, let's pass this guy going uphill, even though I have five bottles of wine in my bag and a baguette sticking out of it' and as I set him up for what would be an epic 'take that!' at the base of Capitol Hill, I heard a the gentle thud and gentler skid of my baguette meeting the pavement, having ejected itself from my bag. The universe doesn't want you to be petty, so sometimes it ejects your baguette.

Later up the hill, it ejected itself again. I guess the universe and the bread really wanted to make a point.

"Yeah, I'd like an order of the wet leaves with a side of wet leaves and for dessert, I'll take some wet leaves with wet leaf sauce. Oh, and an extra order of wet leaves on the side." There were a lot of wet leaves in the bike lanes. Tis the season.