1/28/15

Rides 1/26, 1/27, 1/28: ketchup

I'm behind. Let's truncate. 

Monday- I was expecting snow (wrongly) and there wasn't any. There might have been rain or ice rain. I took the Ogre, which is a perfect bike, for commuting and presumably other things that I don't ever do with it. What would only make it more perfect is a SON dynamo hub up front and a Rohloff in the back, but then I'd need to drop out of life for two years and ride around the world like the people sometimes featured on the Brooks (saddlery of Birmingham) blog. And who has the time to take two years to ride around the world? I have tv to catch up on! 

Tuesday- I rode Bikeshare. I had to report to jury duty. I was not selected to serve on a jury (I wasn't even asked. I was called into a room, say there, sent away, returned, sat again, was sent to lunch, returned and then was sent home. Others, presumably less partial than me [or at least with less fortunate seating arrangements], were chose and they'll have the opportunity to take Bikeshare back to the courthouse for the next few weeks. This was my first jury service in DC (or anywhere) and for what it was, I quite enjoyed it. 

Today- Cross Check on the canal towpath. I was hoping to shred some snow, but was gifted intermittent ice patches instead. I avoided some and cracked others and skidded but once. It was a good time, about which my enthusiasm was only tempered when realizing upon taking a sip from the thermos that sat in my bottle cage during the ride, that sand from the path had formed a nice patina about the rim and was transferred, along with coffee, to my lips upon first sip. 

Lots on mansions in the woodsier hollows behind Loughboro Road. Grand houses make for great distractions on bike commutes and in some ways make the trip seem faster. "Only 3 houses to the top of the hill!" whereas in paltrier neighborhoods, where the millionaires are only petit millionaires, there would be 8.

The ride home was through Georgetown. A clickbait-y headline would tell you about this one weird trick to pass 50 cars stuck in traffic, but then the article would just be a picture of a guy on a bike. The traffic remained nutso (a technical term) on Pennsylvania through Washington Circle and then until 17. Each intersection was blocked by other drivers who had failed to get through on account of other drivers who couldn't get through the following intersection on account of other drivers blocked by other drivers blocked by other drivers all the way to Chantilly or wherever these unfortunate people who choose to engage in this daily madness live. I regularly make bad decisions, but I'm glad that trying to commute by car through DC isn't one of them. 



No comments:

Post a Comment