4/21/15

Rides 4/21: shifting stones

I've been thinking something lately:

isn't it a shame that the people who lived a thousand years ago didn't realize they were living in the past? they mistakenly thought they were living in the present. how silly of them. 

I'm not sure that this has anything to do with bike commuting, but if you see anything especially germane, please don't hesitate to make that association and feel free to give me credit for being abundantly relevant. Maybe I've been thinking about it because I ride past houses that were built a 100 years ago on a city that was laid out 200 years ago on land that was occupied before then by other people for thousands of years before that. They all lived in the past, but thought they were living in the present. I bet some of them even thought they were living in the future, but if that hasn't happened yet for us, it certainly wasn't the future way back then. 

Mass Avenue down past the train station and up First Street to the MBT. It wasn't unpleasant. Someday it might be better. There were a few people on the MBT, including a man and woman who were a pair and they were both on bikes and both had a casual easygoing way of bicycling that suggested that they're a good pair. I liked riding R Street until about 11th Street, when R Street becomes less fun for reasons that I can't explain. On Massachusetts (the same Mass Avenue, but a different one entirely), I counted cars and car passengers, which is a new thing that I do sometimes. Then I thought about turkey. 

Let's say you worked in an office and there's an office refrigerator and you and your colleagues share the refrigerator and you bring in your lunch and so do they. You bring in a turkey sandwich and your 9 colleagues each bring in a 20 lbs Butterball fully roasted turkey. And then you go to the office fridge and your 9 colleagues are shove in their 20lbs Butterball fully roasted turkeys and you go to put in your turkey sandwich (on wheat, with mustard) and there's no room because the fridge is full of full turkeys already. Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that maybe you should just buy lunch. And quit your job. Your office sounds like a terrible place. 

It's remarkable the difference leaving an hour later can make on your commute home. It's so much nicer. The weather was the kindest form of mild. There's only so many of these evenings. It's a joy to savor them. 

Mass/21st/L/15th is my tried-and-true evening combo. I might be in a rut. I might not care. Sometimes ruts are good. Like, if you wanted to get a wagon stuck for some reason. Maybe the wagon is full of bees. And there are kids who are allergic to bees and you're like 'oh crap, better keep this bee wagon away from those kids. oh thank goodness, a rut!' Sounds plausible. 

There sure seem to be a lot more people out on bikes and yet I'm not getting that many more Gear Prudence questions. So, if you're a regular bike commuter and you see someone who's new, politely remind them to email their bikey questions to gearprudence@washingtoncitypaper.com. They'll appreciate your telling them, probably. 

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