Rides 7/20: the re-return

Family matters took me away from town and from biking, but as I'm back now and as I biked today, circumstances warrant writing about it, such as it was. 

This morning I took Bikeshare to Union Station. There are new bike lanes on 4th and 6th NE around Stabton park and though they're oh two blocks long, they connect the previously existing ones and the elimination of this gap is a biggish deal, at least in comparison to non-biggish deals. Bike lanes that disappear and reappear with no rhyme or reason are almost as bad as bike bloggers who do the same. 

When I arrived at Union Station, there were 4 people queued by the dock waiting for bicyclists to arrive. Like a taxi stand for the 21st century. I wonder if this'll be disrupted by Uber, but for Bikeshare whereby would-be riders summon current riders to maybe slightly go out of their way (or perhaps just fortuitously along to their planned destination) to arrange a CaBi swap. Smartphones and capitalism can fix all of our woes, or so I've gleaned. But probably not: queuing and waiting one's turn seems to have established itself as the preferred means of bike exchange in scarcity situations because, well, that seems to make more sense and be much more reasonable anyway. 

I also biked from Tenleytown to work. I took Bikeshare from work down Massacusetts Avenue to Garfield (I hate Mondays) and then down over the Ellington Bridge and into the Devil's Playground to pick up my bicycle from BicycleSpace, where it had been getting some work done. I got new handlebars. They are called Noodle. Thus far they seem quite lovely. 

18th to Connecticut to L to 15th and then the standard way home. Standards like Ellington. Gonna rename my bike the A Train. #confusion

I try to not complain about fellow bicyclists and for the most part I'm successful because minor annoyances aren't much to complain about and dwell on. But sometimes I have complainy thoughts. It happens. In fact, I'd venture that the average bicyclist has more complainy thoughts about other bicyclists than drivers ever do. You see silly things and you think "ugh, silliness," but then you get over it because it's not a big deal. Too hot to ugh too long anyway.