Rides 8/11 and 8/12

There are two things bicyclist do in August: ride in the heat and complain about riding in the heat. It's hot and there's no way around it. But as the saying goes, "ugh, please don't say that trite saying about how 'it's not just the heat, it's the humidity,'"and so I won't mention humidity or the dew point, which is, I've recently learned, not the point at which it's so hot you're willing to drink Mountain Dew. (My elementary school science textbooks were sponsored by Pepsi, so I have some gaping knowledge gaps. Unless, of course, the moon rocks don't taste like Cool Ranch Doritos. Why would have they ever tasted the moon rocks in the first place? I never wondered this when I was 8. I guess 8 year me just assumed they would've tasted the rocks. Makes sense in a way. Anyway, Buzz Aldrin and Chester Cheeto are great American heroes for going to the moon first, even if the rocks they brought back are regular flavor.)

I took the regular way into and home from work on Thursday and I remember nothing remarkable about either of the trips. I don't remember much unremarkable either. I've given up trying to give up Connecticut and Calvert. I'll just ride through. I could use the excitement in my life. Wait, no, no bike commuter should have to delude himself into thinking 'mortal peril' is 'excitement.' That's just terrible. I think the intersection is worse in the morning than in the afternoon- coming over the bridge from AdMo is a long straightaway that goes into a right-turn-only lane and that just invites high speeds. Coming from the other way in the afternoon isn't as bad since there's almost always a backup at the light by the exit from the park, so the speeds are never that high. But the bike lane, unfortunately/negligently, disappears there and so you've gotta take your place amidst the cars and then hope that when you get through the intersection, you can successfully manage everyone merging back over to the left and then make it to the bike lane when it reemerges on the bridge. Ok, so my descriptive powers aren't that good and if you don't know the intersection, you probably haven't gleaned anything from the previous few sentences. But worry not about gleaning details and just focus on gleaning this: it's bad.

On Friday I missed coffee club due to an early work "maybe I have a meeting?" (I didn't) and in the afternoon, I rode down New Mexico to stop at the Lebanese grocery store that somehow exists in an office building that's primarily doctor's offices. Armed with pita and meat and spinach pies, I kept going down New Mexico through Glover Park to Burleith to R Street and by Oak Hill Cemetery and then down to Q Street and over the Dumbarton Bridge. I stopped at the Safeway on 17th to but some non-Lebanese items (well, I can't say for sure if the cucumbers were Lebanese- I didn't ask) and then rode back on Church on the sidewalk because I didn't want to salmon to New Hampshire and then it was another few blocks and home.