If it were the same beautiful weather we've had over the past 2 days for 300 days a year, I think it'd have the same effect on the overall number of people biking as only about 3 miles of protected bike lanes. Don't get more wrong- this weather is amazing and there are certainly more people biking than there would be were it totally shitty, but I've been doing this long enough to develop strong opinions without empirical evidence and within that certitude is the belief that what really gets people on the bike isn't whether (hah) or not it's nice, but whether or not they worry about being seriously injured or ending up dead. Bicycling is a truly wonderful thing and the feelings it gives me are for the most part extremely positive. But boy oh boy does the current milieu in which I do it ask me to think about my own mortality more times and in deeper ways than I'd prefer. And I do it everyday! I guess all of what I'm saying is two things: 1) putting people in situations in which they're worried about their safety and *feel* unsafe is very visceral ways isn't likely going to lead to more people wanting to put themselves in those situations and 2) asking for hyper-vigilance from people and asking them to do everything they can (which still might not be enough!) to ensure that other people don't bring them harm seems unlikely to win over additional converts. It's just too much. Nice weather though.
I've given up on Connecticut and Calvert on the way home. I prefer Woodley now. It's pretty breezy, all things considered. There are two stops signs between Cleveland and Connecticut and they're pretty well-spaced. This opens the door to lots of zooming or as much zooming can be done by a relatively cautious rider on slow bikes on a potholed street. Not much opportunity for zooming afterwards either.
I see a lot of other bicyclists, but only on 18th. It's a pretty good mix too, encompassing a mix of people in regular clothes and bikey clothes and across the entire spectrum of bike types. But it's just one block. I miss seeing cyclists all over the city. Maybe it's time to get a job on the Hill, get the downtown commute back. It's a weird campaign announcement, but when I'm the junior Senator from Nebraska, at least I'll have a longer bike commute back and get to see more bicyclists.
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