No rivers, no bridges, no nothing. Just a standard ride home. Ok, there was one bridge (the one that took me over the park), but that hardly counts. I've been struggling in deciding between trying to make a pontifex maximus reference or a Ripuarian Franks reference, but instead, I won't.
Remember to shift into a lower gear when you're about to get stuck in traffic. Not much worse than struggling to turn the pedals over as the anxious, frustrated driver of the Saab behind you inches closer. Unless you like pretending to bike in slow motion, or as I call it, motion.
I like the driver who can't quite bring himself to change lanes and just drives down the middle. It's a bold statement. Were it up to me, a hardcore, capitalist, libertarian-type, there'd be no road markings at all. Instead, lanes would just be determined by the free market. (I heard the JP Morgan recently lost a whole elevated highway It's cool- I have a cloverleaf exit credit default swap.)
Motorcycles in bike lanes. Not cool. Many cyclists in bike lanes- cool enough, 'twould (yup) be better if everyone just exhibited a bit more patience and maybe slightly more understanding about when and when not to pass or attempt to pass. Or even why to pass. The "why" is a pretty big, important, fundamental question that goes unasked by far too many bike commuters. If the answer is "to get to the next red light faster" or "to prove that I am faster than this other guy, thereby asserting my superiority," that's probably not a great justification. Be mindful. Act with intentions. But not cruel intentions. SMG taught us that lesson long ago.
Rode behind a guy on a CaBi for most of 11th. He didn't look like he was having fun. I gleaned as much from his scowl. You can treat bike commuting like its a battle to be won or you can treat it like a convenient way to get home. Or you can treat it like some elaborate bit of performance art, replete with bowler hats, clown makeup and live scorpions. If you do the latter, please don't do it near me. I'm deathly afraid of bowler hats.
Rode on sidewalk (illegally). Came close to almost biking into an old lady. I am a terrible person and I put my own convenience over the public order and safety of others. I am sufficiently self-flagellated.
It gets very windy around 3rd street NW. I don't know why this is, but before getting to the Hill, the wind always whips up and I don't care for it.
Grocery store. Might've accidentally hit a Mormon missionary's shin with my bike when I went to lock it while he was unlocking his. My bad. Also, might've had a really difficult time lifting my leg over the bag of broccoli poking out if my unclasped pannier when I mounted my bike to ride home. Crying over spilled broccoli is perfectly acceptable.
6/14/12
Ride In 6/14: Glengarry Glenn Close
The Official Wife went to work early and I decided that rather than share a second pop tart with Ellie the Poodle, I would set off on my morning commute a bit early and maybe take the "long way" (broadly understood). I didn't know which "long way" I would take, but I ended up taking a spectacularly nonsensical one that involved two river crossings and four bridges.
From home, it was down South Carolina to 11th. At the school, there were some Marines on the baseball field practicing their ceremonial rifle manipulations. That's one safe baseball field.
The 11th street local bridge is still incomplete, but it's still completely bikeable. I noticed that they're tearing the deck off the old 11th street highway bridge. Something about mangled, semi-destructed bridges is very affecting. Maybe it's the mangled, semi-destructedness.
Like bad pictures of a boat? You're welcome.
No one on the 11th street bridge and no one on the sidewalk or road down to the Anacostia Riverwalk, Special Eastern Unit (not the official name). I don't think it's a very popular commuter route, in no small part to the fact that it doesn't really go anywhere except along the river. Also, the Douglass Bridge is terrible and narrow and bike commuting on it is tantamount of riding on a tight rope and I'm almost legitimately afraid of doing it. I rode on the eastern sidewalk and soon found myself behind a man in a US NAVY "Experimental Diving Unit" t-shirt. I just assumed that were I to fall off the bridge, this brave man would experimentally dive after me and I'm sure everything would work out just fine. This total fiction provided me some comfort. It was too narrow to pass, so I rode behind him.
I don't think there's a bike sign that makes me happier than one that gives the directions to the Nationals Bike Valet.
Did you know the baseball stadium is on a street "named" Taxation Without Representation Street, SE? I saw the road sign for the first time today. I think Municipal Bond Boondoggle Way, SE was a close runner-up.
I crossed South Capitol Street and rode down P Street to the Waterfront, along the Interim Provisional Temporary In-Progress Not-Yet-Finished Design Stage Planned Anacostia Riverwalk Trail (Western Conference), up Water Street and then decided to be monumentally silly and ride into Arlington over the 14th Street Bridge, which was quite crowded with bike commuters heading in the other direction.
On the MVT, I saw a guy standing next to the trail with his bike upside. He was spinning the wheel and fondling (don't be gross) his tire. Something was wrong. So, I stopped and inquired. You should always stop. Never assume that a person with a flat tire is fine or that someone has already stopped. At least three other people biked by from the time I saw him to the time I stopped. I asked what was wrong. He had a flat. I told him I had a tube. He declined. I told him I had a pump. He tried to pump the tire, but the air wouldn't stay. He told me that he thinks the tires had worn through. And that he rode a century this past weekend and this was going to be the last ride on these tires and that this was his first commute into Georgetown. I told him I had a patch kit. He declined. He asked me where he should walk. I suggested the 14th Street Bridge and maybe get a bus from downtown. He told me that he would walk over the Memorial Bridge. He said that this would be his last ride without a flat kit. I said bye.
Mount Vernon Trail was only a little crowded. It was more crowded on the Key Bridge. One commute, four bridges, two river crossings, zero reasons for doing it. Totally worth it.
Not much in the way of bicycle traffic in Georgetown, but it picked up a little in Glover Park. I was pleased to read that DDOT is addressing the 37th and Tunlaw street issue, the issue being that the intersection sucks and needs redesigning. The hills seemed less terrible than they used to be, but I'm sure that's just some kind of bizarro nostalgia. Traffic on New Mexico seemed worse than usual. I'm pretty sure that we can put together some kind of class action lawsuit against the Maryland DMV, maybe with a cease and desist component so they stop issuing licenses until they do a better job of ensuring that their standards actually mandate the safe operation of a vehicle. It's incredible.
Pretty good day over all. I wanted to take the CCT, but maybe some other day. Maybe even tomorrow.
From home, it was down South Carolina to 11th. At the school, there were some Marines on the baseball field practicing their ceremonial rifle manipulations. That's one safe baseball field.
The 11th street local bridge is still incomplete, but it's still completely bikeable. I noticed that they're tearing the deck off the old 11th street highway bridge. Something about mangled, semi-destructed bridges is very affecting. Maybe it's the mangled, semi-destructedness.
Like bad pictures of a boat? You're welcome.
 |
| You can lock up your bike and look at a boat. |
I don't think there's a bike sign that makes me happier than one that gives the directions to the Nationals Bike Valet.
 |
| Second from the bottom. |
Did you know the baseball stadium is on a street "named" Taxation Without Representation Street, SE? I saw the road sign for the first time today. I think Municipal Bond Boondoggle Way, SE was a close runner-up.
I crossed South Capitol Street and rode down P Street to the Waterfront, along the Interim Provisional Temporary In-Progress Not-Yet-Finished Design Stage Planned Anacostia Riverwalk Trail (Western Conference), up Water Street and then decided to be monumentally silly and ride into Arlington over the 14th Street Bridge, which was quite crowded with bike commuters heading in the other direction.
On the MVT, I saw a guy standing next to the trail with his bike upside. He was spinning the wheel and fondling (don't be gross) his tire. Something was wrong. So, I stopped and inquired. You should always stop. Never assume that a person with a flat tire is fine or that someone has already stopped. At least three other people biked by from the time I saw him to the time I stopped. I asked what was wrong. He had a flat. I told him I had a tube. He declined. I told him I had a pump. He tried to pump the tire, but the air wouldn't stay. He told me that he thinks the tires had worn through. And that he rode a century this past weekend and this was going to be the last ride on these tires and that this was his first commute into Georgetown. I told him I had a patch kit. He declined. He asked me where he should walk. I suggested the 14th Street Bridge and maybe get a bus from downtown. He told me that he would walk over the Memorial Bridge. He said that this would be his last ride without a flat kit. I said bye.
Mount Vernon Trail was only a little crowded. It was more crowded on the Key Bridge. One commute, four bridges, two river crossings, zero reasons for doing it. Totally worth it.
Not much in the way of bicycle traffic in Georgetown, but it picked up a little in Glover Park. I was pleased to read that DDOT is addressing the 37th and Tunlaw street issue, the issue being that the intersection sucks and needs redesigning. The hills seemed less terrible than they used to be, but I'm sure that's just some kind of bizarro nostalgia. Traffic on New Mexico seemed worse than usual. I'm pretty sure that we can put together some kind of class action lawsuit against the Maryland DMV, maybe with a cease and desist component so they stop issuing licenses until they do a better job of ensuring that their standards actually mandate the safe operation of a vehicle. It's incredible.
Pretty good day over all. I wanted to take the CCT, but maybe some other day. Maybe even tomorrow.
6/12/12
Ride Home 6/11: Squid Pro Quo
Does this blog have any rules? If I saw something this morning and I neglected to mention it, can I post it in this ride write-up? Because I neglected to mention a march of hundreds of people heading down Pennsylvania Avenue. I believe they were advocates for the disabled community. They walked along the south side of Pennsylvania and the group stretched for three blocks. I can't recall their chants. Something about equal access. Access is pretty hard word to rhyme, so I can't blame them if their slogans were less than memorable. In any case, here's the International Disability Rights Monitor. Disability rights is a worthwhile cause, so if you have extra money, maybe you could give some.
I rode home and it wasn't raining and I appreciated that. It was muggy. And I wore loafers. I brought these loafers with me to the foot doctor to show him how warped the soles were and I rode to work in the shoes that I normally keep at work and I intended to bring my bike shoes with me, but I forgot them and rather than wear home the shoes I rode to work in (with the sole (shoe pun?) intention of leaving them at work, I decided that I would just wear the loafers. It looked weird.
Anyway, the first thing they teach you at "How to Bike in Bike Clothes But While Wearing Loafers" Class (I paid $150 for this. I might've gotten ripped off) is that it's not really different from biking in other shoes. It sort of reminded me of "olden times," before sneakers existed and grainy pictures in which old timey children, maybe who just got out of Ellis Island or something, cycled in three quarter pants and vests and newsboy caps and big clunky shoes. Those old timey children are probably all dead now. Probably from vest poisoning.
A young woman in a Jetta decided that it would be clever do pull into my lane without looking to see if it was already occupied. It was occupied. I occupied it. Mid-way into her pulling over (she was stuck behind a driver waiting to turn left), I yelled "NO!" and that got her attention and that's how I ended up not on the hood of a Jetta. There's not (yet) a bad tv show called "The Driver Whisperer," but if they hold auditions for a host, I might put in for it. Though my whispering could use some work.
Can't wait until the Brompton gets here.
Q (which I find increasingly mind-numbing) and 11th (which is less numbing, but not exactly stimulating) and I'm overall wondering if I need to figure out a better way to go east and south. A bike route should be many things, but I'm not sure boring is one of them. If it's too rote, then you stop paying attention and why you stop paying attention, then yourun out of fodder might not notice things that you might want to notice. Unfortunately, bike infrastructure in DC isn't separated enough to truly relax.
Another Tommy Wells sighting. I've taken for granted that a member of the DC Council bikes to work, but 1/13 (currently 1/12) is a much higher percentage than the 3.1% of DC residents who get to work by means of bicycle. So, huzzah?
I haven't mentioned zombie joggers in a while. There are still zombie joggers. Thus concludes my report on zombie joggers.
East Capitol and around the family (guy with xtracycle, woman with trailer) that I always see and then past a woman on a CaBi and then I saw someone who looked like someone I should now, but don't, by the park. I rode behind a guy trailing a hot dog cart from his truck. I jumped the light to cross 13th to get to A and then I passed a woman holding a jump rope, presumably for her kid, and then it was home.
No rides tomorrow. This is an open letter to anyone who might want to write a guest post:
I'm back on Thursday.
I rode home and it wasn't raining and I appreciated that. It was muggy. And I wore loafers. I brought these loafers with me to the foot doctor to show him how warped the soles were and I rode to work in the shoes that I normally keep at work and I intended to bring my bike shoes with me, but I forgot them and rather than wear home the shoes I rode to work in (with the sole (shoe pun?) intention of leaving them at work, I decided that I would just wear the loafers. It looked weird.
 |
| Supinators: mount up! |
A young woman in a Jetta decided that it would be clever do pull into my lane without looking to see if it was already occupied. It was occupied. I occupied it. Mid-way into her pulling over (she was stuck behind a driver waiting to turn left), I yelled "NO!" and that got her attention and that's how I ended up not on the hood of a Jetta. There's not (yet) a bad tv show called "The Driver Whisperer," but if they hold auditions for a host, I might put in for it. Though my whispering could use some work.
Can't wait until the Brompton gets here.
Q (which I find increasingly mind-numbing) and 11th (which is less numbing, but not exactly stimulating) and I'm overall wondering if I need to figure out a better way to go east and south. A bike route should be many things, but I'm not sure boring is one of them. If it's too rote, then you stop paying attention and why you stop paying attention, then you
Another Tommy Wells sighting. I've taken for granted that a member of the DC Council bikes to work, but 1/13 (currently 1/12) is a much higher percentage than the 3.1% of DC residents who get to work by means of bicycle. So, huzzah?
I haven't mentioned zombie joggers in a while. There are still zombie joggers. Thus concludes my report on zombie joggers.
East Capitol and around the family (guy with xtracycle, woman with trailer) that I always see and then past a woman on a CaBi and then I saw someone who looked like someone I should now, but don't, by the park. I rode behind a guy trailing a hot dog cart from his truck. I jumped the light to cross 13th to get to A and then I passed a woman holding a jump rope, presumably for her kid, and then it was home.
No rides tomorrow. This is an open letter to anyone who might want to write a guest post:
Hello,
Do you ride a llama to work? No? How about a bicycle? Cool. And do you have an overwhelming desire to try to describe it using words and maybe even syntax? And then have it read by scores of bored office workers? Well, have I got a proposition for you. But this isn't about my propositioning you. It's about my asking you if you'd like to write a blog post. It's easy. And it's fun. It's so easy and fun, a llama could do it. So, if you happen to ride a bicycle to work/anywhere tomorrow and something/nothing happens and you'd like to describe those things in writing, I'd be very happy to post it right here. Well, not right here, but at Tales From The Sharrows, a blog recently referred to as "sometimes funny" by my mom. Your post doesn't have to be funny. It could be serious. It could even be about Yahoo Serious. That's my pitch. Ride a bike. Write stuff down. Get it posted on "the interwebs." If you are struck by the desire to do this, please email your submission to TaLeSFRomTHesHarRoWs@gmail.com (that's weird capitalization, right?). If you are not struck by the desire to do this, that's ok too. Maybe you could do woodworking instead. Like, make a spice rack and then take a picture and I'll post that picture on this blog and you'll be famous in the cross-section of people who like hastily constructed spice racks and even more hastily constructed bike commuter blogs.
Vaya con fritos,
TFTS
I'm back on Thursday.
Ride In 6/12: The Rick James Baseball Abstract
My commute was delayed this morning. I had a doctor's appointment not too far from home and vaguely on the way to work, so I decided that I would ride there and then continue my bike trip afterward. Turns out that I'm a supinator (unlike a Super Nader, consumer advocate caped crusader) and that's pretty much it. I co-payed and I co-left.
The doctor's office was near Eastern Market and from there it was up Pennsylvania Avenue and then alongside and behind the Liberry of Congress (Tea Party changed the named) and then down the Hill on the House side, which is my opinion, is the inferior side for bicycling, though it's the mirror image of the path I normally take. I thought that maybe I should take a different route to work, but I was caught flat-footed (joke) and I couldn't quite summon the necessary mental energy (i.e. only a little) needed to figure out a better way to get to the office from the Capitol.Or if not a better way, a different one. But the problem is that riding a bike along Independence Avenue is sort of crummy (it's approximately 700 feet wide, but no bike lanes) and I didn't really want to ride along the Mall, since it would've left me at the 15th street bike no man's land, which is not typically a place I want to be. It stinks. So, I rode back over to the normal route and took Pennsylvania to 15th, enjoying the emptier cycle track and luxuriating in being in no particular hurry to get to the office. Fewer bicyclists in the cycle track, but it wasn't empty. When bikes are used for transportation, there's almost always someone who has to go somewhere. As Alan Jackson never sang "It's bike o'clock somewhere." Had he sung that, one of my friends or relatives would have gotten him a different clock or maybe brought him in to a doctor to make sure he didn't have a stroke or something.
It rained.
It was warm enough that the rain wasn't unpleasant, but no so warm as to make the rain refreshing. The rain just felt like rain and I soon tired of it.
At the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin, I decided to make a diversion and ride along Wisconsin and now I remember why I never do that (aside from it being a fairly indirect to get to work. And that whole Scott Walker thing.). After the Cathedral, it's actually sort of flat, so there's no reason to think that the terrain would be that inhospitable to bikes. Theoretically, you could have a nice-ish bikeway between Tenleytown and the Cathedral (something like Fairfax Drive in Arlington) and link the neighborhood in a way that makes it seem like more of a group of houses and businesses and less like some buildings intercepted by a high-speed boulevard. I don't know if there's any political will in doing that. It's not exciting like delaying a new grocery store for ten years.
From Tenley, it was back down Nebraska, though Ward Circle and then to work. Another one in the books. Or, another one in the blog. I don't actually have a book where I write this down. That would be redundant.
The doctor's office was near Eastern Market and from there it was up Pennsylvania Avenue and then alongside and behind the Liberry of Congress (Tea Party changed the named) and then down the Hill on the House side, which is my opinion, is the inferior side for bicycling, though it's the mirror image of the path I normally take. I thought that maybe I should take a different route to work, but I was caught flat-footed (joke) and I couldn't quite summon the necessary mental energy (i.e. only a little) needed to figure out a better way to get to the office from the Capitol.Or if not a better way, a different one. But the problem is that riding a bike along Independence Avenue is sort of crummy (it's approximately 700 feet wide, but no bike lanes) and I didn't really want to ride along the Mall, since it would've left me at the 15th street bike no man's land, which is not typically a place I want to be. It stinks. So, I rode back over to the normal route and took Pennsylvania to 15th, enjoying the emptier cycle track and luxuriating in being in no particular hurry to get to the office. Fewer bicyclists in the cycle track, but it wasn't empty. When bikes are used for transportation, there's almost always someone who has to go somewhere. As Alan Jackson never sang "It's bike o'clock somewhere." Had he sung that, one of my friends or relatives would have gotten him a different clock or maybe brought him in to a doctor to make sure he didn't have a stroke or something.
It rained.
It was warm enough that the rain wasn't unpleasant, but no so warm as to make the rain refreshing. The rain just felt like rain and I soon tired of it.
At the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin, I decided to make a diversion and ride along Wisconsin and now I remember why I never do that (aside from it being a fairly indirect to get to work. And that whole Scott Walker thing.). After the Cathedral, it's actually sort of flat, so there's no reason to think that the terrain would be that inhospitable to bikes. Theoretically, you could have a nice-ish bikeway between Tenleytown and the Cathedral (something like Fairfax Drive in Arlington) and link the neighborhood in a way that makes it seem like more of a group of houses and businesses and less like some buildings intercepted by a high-speed boulevard. I don't know if there's any political will in doing that. It's not exciting like delaying a new grocery store for ten years.
From Tenley, it was back down Nebraska, though Ward Circle and then to work. Another one in the books. Or, another one in the blog. I don't actually have a book where I write this down. That would be redundant.
6/11/12
Ride Home 6/11: Bring some gum to a knife fight
To be perfectly honest, this wasn't one of my favorite ride homes. It's rare that I'll ever mumble "please don't kill me with your car" even once a month and today, I mumbled upwards of five times. I have no idea what happened. I sort of wonder if my new Walz cap is not only moisture wicking, but renders its wearer invisible. Invisibility is by far the worst feeling one can have while riding a bicycle. Is invisibility even a feeling? Can I borrow a feeling?
Where invisibility is worst is when drivers elect to turn in front of you. Either from intersections into your path or from the opposite direction across your path. Both of these cases happened more than once today. Like I said, I don't know why (pending further examination of cap for magical properties). It even happened at intersections, when I had a green light and the turning driver had a red. How freaking prescient do I seem? Or maybe, my audience (all nine of you) decided to play a hilarious practical joke on me by taking to your cars and cutting me off every here and there. It's unpleasant to have to brake and then to wonder if you'll actually stop before you collide with a car (I did!) and then it's even more unpleasant to ride behind that driver and stew over their lack of concern for your safety. Stewing is the worst. Unless it's the world's largest dairy store, Stew Leonard's. The problem with bad things happening during a ride is that they beget other bad things happening. You get hung up and distracted and then you ride angry and then you start to see the world through shit colored glasses (Not carried by most optometrists). And (I'm not totally sure how much I believe this, but I think it's relatively true) once you start riding like bad stuff is going to happen, it's much more likely that bad stuff will happen. This observation is borne out by no statistics. I'm not even sure there's anectdota. I still think it's true.
Prior to all the nonsense with the cars happening, I was passed by what I think were two cops on bikes who did not, by all appearances and bike handling abilities, appear to be bicycle patrol officers. I have no idea what they were wondering, except chatting with each other, almost getting hit by a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and then complaining to me that there was a hill and I believe one of them even asked if I was responsible for putting the hill there. Um, no. And secondly, um, what? To the best of my knowledge, I'm not responsible for any number of myriad geological features in the DC metro region (I did put some sod in my backyard). Maybe I misheard.
I shan't catalogue all the inconsiderateness. I just know that it got to me and there was a certain point in the trip when I just wanted it all to be over. Every commuter has some bad trips (unless you're a blimp commuter. Then you're life is just peachy all the time) and bike commuters are no exception to that rule. I'd say, in general, bad commutes are much less likely to befall me becauseI avoid gypsy curses I pretty much take the same route every day and I've picked this route because it's pretty low stress. Picking a good route is a pretty good strategy for avoiding bad commutes. This, and other sophisticated insight, is available in my forthcoming self-help book Make Good Choices and Maybe Bad Stuff Won't Happen Unless it Does.
Looking up at the traffic lights as you pass under them in order to suggest to an offending driver that she do the same doesn't work. You can cross that one out of your passive-aggressive playbook.
Rushing doesn't work. At a red light, a woman on her bike rushed passed me, blocked the crosswalk and then pedaled past the crosswalk, with her bike almost in the right hand travel lane of 14th street and she rocked back and forth, looking for a gap in the car traffic that never materialized. She jumped the green light by three seconds and pedaled. The light turned green. After seven seconds, I was directly behind her, once again. Was all that nonsense worth it for a "gain" that could be erased in seven seconds? Getting home fast is a factor of going fast when it matters and knowing the difference between a smart choice and a dumb one. And if you really want to get home fast, buy a jetpack and not a bike.
11th to Penn and Penn up the hill. I was glad not to be hit by one of the three taxis making u-turns across the bike lane. Enough is enough. This is just ridiculous. What's the best way to get this enforced? I'm thinking either hunger strike, sit-in or blogging about it every so often and I'm pretty sure the last one is totally in my wheelhouse.
I don't see nearly as many Bikeshare commuters in the evening.
Where invisibility is worst is when drivers elect to turn in front of you. Either from intersections into your path or from the opposite direction across your path. Both of these cases happened more than once today. Like I said, I don't know why (pending further examination of cap for magical properties). It even happened at intersections, when I had a green light and the turning driver had a red. How freaking prescient do I seem? Or maybe, my audience (all nine of you) decided to play a hilarious practical joke on me by taking to your cars and cutting me off every here and there. It's unpleasant to have to brake and then to wonder if you'll actually stop before you collide with a car (I did!) and then it's even more unpleasant to ride behind that driver and stew over their lack of concern for your safety. Stewing is the worst. Unless it's the world's largest dairy store, Stew Leonard's. The problem with bad things happening during a ride is that they beget other bad things happening. You get hung up and distracted and then you ride angry and then you start to see the world through shit colored glasses (Not carried by most optometrists). And (I'm not totally sure how much I believe this, but I think it's relatively true) once you start riding like bad stuff is going to happen, it's much more likely that bad stuff will happen. This observation is borne out by no statistics. I'm not even sure there's anectdota. I still think it's true.
Prior to all the nonsense with the cars happening, I was passed by what I think were two cops on bikes who did not, by all appearances and bike handling abilities, appear to be bicycle patrol officers. I have no idea what they were wondering, except chatting with each other, almost getting hit by a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and then complaining to me that there was a hill and I believe one of them even asked if I was responsible for putting the hill there. Um, no. And secondly, um, what? To the best of my knowledge, I'm not responsible for any number of myriad geological features in the DC metro region (I did put some sod in my backyard). Maybe I misheard.
I shan't catalogue all the inconsiderateness. I just know that it got to me and there was a certain point in the trip when I just wanted it all to be over. Every commuter has some bad trips (unless you're a blimp commuter. Then you're life is just peachy all the time) and bike commuters are no exception to that rule. I'd say, in general, bad commutes are much less likely to befall me because
Looking up at the traffic lights as you pass under them in order to suggest to an offending driver that she do the same doesn't work. You can cross that one out of your passive-aggressive playbook.
Rushing doesn't work. At a red light, a woman on her bike rushed passed me, blocked the crosswalk and then pedaled past the crosswalk, with her bike almost in the right hand travel lane of 14th street and she rocked back and forth, looking for a gap in the car traffic that never materialized. She jumped the green light by three seconds and pedaled. The light turned green. After seven seconds, I was directly behind her, once again. Was all that nonsense worth it for a "gain" that could be erased in seven seconds? Getting home fast is a factor of going fast when it matters and knowing the difference between a smart choice and a dumb one. And if you really want to get home fast, buy a jetpack and not a bike.
11th to Penn and Penn up the hill. I was glad not to be hit by one of the three taxis making u-turns across the bike lane. Enough is enough. This is just ridiculous. What's the best way to get this enforced? I'm thinking either hunger strike, sit-in or blogging about it every so often and I'm pretty sure the last one is totally in my wheelhouse.
I don't see nearly as many Bikeshare commuters in the evening.
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