Ride Home 7/20: I'm going to open a coq au vin food truck and call it Cocoa Van and it will confuse everyone

Two-part trip. First part from work to a happy hour. Second part from happy hour to home. 

The first part was pretty good. It was muggy, but what else is new? Seems to be more traffic around Dupont than usual. I'm just going to go ahead and ascribe that to driver "uncertainty" concerning the L Street cycle track. If uncertainty is a good enough excuse for economic malaise, it's more than a good enough excuse for traffic. Other good excuses for traffic include bridges being out, rampaging escaped zoo animals and emergency helicopter landings. Whatever it was, it's certainly not the fact that cities aren't built for the easy movement of cars. And yet we still cede so much of urban space to them. 

All I remember of Q Street is that I kept looking up to see pedestrian counters at intersections ticking down from 10 or 12 seconds and my deciding whether I wanted to hustle to catch the green, which I did at maybe four or five intersections. I was wearing normal people clothes and this level of exertion seemed unwarranted and sweat-inducing, but as someone who grew up pretending to shoot buzzer beats when playing basketball in the driveway, it's hard to resist any kind of countdown with consequences. (Countdown with Consequences is the name of my forthcoming book about Apollo XI and/or the last episode of Keith Olbermann's last MSNBC episode. I haven't started writing yet, so I'm pretty flexible). In any case, it turns out that four blocks of consistent riding is enough to exhaust me. 

 Q to 7th and 7th has a bike lane for a while, but then it stops and that's why the taxi driver next to me started to get even closer. I shook him at one point, as he was stopped by a bus and things were going swimmingly under the driver of a small red car decided to reverse for more than half a block, heading right at me. Well that was something. There wasn't even an open parking spot or a place to make a turn. I have no idea what he was doing. I didn't stick around to ask. I think I just pulled around him, mumble/cursed and rode the next two blocks. I locked up outside of Bicycle Space (needed: more bike racks. I know that Bicycle Space's neighbors are resistant and this is unconscionably stupid) went inside the Passenger, had a gin rickey, some nachos, good times with some friends and the Official Wife, and then set off to get hom to walk and feed Ellie the Poodle, who might or might not have been miffed by our absence. 

I decided that I would take Massachusetts home rather than go through downtown, taking the diagonal boulevard that runs basically from Bicycle Space to my house, with a few minor deviations. I didn't select this house because of that. There's no secret George Washington-Pierre L'Enfant-Freemason-Dan Brown thing going on here. Just a coincidence.

Massachusetts would be better were there not road construction by the highway entrance that reduces the street to one-ish lane. Nevertheless, that proved fine as did the rest of the trip. It was a pretty quick trip home, though there was a headwind that proved more daunting than I would have wanted. Maybe I need to live in a completely flat city with no wind. I'm a delicate bike commuter flower. 

Ride In 7/20: Camptown Races 8 km long

Friday means coffee and it means leaving the house a little earlier than usual and it was cloudy and muggy and I was groggy and eventually sweaty and nothing much happened but the one man in the SUV on E Street blasting his Biz Markie in a way that I noticed and appreciated, but didn't acknowledge.

To get to E Street I took Massachusetts, circled the mess that is Union Station (and too far), before cutting back across a few lanes of traffic and I'm not sure if I ran any red lights, but I'm fairly certain the traffic pattern never even considered that someone would make the a button hook turn across four lanes of traffic. Perhaps things will be better when there are bike lanes. Everything's better with bike lanes.

At Stanton Park, between bouts on Massachusetts and before turning on E, I think I saw someone that I knew but I didn't want to risk saying hello because of the aforementioned grogginess and the likelihood that I was very much wrong in identifying the person. Though I suppose it's never too early in the morning to make a new friend. I'm basically the bike commuting Mr. Rogers, complete with slippers and cardigan.

I turned right on 11th and regretted it. I turned left on G and regretted it. On G I passed a couple on CaBis and the guy was carrying some kind of triangular packing tube, used in shipping I'm not sure what. I passed them at the got stopped at 3 subsequent lights and the stopped behind me each time.

I find riding through downtown-ish (roughly bound by 15th, New York, Pennsylvania and 395) to be quite charming. There are some nice older buildings that you would hardly notice and there are some vacant properties that really can and should be turned into something. Maybe not Class A office, but something. Like, is there a good haberdasher downtown? Probably not. Or a social club for the Sons of the Daughters of the American Revolution? I very much doubt it. Or anything resembling laser tag? Exactly. Buildings allowed to remain empty make me inordinately sad.

I crossed the White House plaza before there were too many tourists about. I crossed 17th street before there were too many cars about. I got to coffee and there were people there, so that was good. As usual, a good time was had by all, including some special guests: Adam, who is soon off to make some pirate jerky, and Hugo, who is a baby. Also, Rachel, the soon-to-be bike parking tsarina of WABA. It's a regular who's who of sailors, babies and tsarinas.

Upon leaving Friday Coffee Club, I almost get left-hooked as I crossed G Street. I didn't look both ways, but the turning driver certainly had no intention of yielding to me in the crosswalk. She missed my front wheel by a foot and kept going. I was happy nothing bad come of it.

15th was uncrowded. I saw this sign.

Watch for Turning Traffic

Presumably the sign is for bicyclists. It's better than "Dismount bikes. Real people are driving here, self-righteous pricks." Though I wonder if many bicyclists have been distracted from turning traffic as they read the sign that warns them as much. Also, if drivers are crossing the bike lane, isn't it (in the eyes of law) more incumbent of them to watch for going-straight bicyclists than the other way around?

I enjoyed that. R Street was mostly uncrowded, except for an older gentleman with pulled-up white socks and baggy shorts and a younger gentleman on a Surly Pacer, who shoaled and was promptly passed.

I stuck to the road on Massachusetts and I hustled and I exhausted myself and there were only one or two occasions when I was passed too closely. For the most part, the drivers were relatively non-menacing. I tried to convince myself that it's just like riding up other streets without bike lanes and I shouldn't be especially cowed. It mostly worked. There's a crack in the road about three feet off the curb that seems about to be where a bike lane white stripe would go so I just used that as my guide. It's not like my local tax dollars don't pay for a road if it doesn't have a bike lane on it. Unless I can get some sort of write-off.

Ride In & Ride Home 7/19: Those actually were the droids they were looking for

It's been a long day, which started with a 7AM trip to the local hardware store. Please excuse me if the details are hazier than usual and if you find the post lacking in any way, please flay me in the comments. I take reader feedback very seriously. About as seriously as the opinion of the Safeway checkout lady who told me that I shouldn't eat donuts for breakfast, lest I turn into the Pillsbury Doughboy. Pillsbury doesn't even make donuts. You'd think someone who works at a grocery store would know that. Also, related to my breakfast, are grocery store donuts considered "generic," like a non-brandname medicine? Also, not related to my breakfast, this was on the way back from the local hardware store, Fragers, where, I learned last night, I purchased 4 (four) tubes for my bike, which had remained unused for the previous two days upon my discovering a slow leak. It was good to fix the bike and good to ride it again. How I missed you, Rocinante.

Anyway, the bicycle section of the hardware store was pretty good. And since it opens a good three hours earlier than any nearby LBS, I was happy to shop there. Here's a picture:

I wonder if more hardware stores could/should default as de facto bike supply shops in areas that couldn't support a full bike shop. Obviously they wouldn't have the full value of a real LBS (you know, with the lack of bikes for sale and the lack of professional mechanics), but I think it'd be a good way to put bike stuff (tube, lube, chain cleaner, etc) in communities without bike shops. Of course, I'm not totally sure how many underserved communities are served by hardware stores, either.

Passed an SUV with a ROMNEY sticker by Lincoln Park. So you're that Republican in DC, I thought.

For much of the ride, I was mostly overwhelmed with feelings of agape. I can't say I've ever felt that while driving. Every tried to smile at each bicyclist I passed. I don't know if they were unsettled by my unrestrained happiness. Probably. On 11th Street, I even saw Ted, riding his Bikeshare in the opposite direction and I shouted a friendly hello. Honestly, DC isn't a big town, but I'm hardly a social person (there are hermits who get out more than I do) and yet, I'm constantly seeing people I know riding their bikes to and fro (this is not a Chocolate City reference).  Bicycles can simultaneously "extend the walk" and shrink the city. It's fantastic.

Crosstown and R and I was tripled-shoaled, but I didn't care since I soon passed two of the three and soon turned. I glanced at the new construction on 14th street and imagined the building five stories taller and how if they were all like that, no one would even notice. Sort of like how a 6'6'' basketball player is "short" only if he's playing power forward or center. It's all relative. I firmly believe that there would be no negative consequences if all of DC's nine story buildings sprouted three more stories. I mean, aside from the fact that our buildings are spontaneously sprouting, indicating their possible genetic manipulation by a mad scientist who spliced their i-beams with mushroom DNA.

The backend of the ride was peachy. Same good feelings about bicyclists, fewer bicyclists whom to creep out with my off-kilter smile.

At work, I found this. It's a bike repair stand.

I stumbled upon it totally accidentally. I'm glad to know that I now have the ability to "repair" my bike next to the Provost's office. I'm sure he'll be able to help me when I start haplessly wrenching stuff. It's at least a place to inflate the tires. There should be more bike repair stands. Maybe where there used to be phone booths.

At the end of the day (you're another day older?), it was an easy ride home on the normal route, made complicated by a flashing red light at the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin. No fewer than 8 lanes of traffic meet here and I was just a guy on a bike, so my position was somewhat precarious. My strategy at inoperable traffic lights is almost alway the same. Find a car, and be it's buddy. Get right next to it and go when it goes. Trick is to never act like a pedestrian. No one will yield. I might still be there if I waited for a driver to yield. I'd probably have a long gray beard and maybe a cane by the time I crossed the street. Where the cane came from, I couldn't tell you. Maybe I fashioned it from my bike or maybe I found a stick and whittled the cane used my bike multitool. I actually made it through the intersection pretty quickly and avoided much of the scorn and honking of frustrated drivers who were scorned and honked at by other frustrated drivers. I don't know if there's a technical term for this, but any system that can't handle a minor, tiny disruption without totally breaking down, doesn't seem like a reliable system.

Where Q meets Mass, I encountered a driver insisting that the NO TURN ON RED sign did not apply to him. I helpfully pointed out the sign. I didn't want him to get a ticket. Or crush me with his giant car. But mostly the ticket. His car had Georgia plates in the back and an Ontario plate in the front. Perhaps this was the cause of his confusion.

I've heard that drivers hate it when "bikers" weave in and out of traffic. Well, I wouldn't do so much weaving if they just stopped blocking intersections and bike lanes. I promise. I just don't feel especially compelled to act as if I'm transporting myself in a thousand cubic foot vehicle when I'm not. You chose power steering. I chose being able to go.

At 11th and Rhode Island, I passed a woman on a bike who talked into her cell phone about Dwight Howard. At 11th and Massachusetts, I watched a driver run two red lights, well after they turned red, after almost being right hooked himself by a van turning from the center lane. At 11th and L, I saw a woman in a car curse out a bus driver who stopped her bus's turn to allow an old lady to safely cross the street. At 11th and K, I pulled around in front of that bus. At 11th and New York, I blocked the crosswalk for a moment and I am sorry about that. At 11th and H, I decided that I would take the lane, but then soon abandoned it (around 11th and G) to get around some right turning cars. And 11th and F and 11th and E, there was a tete-a-tete with a taxi twice and I also allowed the driver of a black BMW to pull out of a parking garage in front of me as I waited for the light to change. At 11th and Pennsylvania, I turned left with the realization that all of the drivers I had seen looked fierce and miserable and I wonder if we shouldn't be paternalistic and "war on car"-sy and take away their keys for a while for their own health and well-being. I'm sure this thought makes me smug and self-righteous. At least I'm notworking my way towards an aneurysm from commute-related stress.

Not quite.

Leaning Bollard of Pisa

At the start of East Capitol, I saw none of than guest-poster Marc on mile 18 of his commute home from Northern Virginia. We rode along together and chatted and it was extraordinarily pleasant and I'll probably see him again at Friday Coffee Club tomorrow.

I rode down Mass on the other side of the park before realizing that I wanted to stop for beer on the way home and I turned north on 15th, crossed Independence and A and stopped on East Capitol at my local corner store. Therein I saw this guy with this backpack (allegedly from his paratrooper grandfather of World War II-World War II vintage):

And I saw these chips:

But when will they make catsup chips?

All in all, an exciting trip to the corner store. I biked home ample beer and I'm looking forward to one more day of commuting before a weekend in which I might ride to the suburbs in search of breakfast burritos.

Ride Home 7/18: Sloe Gin

What is the air speed velocity of an unladen sparrow? That's a famous question from a movie. The Birds, I think, which I believe was one of those Pixar movies of the early aughts. Unless you're telling me that Tippi Heddren is not digitally animated. Anyway, the answer to the that question is "assuredly faster than me on a CaBi trying to race a rainstorm."

I continually make poor decisions. I'm also not especially prudent. Both of these things are even further amplified when it comes to my bike commute. 100 degree heat? Meh, how hot could it be? I'll just bike. Thunderstorms? More like bike-der storms. (No, that makes no sense. Moving on.) Zombie hordes blocking my way? Could they be worse than your average driver? Anyway, you get the idea. I've never met an adverse condition I haven't been willing to stupidly ignore to bike through, especially if it's Ride Home commute. Some might ask if I do this just to have something to blog about, that I can keep the nine of you captive and interested and thereby continue to feed my ego with your attention. I'm not entirely sure that's the case. I'm pretty sure it's just that when it comes to bike commuting, I've just deluded myself that all other means of travel are onerous, frivolous, expensive or abjectly frustratingly miserable and somehow qualitatively worse than just riding a bike, which is just so darn fun. And for the most part, in most cases, I find this to be true. But today was different, mostly because I wasn't prepared.

I didn't have my own bike, or a jacket, or bike clothes or a hat or a dressage horse, but that last one is neither here nor there (because it's at the Olympics). I also didn't have a waterproof bag of any sort, nor a plastic bag that I could pretend was mostly waterproof. Even as the thunder rolled, I figured that I maybe could still probably make it home and if I got wet, it wouldn't be a big deal. I looked around my office, found a baseball cap (given to me as a going away present when I changed jobs.  That might tell you a little about why I changed jobs) and my office hoodie (everyone should have an office hoodie) and I took off my dress shirt and put on the hoodie and I ran for the Bikeshare while it still wasn't raining. No objective analysis would have indicated that it would have been possible for me to avoid the rain. But there was no time for objective analysis! I had to try to beat the rain!

Still had time to take a terrible self-portrait, mid-run. 

This is not a good look for me

To the Bikeshare, around Ward Circle and down Massachusetts and up the first hill. So far, no rain. Did my usual thing by taking the right travel lane and I was honked at by a lady driving a car with diplomatic plates. Hey lady, this is America and we're allowed to take the lane! Go back to whatever car loving, gas guzzling country you're from. USA! USA!

I shucked jingoism when I noticed the reflection of a lightning strike in the rear window of the cab of a black pickup truck. It looked like the kind of lightning strike you'd see in the drawn picture of a fourth grader portraying some kind of haunted castle.

I took to the sidewalk on the other side of the Observatory and I dodged one tree branch that was dangling precariously (and near vertically) from one of the trees along the path. I think that tree branches are an overlooked danger to bicyclists. If you ride near trees, wear a helmet or bring a small saw. Ideally, both.

Yet another car with diplomatic plates cut across my path at Whitehaven and then there was another CaBi rider who had stopped at Water Street to put his jacket on and I had to shuffle my bike past him and by this point, the rain had started in earnest and I was stuck in it. I revised downward my expectations of getting to Farragut West and decided to settle for the Dupont Circle Metro station, which was just a little farther up the road. I stuck to the sidewalk for a bit, until a fortuitous left-turning driver had managed to stop a bus from driving around him, opening up ample space for me to get back onto the road, which I promptly did. The driver turned, the bus approached, the driver honked at me,  and I ignored him. Once I rounded Sheriden Circle, the rain really, really started and I was worried about the contents of my bag, including my phone, getting wet, perhaps fatally. I think I've killed a phone through rain riding before, though I might not ever admit it.

I didn't get to the light at 20th NW in time and that was the first time that I had stopped since leaving work and that's where the rain really started to pour. Rather than be marginally patient, I used the congestion to make it halfway across the street and then I pushed the bike across the street, docked in front of a bank and then walked over to the Metro entrance. At the bottom of the escalator, crowds waited. It sort of reminded me of the refugees aboard the Battlestar Galactica in the show of the same name.

Here's proof that I took the Metro, just in case there are any sharrows truthers out there.

Trains with carpet. What is this, the Orient Express?

On the Metro, I realized that I was a wet, addled looking dude in a hooded sweatshirt and pulled down baseball cap. I'm glad I didn't get maced.

Walked home. Still managed two bike trips today. Continue to log your rides, so through our generosity, we may subsidize bike infrastructure in LA and Kansas City.

Guest Post: @TwoWheelsDC goes to British Columbia, American Alaska

I didn't think I would, but I did ride today. It was on a Bikeshare from the Metro to work. It was also only like a mile. Highlights included my CaBi's swiveling seat thanks to the adjustable clamp not closing tightly enough around the seat post. Frankly, this is more of a bonus feature than a problem. All bike seats should swivel. It's way more fun and/or poses a degree of difficulty if you're into that sort of thing. With regard to the ride itself, it was boring. It was hot. Still better than waiting for a bus. Bikeshare has the potential to be a real bus slayer, in a metaphorical transportation sense, not a literal "oh my god, that bike just smote a bus with a giant sword" sense. It's raining now, so I'm not totally sure if I'll ride home or take my chances with WMATA. If I ride, I'll write something up. After I wring myself out. Anyway, enough nonsense about me and my commute. (It's not like that's the whole premise of this blog or anything.) Friend of the blog, and previous guest-poster-er, Marc has been gracious enough to share yet more tales and pictures from yet another trip. One million thank yous and one million congratulations on your recent wedding!

Since I know Brian likes to take a break from his demanding gig as DC's 37th most popular bike blogger [Ed. Note: I don't. This is my only outlet for creativity. Now I'm gonna have to go paint a bowl of fruit or something], I thought I contribute some experiences and musings from my recent trip to the great Northwest.  My wife and I just got married a couple of weeks ago, and our honeymoon was an Alaska cruise that began in Vancouver.  Having heard that Vancouver is a wonderful place to be, my wife and I planned to get there a day early and explore.  Even though my wife isn't really into cycling, she sees its value/fun for sightseeing and knows she can indulge me at the same time, so she kills two birds with one stone.

The honeymoon actually included three bike trips, two in Vancouver at each end of our trip, and one in Juneau, Alaska.  I think Vancouver can teach us some valuable lessons about cycling infrastructure, so I figured I'd share my experiences there first.

First off...if you have any desire to leave DC, but do not have the means, do NOT visit Vancouver because you will forever be sad that you cannot move there yesterday.  It is amazing.  I won't get into it here, but it's probably the one truly northern place I could see myself moving to.  Given that it's a relatively hip town and basically an extension of the San Fran/Portland/Seattle cultural corridor, it's pretty progressive in its transportation policies.  Lots of mixed use high rises, good public transportation, noticeable lack of freeways (there's only one, and it just barely runs in the city limits), and of course, bike infrastructure.  I was very impressed with Vancouver's bike infrastructure, not just because of its scale, but a lot of the minor details are well thought out and the system isn't just an afterthought.

Although Vancouver doesn't have bikeshare (coming soon, maybe...mandatory helmet laws may be problematic though) it does have a ton of bike rental shops, so it's very easy to find a bike and go.  My wife and I stayed on the north side of downtown, which is right on Vancouver Harbor.  The downtown area is basically a peninsula, with a huge urban park (Stanley Park) at the tip.  This park is encircled by an MUP, which has separate paths for cyclists and peds.  The path is also supposed to be one way, so at no time do you have bikes or runners coming at you.

I married up, obviously

These should be posted on roads with sharrows, I think

Working up an appetite

Separate tracks for cyclists and peds

Bikes, ocean, mountains...that says it all

Within the city, there's a wide range of infrastructure, from bike lanes, to cycletracks, to green lanes, and they all get lots of use.

Morning rush hour downtown

There are a number of green lanes, but they seem to appear at random

No place is immune, I guess...

How do his arms not fall asleep when he rides?

Although this cycletrack was relatively short, I liked the way they made it separated by the planters

Vancouver has a nice grid pattern, making for looong bike lanes

This bridge has separated bike lanes in both directions, as well as a sidewalk

Removing two traffic lanes doesn't seem to have caused congestion here

I mentioned earlier that Vancouver paid attention to little details with their bike infrastructure...even things as simple as street signs.  If you look closely at the below pic, you'll see that there's a bike symbol on the street sign above the intersection, signifying that there's a bike lane on the cross street.

 

I think the neatest thing I saw were these bike "turn lanes".  They weren't at every intersection, but I saw them in several places where two major bike routes intersected.  I love how they keep turning bikes from interfering with the pedestrian crossings and the curb cuts for handicap access.

Although Vancouver has some actual green lanes (see photos above), the green paint seems to be reserved mostly for when the major bike lanes cross intersections.  I think this is a great way to help minimize right hooks, as it gives drivers a visual cue that takes up more of their line of sight.

I think Vancouver also has some great lessons on development...build it, and people will come.  They have a shitload of shoreline, and what's not parkland has been developed with paths, gardens, marinas, public markets, and the like.  Seriously, I saw very little of the shoreline that did not encourage people to use the space.  I think we're getting there with the SW and SE waterfronts, but it's an investment well worth making

This is a typical scene from just about anywhere along the downtown shoreline.

Does anyone know what the the "ideal" bike rack is, according to LAB or WABA or whoever?  I gotta say, I think these are pretty damn close.  They fit tons of bikes and make it very easy to lock the frame and front wheel.  These seem to be the standard rack Vancouver uses...I don't remember seeing a lot of the inverted U racks.

Highlighting the development issue, one of the coolest places in Vancouver is Granville Island.  It's a small island with a bridge running over it, but instead of letting it become the typical underpass, it was turned into a public market/family area/artists enclave/high end shopping district.  You can't see it that well in this photo, but it's the area in the center of the photo.

Covered bike parking at Granville Island public market.

In Vancouver, we boarded our ship and headed off for Alaska.  Instead of paying the cruise ship an exorbitant amount of money for shore excursions, we arranged our own.  We noticed the ship offered a bike ride up to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, and we found out that we could easily rent bikes and ride up their on our own, since the glacier is right outside town.  For the ship excursion, I think it was like $125 a person, and a shuttle took you within about 3 miles of the glacier and they let you ride from there.  We rented bikes for like $40 a person for the whole afternoon and rode 25 miles round trip from Juneau to Mendenhall glacier, squeezing in a stop at a local brewery for free samples.  So yeah, I think our self-made excursion probably was better.

On the ship, our assigned dinner seats were with another early 30s couple who were pretty into biking and outdoors stuff, who had not made any plans for Juneau.  We invited to come along on the bike ride and they were more than happy to join.  The folks at Cycle Alaska were super accommodating and were able to find bikes for our new friends on short notice.  If you ever find yourself in Juneau, stop by and say hi.  They even told us we could lock the bikes up outside the shop if we weren't back by closing time, at no extra charge.  Freaking awesome folks.

I was a little wary of the route from Juneau to Mendenhall, since I didn't picture Alaska as a cyclists paradise.  However, it turns out that the route is all bike laned or MUPd.  Even in the spots where we rode in the road, like making left turns or whatever, the drivers were very patient and no one honked or revved their engine or anything.  There may have been some slightly drunk cycling going on after the brewery stop that may have resulted in some dumb cycling, but even then, the Alaska drivers were super nice.  We also saw way more cyclists than I anticipated...all kinds of folks ranging from roadies to locals running errands.  I think cycling, in addition to appealing to the urban, progressive types, also is the arena of the rugged individualist types you find in places like Alaska...or maybe I'm just full of shit, I don't know.  But I think we'd be wise to remember that there are cyclists on both sides of the aisle, even if it doesn't always seem that way.

Bike lane and sidewalk!

Bike to a glacier...that's Alaska for you

Lots of MUP action

Biking with 30 pounds of camera gear is uh, not easy