Rides 8/11: scurrilous accusations

The thing about cement mixer trucks- and there are many things about them, but this is the biggest- the thing is it's that they're preposterously large. It's not that they're actually the largest trucks you see- there are larger, volumetrically at least- but there something especially hefty about them that adds an additional layer of menacing bulkiness. Perhaps it's the bulbous back, wherein the cement mixing happens. Maybe it's the implied solidity (or potential eventual solidity) of the contents. They're not the commonest of big trucks either. You'd think there'd be more, given the amount of building that goes on, but there aren't comparatively that many of them within the species of "big trucks you see in the city." Maybe there's a cartel. Or a union. Or some kind of natural scarcity born from the diffusion of Cement Mixing Truck-Eating Giant Robot Dinosaurs. I don't know. But before I talk more about cement mixing trucks, some pictures from M Street:

Oh really? Will there be uncomfortable beach chairs there? Maybe ones I could pedal? 

Close enough. Those bikes belong to SoulCycle, which is newly opened. If you'd like all the exercise of bicycling with none of the going anywhere, there you go. I've never done a spin class, but I imagine it's quite like real-life bicycling. With pedaling and everything. Must be weird when the instructor yells at you to "get off the sidewalk!" or flings open a car door at you, but I guess this is the verisimilitude people desire. Or not. 

About halfway up Wisconsin I was off to the nearly far right in the right lane and I heard a noise, a belching growling guttural engine noise, and it was the engine of an approaching cement mixing truck. So I moved over. But not closer to the curb. I moved to the center of the lane and there I stayed, pedaling my way up the hill as slowly as I did before I moved over. And that was fine. There wasn't enough room in the lane for me- quite small- and the cement truck- quite big- and having realized that, I wanted to leave no doubt of this realizationto the driver of the cement truck behind me. I wasn't going to make the mistake pf letting him make the mistake of thinking that it'd be ok to pass. Because it wouldn't have been ok. And that's ok. 

But is it ok that me on a bicycle and a guy driving a cement truck are really supposed to share the same space on the same road? That doesn't seem like it should be ok. "But the cement mixing trucks need roads! How are they supposed to get to work?" How am I supposed to get to mine? It's a funny thing to be declared a vehicle. 

On the way home, I saw the narrowed cycletrack on L: 

The posts used to be in the gaps between the chevrons, but they're a foot closer to the curb. Will this prevent a driver from parking in the cycletrack? I think so. Well, maybe. I mean, at least in those parts (not necessarily in the "mixing zones" [cement mixing zones?]). Ok, I hope so. Will it stop a determined driver? They're just plastic sticks. They're not magic or anything. Nevertheless, I hope the pilot program leads to measurable improvements. 

Because #journalism, I went to check out the bike valet use at the One Direction concert at Nationals Park. It looked like this: 

This was still a few hours before the concert, so maybe more people (more than no one?) ended up using it. A few things: 

1. Rain was forecasted 

2. None of the info about the transportation options for getting to the concert mentioned the bike valet. Nor did the automated message at the One Direction concert line I called mention it. I had to email the stadium to verify it's being open. 

Nevertheless, and caveats aside, I was pretty disappointed. The bike valet is packed for baseball games. Obviously not everyone was coming from biking distance, but nobody? Unchaperoned tweens and teens trusted enough to attend a concert by themselves, but our streets (or our mindset about their travel) aren't set up to have them bike there? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? Not much really, but who doesn't love hand-wringing and overly broad and sweeping conclusions based on anecdotal evidence meant to fit into preconceived ideological conclusions? Maybe Liam? You know, like how every boy band has a "cute one" and a "bad boy" and one "who's rigorous about methodologically sound empiricism." 

L Street to 11th threw done wrongish way riding and up and over Potomac to Kebtucky to the grocery store. This was outside: 

Do I call 311, 911 or a children's book author? 

Rides 8/5, 8/6 and 8/7: Forms

When I don't write daily, I tend to forget the details, salient and otherwise, of the things that happen on my bike commutes. After awhile, they all tend to blend together. I can tell you a few things that didn't happen. It didn't rain, for example. I didn't pick up any flat tires. I didn't have to fend off an army of giant space bugs, sent on a mission from their home planet Xanfor VII to invade the Earth and conquer humanity. I'd say that of all the things that didn't happen, that last one was my favorite.

I've been riding along the Mall in the morning and through the city at night. I've begged off the park for the past few mornings. Foliage is nice, but we're not exactly the best of friends these days. Due to a gardening mishap (namely, gardening itself), I have the current misfortune of a poison ivy rash. It hasn't affected my bike commuting, but it has made me want to spend less time around greenery. The twitter hashtag #notallivy trends in my timeline.

I remained impressed with the ever-increasing number of bicyclists on the road, even in August when a lot of DC clears out. With fewer cars, it's kind of like being a kid in a candy store. DC should aspire to having August-level car traffic all year round. That would be a laudable goal. I would laud that.

For the third week in a row, the Washington City Paper has published my Gear Prudence column, in which I try to offer serious advice in a serious way about serious bicycling issues. It's all very serious. The week I wrote about fraught interactions at intersections and also about the clothes you might want to wear or not wear while cycling. I'm glad that someone asked about cycle attire because I find issues of self-presentation to be super-fascinating. In the end, I told the questioner to wear whatever he wants, but now I'm kinda having second thoughts about it. It's not very good advice. Most people dress terribly. So, my new advice would be to wear what other people want you to wear. Pack a lot of changes of clothes- it's likely that opinions will vary along your route. Costumes changes aren't easy, but you're the one who chose to ride a bicycle and you should really try to conform to expectations of others as much as possible.

Now, as for the issue of wearing bike clothes while biking to a date and then changing when you get there, I see some potential pitfalls. Some pitfalls:

1. Changing and freshening up in the restaurant bathroom might be inconvenient. And there are barely any phone booths anymore, so it's not like you can Superman it, even if you wanted to. And then you'll have your bike clothes in a bag and what if they accidentally spill out of your bag at some point. "Nice chamois" your date might say. Or he/she might just look horrified.

2. What if your date beats you to wherever you're meeting and he/she sees you lycra-clad? Are you prepared for that? Will that just lead to an awkward conversation about your weird bikey lifestyle?

3. If you need to flee your date for some reason (I don't really know what reason would precipitate this, but let's assume this happens), would you be so out of habit in riding in regular people clothes that you can't make a quick getaway? If you have to change back into your bikey clothes, won't that slow you down?

4. I don't really have a 4. Honestly, 1 through 3 aren't that great either, so I might just retreat back to my original answer of "wear what you want." But maybe ride to your date in your date clothes? That doesn't seem to onerous, right? And maybe slightly less complicated? 

Anyway. No commute to work today, but I did ride to coffee and then from coffee to a different coffee shop from which now I write. Next up, I think coffee maybe. Oh, also between coffee shops, I rode to a different coffee shop (in an alley), but that place HAD NO BIKE PARKING and so I didn't stay there. Get bike parking, coffee shop in the alley! This isn't very complicated.

Rides 8/4: Yams in a can

When does your new route become your normal route? Is it 3 rides? A week? A month? Does a habit become a habit retroactively from the time you started it and not much later on, when you finally realize that it's what you've been consistently doing for the recent, but not just immediate, past? These are the kinds of things you can think about when you ride down the National Mall and up the Rock Creek Trail. I guess the mind can wander when you're not overly consumed by needing to avoid cars and their drivers. Lots of runners though. And cyclists today too. More than yesterday and Friday, and I guess that makes sense since summer weekends in DC have a way of stretching out longer than streetcar estimated delivery schedules. (zing) 

Washington Harbour, as seen from next to the Kennedy Center, looks like what someone from the 80s thought 2014 would look like. I always think "what a fancy spaceport!" It is not a fancy spaceport. It's barely a fancy seaport. 

I didn't get off the trail by Calvert and crossed the Parkway and then rode past the zoo on a part of the trail I'm not sure I've ever taken. In one of the zoo parking lots, a Coca Cola delivery van was being unloaded. Don't the pandas know it's bad for their teeth? I can't tell you the last time I went to the National Zoo, but I can tell you that I saw a sign that indicated you can't bike through there. Personally, I think that's a huge missed opportunity because if it's anything the zoo needs more of, it's MAMILS. 

There's a street called Porter and it's one of the few that leaves the park up and to the west. The hill discourages. I made it to Connecticut Avenue and was granted a rest to catch my breath at a red light. Like many of the other state avenues, CT through and around Cleveland Park could be turned into a less hostile street. But cars. 

I followed Porter up the next batch of hills to Wisconsin and then over to work via Nebraska. There was one superbiker I saw and one guy in street clothes on a Surly LHT who was tall and thin and might have said "yee haw" and he passed me. 

Ride home was nothing jazzy. Lots of cyclists on L. A bunch more on 15th, including a little kid with a baseball bat in his backpack. Regarding bike-borne athletic equipment, yoga mats are nearly ubiquitous, then tennis rackets, and I've seen at least two guys biking with golf bags full of clubs, a woman yesterday with a badminton racket and two shuttlecocks, and now, one kid with a baseball bat. Never seen anyone with a hockey stick or a jai alai cesta. Not yet at least. 

A bit screwy down by the White House and along Pennsylvania Avenue on account of the African Leaders Summit. The attitude of the state and local security apparatus towards cyclists can be described as " not overtly hostile" when times are good, but whenever there's a pretense- and an gathering of 50 world leaders is a pretty good one- the situation mostly breaks down and what were bike lanes return once more to their natural role as auxiliary SUV parking lanes. It's not like there's anywhere else, other than 6 other lanes, they can park. 

Rides 8/4: Summit

The National Mall is a big expanse of grass, dotted by one obelisk. It's very bike-friendly in the morning, when the museums that flank it aren't open and before the tourists line up to ride in elevators to the top of obelisk or circle the sunken pool surrounded by stately altarless baldacchinos or ascend the steps to a seated Lincoln. It makes for a nice ride and I'm foolish for only doing it so infrequently, though it's now been two in a row. Here's the castle where Old Man Smithson used to live:

Everyone knows that DC was built atop a swamp, but few people know that Old Man Smithson was the one who drained that swamp and was declared the First Margrave of Columbia and given the land upon which to build this castle. Before there was a reflecting pool there was a reflecting moat, but George Washington made Old Man Smithson fill it in because the Founding Father did not believe that moats were in keeping with the Great American Experiment in Democracy and also because the reflecting moat would unwittingly lead the president's cows to dive into it, having been lured by equally inquisitive cows staring back up at them. In an attempt to win back the favor of George Washington, and perhaps someday restore his coveted moat, Old Man Smithson set about gathering precious artifacts from around the world, but each successive prize was never good enough for George Washington. When Smithson died, George Washington was like "what do I do with all this crap?" and, also because Martha had given him a labelmaker for Christmas, he decided to build a bunch of museums to house it.

Too tall, not enough parking

Once more, I retreated into the woods and rode through the park on a winding path, a creek and a cemetery on one side, the effluvium of car traffic on the other. There were few people on the path, but probably more cyclists than runners. It's another place that morning suits. I'd take it home in the evening, but it's a little indirect and I think the narrow path might lose some its charm when more peopled. And in the evening, even if I wanted to ride in the road (which I don't), the highway through the park changes direction and all of the drivers rush outward, escaping the teeming city and its horrid urbanity through the shaded wood that bisects it. 

Afternoon came and that meant leaving work and seeing a bike tied to a lamp and that bike advertised grass fed beef, as bikes sometimes do. 

If this is viral marketing, do I have hoof-and-mouth disease now? I don't know if locked bikes make for effective billboards, though I did stop to take this picture, then tweeted about it, and have now included it in a blog post, so maybe? 

Down Massachusetts and 21st Street and to L, where I followed other cyclists in the cycletrack to 15th where I followed other cyclists in another cycletrack and then to Penn where I followed other cyclists in another cycletrack. I try to be understanding about pedestrians blocking the the poorly designed cycletrack, which runs through what should be the pedestrian refuge in the middle of the block, and I'm generally forgiving because almost all visual cues seem to suggest that that's exactly where you should stand. But standing there and blocking the bike lane with your bike? Like, of all the kinds of people who should maybe be cognizant that they're standing and blocking the bike lane, maybe a bike commuter (this was not a bike tourist type) would be the one kind of person who I hope would have the situational awareness to not do this. And yet, twice in 6 blocks. We really ought to modify the design. And sooner rather than later.

Rode to the top of Capitol Hill and it was motorcade o'clock. We were all stopped and we waited as seven to ten SUVs drove from the Capitol to the Russell building across the street. 

I'm rarely competitive with other cyclists, but I will try to prevent you from passing me on the right. I might even succeed. 

Hyper-local neighborhood gripe: I don't very much care for the intersection of 14th SE/15th SE/Independence/South Carolina/Massachusetts. It's a lot of roads crossing and it's a lot of pavement. For what it's worth, maybe Independence should be a two-way street. Whether this would uncomplicate things or complicate them in a way that's more people-friendly is up for debate. I mention this because I couldn't make my usual left turn onto A because the driver closest to me was on her phone and I didn't feel like chancing it. There should really be a law! Oh, never mind. Maybe if we all just respected each other. Or maybe not. 

Kidical Mass Arlington to ride to County Fair, eat funnel cake

They'd like you to join them. Bring a kid. And a bike. And a willingness to see agricultural competitions. If you have sufficient space in the bakfiets, maybe you can buy and bring home Arlington's Largest Eggplant. "Sorry, Timmy. You're gonna have to walk. Mommy needs the front for this giant eggplant" you'll say, ensuring his lifelong distrust of eggplants. Anyway, seems like a fun thing to do (the fair, not making Timmy walk) and if you're inclined to bring your kids to the fair and bring them by bike, then join the Kidical Mass caravan. 

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One of the great things about living in this little urban-village-county that we call Arlington is that it has its own County Fair, complete with rides, funnel cakes, and agricultural competitions. And biking really is the best way to get there. So come out to ride the rides and enjoy the Fair with us!

When: Saturday, August 9, 10:00am (roll out 10:15am - come early to play!)

Meet: Monroe Park, S Monroe St & 14th St S, Arlington
Parking: On surrounding neighborhood streets
End: Arlington County Fair, Thomas Jefferson Community Center, S Jackson St & 2nd St S; an easy 1.2 mile ride back to the start.

Route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5270929

We start off at Monroe Park, one of Arlington's many cute neighborhood parks. We'll roll around the leafy neighborhood streets of Douglas Park, Alcova Heights, and Arlington Heights, including enjoying Arlington's first bike boulevards (9th St S and 12th St S), which parallel Columbia Pike.