L'Enfant today. And what a circus traffic was getting down here...I really need to start leaving at 8 instead of 8:30. I was a little worried about the roads potentially being flooded since it rained pretty much all night, but except for one felled tree and one flooded traffic circle, things were surprisingly fine...on my route. Since then, I have gotten at least 5 Alert DC emails about road closing elsewhere.
Cutting through Observatory Circle to get out to Massachusetts, there was a guy walking his scooter on the sidewalk. Guess he didn't want to wait in the very long line of cars, which was fair--he got to the intersection faster by walking. He was wearing reflector suspenders and a DOT helmet, so I wonder if he was some sort of official or traffic geek or something. I also took the sidewalk down and cut onto the road at Rock Creek Dr.
Sheridan Circle was a bathtub, as it always is after a rainstorm. I was trying to avoid a puddle, and in doing so, allowed a giant black SUV to cut uncomfortably close to me. At Dupont, an elderly gentleman cut across the circle and narrowly avoided a cab driver who ran the light. Said gentleman continued down the sidewalk after Dupont, ringing his bell at pedestrians to get out of his way...this confused me. If you're going to be that territorial, just get on the damn road!
The song of the day was "The Popular Thing" by Jukebox the Ghost (worth a listen!). I caught a few strange looks as I biked by singing it.
A strapping DC-type lad on a Segway passed me while I was stopped at a red light along the bike lane. He's the second Segway commuter I've seen in as many days. And it annoys me more than it should that they're legally allowed on bicycle lanes (ever been caught behind a Segway tour?), but I shouldn't hate. They'd just get mowed over in traffic. Though tell me, someone...what's the appeal? You don't even get to sit down, and it doesn't really count as exercise.
Lots of bikers on Pennsylvania today. I passed a girl on a CaBi with a bad case of skunk tail up the back of her lovely white fleece jacket (it was quite puddle-y out, and the puddles were muddy...that sounds like something out of Dr. Seuss...). I then followed behind a guy with a Brooks saddle and corks in the end of his handlebars. This isn't the first time I've seen this, and I'm not sure if people are just using old wine corks or whether bicycle companies have started manufacturing plugs that purposefully look like wine corks. Either way, it's pretty inventive.
The last exciting moment of the commute happened when a sprinter misjudged my speed, cut the light on Madison Avenue across 7th Street, and I had to swerve to avoid hitting him. It would really be nice if pedestrians/joggers watched before they cut lights or meandered into the road/bike alen. Being on a bicycle shouldn't make me invisible. I may not be a car, but I still have mass and velocity, which means I have momentum, which means that if I hit you, both of us will feel the effects...
Next post will hopefully be about cooking. I might make a peanut butter sandwich or something.
And now back to work.
No comments:
Post a Comment