Needless to say, it lengthened my trip. It was back to the old route and everything seemed normal and boring. Same New Mexico, same Tunlaw, same R street, same 34th. In the past week, there has been no additional bike infrastructure installed. Just in case you were wondering. I know that someday (?) they'll finish the 34th street bike lane and since I'm the only person I know covering that "beat" and I'm not riding that route any more, who knows when we'll all find out. Maybe DDOT will tweet about it?
Lots of bicyclists and lots of joggers out. I've mentally switched to "fall," so seeing joggers attired in their summer wares seemed inappropriate for a reason I can't fully explain. The temperature certainly warranted the summer clothes. It's not cold at all.
I admire the bicyclists who ride on Lee Highway/66 on the other side of the retaining wall from the Custis. I also think they're nuts. I just don't like riding along with traffic that exceeds 45 miles per hour, even in a shoulder. But, to each his own (I've never seen a lady biker do this, but I'm sure some do).
It's far too muggy to ride in long pants. I don't know how people do it.
I rode up to Clarendon and down Irving, across 10th and Pershing and 50 and 2nd and to the paint store on Glebe. After what seemed like hours, the paint was ready and I threw the gallon in the pannier. The shop attendant said "Oh, so you rode your bike here" and offered to put my paint can in a plastic bag. He said he didn't want me to leave a trail of white paint behind me. I said that it wouldn't be a problem- I'd just be painting my own bike lane. He laughed.
I rode back up Irving to 50 and rode along the substandard path along the side of the road. It really needs some help. After Glebe (I didn't ride up Glebe because, as much as I don't mind riding with cars, I really don't like riding with cars that travel at 45 miles per hour), the path turns into sidewalk with telephone poles, signs and various other protrusions every couple of feet. Not cool.
If you have a Combat Wounded license plate, I will forgive you one honk. But only one. Plenty of room for your car to get around me.
After dropping off the paint (I didn't actually paint anything because that would be CRAZY), I rode back down my old morning commute route. Lots more cars in the evening than in a typical morning. A few trucks blocking bike lanes, but that's nothing unusual. Crossed the Lynn intersection of doom and rode the Mount Vernon, which was quite crowded. There's something about people who ride their bikes solely for exercise that makes me suspicious of them. I also think that "they" might be giving "us" a bad name. Speaking of which, I got passed by two roadie types somewhere between the Memorial Bridge and 14th Street and I rode behind them for a while. Each time there was a gentle rise in the terrain, they slowed. They were relatively polite to pedestrians and joggers. I left them at 14th street.
Remember that thing about E-W crossings? Yeah, that. I rode the closed Maine Avenue/Interim Anacostia Riverwalk Trail to 4th and up to I and then down to the New Jersey. I took New Jersey up to E (because I know that it goes under the highway and I didn't know where the next cut-under would be. I'll study my maps in more detail later). E to South Carolina and then to Lincoln Park and then home.
It was a long ride (for a commute) and I'm pretty tired. I guess that's what happens when you don't ride for a while. I'm fairly certain that I forgot a bunch of stuff, but maybe I'll find a way that incorporate tomorrow or whenever I remember. I think tomorrow's ride in should be slower and tomorrow's ride home might involve bikeshare. We'll see.
My favorite route from the 14th St. bridge is to ride on the sidewalk on Basin, then jump on Ohio Dr. (at the crossing where Ohio comes under 395 from East Potomac Park) and ride that to 15th up to Jefferson (which is awesome in the evening) then left on 3rd, right on Constitution, up the hill, right on 1st NE, then left on East Cap. Kinda convoluted but it's the most bike friendly route in my experience. It's also the same route I use when coming back from the CCT, but obviously the approach is different. Another option I sometimes take is to turn right from Ohio onto Maine, then left on 7th to I and then across town to New Jersey, right down to K, left to 5th SE and up from there (it's one way north with a bike lane and turns into 6th when you zig under the freeway).
ReplyDeleteAs far as E-W from the hill, I take East Cap to Const. to Penn, all the way into G-town. Penn west of the White House is usually pretty dead and the only real obstacle is Wash. Circle, but at 6am it's no problem. From there I hit the Custis, but it would put you right back on the route you were taking before the move.