Found Connection

[jrenaut]

I left a little later than usual yesterday and pulled up to the light at 15th and Mass NW as one of twelve cyclists. That doesn’t include the three clowns who ran the red light. It was amazing to see so many people in the bike lane.

[Dickie]

Dear bird… I thank you for gracing me with good luck as you crapped on me. Your timing and aim was impeccable, narrowly avoiding my helmet in lieu of the big vents, and missing the old ratty arm warmers to strategically hit the white sleeves of my new Rapha jersey… your ability to pause so both my handlebars and rear drop-out were sufficiently doused was a thing of beauty. I especially liked how you performed the magic bullet trick; hitting my back, shoulder, chest, thigh, and eventually my wrist…. you sir (or madam) are an artist.

[vvill]

@Dickie 116538 wrote:

Dear bird… I thank you for gracing me with good luck as you crapped on me. Your timing and aim was impeccable, narrowly avoiding my helmet in lieu of the big vents, and missing the old ratty arm warmers to strategically hit the white sleeves of my new Rapha jersey… your ability to pause so both my handlebars and rear drop-out were sufficiently doused was a thing of beauty. I especially liked how you performed the magic bullet trick; hitting my back, shoulder, chest, thigh, and eventually my wrist…. you sir (or madam) are an artist.

And the actual crap was celeste coloured, correct?

[saustin]

To the gentleman who was trimming the hedges this morning on the pedestrian sidewalk of the TR bridge (rte. 66) I want to say thank you. No more getting slapped in the face by sticks while passing someone coming from the opposite direction. Kudos to you keeper of the bridge.

[PotomacCyclist]

Sometimes we fall under the perception that everyone in the DC area is an egotistical, driven, rude, obnoxious jerk who just wants everyone else to get out of his or her way. No doubt there are a lot of people like that. I’ve met many myself (and on some days, I might be a little grumpy myself).

But as I’ve been mapping bike racks for the RackSpotter website, I’ve found that many people have offered to help me out. Not in mapping the bike racks. I don’t think anyone knows what I’m doing. Because I’m riding on CaBi most of the time and I’m looking at my smartphone, then looking at the street signs and going back to the phone over and over again, people seem to think that I’m a tourist who is lost, or someone who is looking for the nearest bike station. This has started to happen frequently, especially as I start getting away from the central downtown areas around Farragut Square and McPherson Square.

I guess all the “busy people” are located in downtown DC, and perhaps some of the hard-charging egomaniacs. On less hectic streets, though still in central DC, people have been offering to help me locate a bike station or find my way around.

****

(There was one case where I happened to take a photo of a charity food truck. It was labeled “Crisis Assistance” or something like that. I hadn’t heard about any flooding or other emergency situations in DC so I wondered what was going on. It seems that the truck delivers food to those in need on a regular basis, but I only learned that after the fact. No judgment here. I’m just describing the facts.

As I took a picture of the bike rack with the truck in the background, one guy walked up to me and seemed to be looking over my shoulder. I didn’t think much of it, but when I started entering the bike rack onto the RackSpotter site, that guy started lecturing me about taking pictures of homeless people. Huh? When I took a picture of the truck, there was no one standing in front of it at the moment, so I hadn’t even included any of those receiving the food in the picture. But this guy saw the truck in the photo and took offense. I explained that I was taking a picture of the bike rack and said that I was mapping the bike rack, which was the truth. He continued to get upset, but what else could I say? I repeated my statement. His female friend told him to stop bothering other people. Eventually he walked off a few feet away. I continued to enter the RackSpotter info. As I rode off slowly, I couldn’t resist looking his way again, though I wasn’t trying to be threatening. Just a little miffed about someone getting into my business. I didn’t say anything though. I wasn’t worried about anything physical. Although I’m not a huge guy, I’m in pretty good shape, and this guy was very skinny and young-looking, maybe in his early 20s but I couldn’t really tell. I knew he wasn’t a bodybuilder, at the very least. Anyway, that was my anti-friendly DC experience.

I suppose that guy is sensitive about his situation. I can respect that. I’m not going to mock someone for being down on their luck. I know what that’s like. At the same time, I don’t like being challenged for doing something innocuous. Taking a picture of a bike rack and the side of a truck on a public street is not an offense. Nor is it offensive, threatening or degrading to anyone.)

[jrenaut]

Coming home from Reston the other day, I got a flat. I had all the tools I needed plus a spare tube, and I’ve changed flats before. I didn’t need any help. But one cyclist who passed me asked, “Do you have everything you need?”. This is a wonderful thing to ask. It doesn’t imply that you can’t change a flat. It allows you to retain all your street cred (maybe this is your fourth flat of the day and you’ve exhausted your patch kit) but still gives you the opportunity to get help from a fellow cyclist.

[Supermau]

@jrenaut 117218 wrote:

Coming home from Reston the other day, I got a flat. I had all the tools I needed plus a spare tube, and I’ve changed flats before. I didn’t need any help. But one cyclist who passed me asked, “Do you have everything you need?”. This is a wonderful thing to ask. It doesn’t imply that you can’t change a flat. It allows you to retain all your street cred (maybe this is your fourth flat of the day and you’ve exhausted your patch kit) but still gives you the opportunity to get help from a fellow cyclist.

I said those very words to a guy with a flat under the bridges near Gravelly Point a few days back. Don’t know if that was you but I always try to help when I can.

[jrenaut]

@Supermau 117225 wrote:

I said those very words to a guy with a flat under the bridges near Gravelly Point a few days back. Don’t know if that was you but I always try to help when I can.

Not me, I was out on the W&OD in Vienna-ish, but I imagine that guy appreciated it too.

[Terpfan]

@PotomacCyclist 117217 wrote:

Sometimes we fall under the perception that everyone in the DC area is an egotistical, driven, rude, obnoxious jerk who just wants everyone else to get out of his or her way. No doubt there are a lot of people like that. I’ve met many myself (and on some days, I might be a little grumpy myself).

But as I’ve been mapping bike racks for the RackSpotter website, I’ve found that many people have offered to help me out. Not in mapping the bike racks. I don’t think anyone knows what I’m doing. Because I’m riding on CaBi most of the time and I’m looking at my smartphone, then looking at the street signs and going back to the phone over and over again, people seem to think that I’m a tourist who is lost, or someone who is looking for the nearest bike station. This has started to happen frequently, especially as I start getting away from the central downtown areas around Farragut Square and McPherson Square.

I guess all the “busy people” are located in downtown DC, and perhaps some of the hard-charging egomaniacs. On less hectic streets, though still in central DC, people have been offering to help me locate a bike station or find my way around.

****

(There was one case where I happened to take a photo of a charity food truck. It was labeled “Crisis Assistance” or something like that. I hadn’t heard about any flooding or other emergency situations in DC so I wondered what was going on. It seems that the truck delivers food to those in need on a regular basis, but I only learned that after the fact. No judgment here. I’m just describing the facts.

As I took a picture of the bike rack with the truck in the background, one guy walked up to me and seemed to be looking over my shoulder. I didn’t think much of it, but when I started entering the bike rack onto the RackSpotter site, that guy started lecturing me about taking pictures of homeless people. Huh? When I took a picture of the truck, there was no one standing in front of it at the moment, so I hadn’t even included any of those receiving the food in the picture. But this guy saw the truck in the photo and took offense. I explained that I was taking a picture of the bike rack and said that I was mapping the bike rack, which was the truth. He continued to get upset, but what else could I say? I repeated my statement. His female friend told him to stop bothering other people. Eventually he walked off a few feet away. I continued to enter the RackSpotter info. As I rode off slowly, I couldn’t resist looking his way again, though I wasn’t trying to be threatening. Just a little miffed about someone getting into my business. I didn’t say anything though. I wasn’t worried about anything physical. Although I’m not a huge guy, I’m in pretty good shape, and this guy was very skinny and young-looking, maybe in his early 20s but I couldn’t really tell. I knew he wasn’t a bodybuilder, at the very least. Anyway, that was my anti-friendly DC experience.

I suppose that guy is sensitive about his situation. I can respect that. I’m not going to mock someone for being down on their luck. I know what that’s like. At the same time, I don’t like being challenged for doing something innocuous. Taking a picture of a bike rack and the side of a truck on a public street is not an offense. Nor is it offensive, threatening or degrading to anyone.)

You’re polite. I would have told him to mind his own bleeping business and I wouldn’t have felt bad given I know that I wouldn’t do that in terms of whatever perceieved injustice they proclaim.

[PotomacCyclist]

I try to think of the motivation of the other person, although I won’t forget my own position. I think of a sliding scale. On one end, I can understand what’s going on and I might let it slide. (The most obvious example is a little kid. I’m not going to get too upset about a 2-year-old doing something, as long as it isn’t too extreme.) If it’s someone who should know better and is acting out of malice and sadistic delight, then it’s something else.

I was more than a little irritated, but I figured that the guy felt as if he were in a corner. In his misguided way, he was also looking out for other people. That tends to make me look at the situation a little differently.

I wasn’t analyzing all this at the time, but it’s based on all the various interactions with people over the years. That was practice for figuring out why someone is doing something and where that action lies on the spectrum of acceptability (to me).

I also had a smartphone in my hand and I didn’t want to get that damaged. Even though the guy wasn’t that large, it would only take one slap to knock the phone out of my hand and onto the ground. That would get me really upset, even though I dropped my phone a few times on my own over the weekend, with no apparent damage. (I dropped it on carpet and on concrete and nothing broke. That makes me wonder how people get cracked screens. It’s just the phone. No special cover or case. It’s the Samsung Galaxy S5, which is also water-resistant. Very awesome for carrying it and using it in the rain. I’ve even washed the phone off under a faucet a few times, although now I just wipe it down with water, instead of putting it under the tap. Just in case. It is designed to survive brief submersion, in a sink or bowl of water. Anyway… )

I also wanted to get going with the RackSpotting. I’ve gotten more efficient with the mapping process, but there are a lot of bike racks out there and I didn’t want to spend time bickering with some guy on the street.

[komorebi]

To the gentleman who warned me, “Ducks ahead” as our paths crossed on the MVT, just north of Gravelly Point — thank you! Both the warning and the sight of the ducks happily splashing around in their puddle made me smile.

[Emm]

@komorebi 117279 wrote:

To the gentleman who warned me, “Ducks ahead” as our paths crossed on the MVT, just north of Gravelly Point — thank you! Both the warning and the sight of the ducks happily splashing around in their puddle made me smile.

Much better than the warning I gave someone on the W&OD trail this past weekend…”Copperhead on the trail!”. He was not smiling when he heard me .

Could have been a look-a-like snake, but as far as I’m concerned any brown/copper colored patterned snake on the trail should be treated like a copperhead unless it’s obviously something else.

[rcannon100]

Now we need an award for Outstanding Excellence.

I’m in Del Ray. Ya know, BFC Del Ray. The place with the bike racks and Velocity and sharrows and everything. It’s a typical night in the ‘hood. New coffee house is opening with the sheriff cutting the ribbon. Every joint has a table outside selling snake oil. Women next to me at the koffee house sitting next to Dylan are talking Karma.

Sun is setting and I need to get home if I am going to get up and go to FCCII. I head down the sharrows on Mt Vernon, looking at all the grovey people. Get buzzed by a white pick up truck… Maryland plates…. which successfully manages to get half a block in front of me to a red light. Oh I am so not in a good mood. So I easily pull in front of the white truck and take the lane on the sharrows, waiting for the light. Light goes green. I gleefully peddle along looking at the grovey people. Maryland truck is pissed. Finally he goes full into the left lane and guns it…. half a block to the next red light.

“Dude, you know that was two illegal passes in just a few blocks?”

“Screams and Shouts something that amounts to ‘get on the sidewalk.'”

“Dude, I am gonna half to report you for aggressive driving.” I drop behind him and take a picture of his plates.

Light goes green and Mr. Maryland guns it down a 25 mph

Then it happens. Oh merde. Just leave me alone. I look up and low and behold, another white pick up truck is coming at me from the opposite direction (with Virginia plates). I guy whose name was probably “billy bob” sticks his head out the window.

“Did you get his plates??”

I smile. “Yeah.”

“Good!“

MUCH LOVE!

[consularrider]

The only thing better would have been if the second pickup had a bubble gum machine on the cab’s roof.

[rcannon100]

Blasting down Mary Carlin Woods at Bluemont (aka Bluemont Jct dirt trail), I was brutally attacked by a puppy labrador. It lept up on my bike and drooled all over my chain, turning it into insta rust. “Dude, isnt your dog….” and you could see the owner tense up as if I was going to scold him “…suppose to be like all wet.” (labradors + water = happy labrador). He smiled. “Yeah, actually I am working on getting this guy home so I can go swimming.”

Damn labradors

[Author]

Posts