My Morning Commute

[huskerdont]

@Tania 181561 wrote:

G street is by far the worst part of my commute. I frequently just take the damn lane.

Often you have to since the bike lane is choc-ful-o’nuts.

Sometimes I prefer F Street, which doesn’t have a bike lane. Especially prefer it in the afternoon. But then I end up in the left lane b/c cars are double-parked in the right lane, and motorists behind me get annoyed and start the honking and swerving and such. Give a motorist any opportunity whatsoever to ruin something, they’ll do it.

[komorebi]

@Brendan von Buckingham 181562 wrote:

Maybe I put too much acid on my cheerios this morning, but did anyone else see an Orthodox priest jazzercising with a Roman cross in the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes at 9th Street?

It’s not just you. I saw him there last Friday, and I’ve occasionally seen him further east, around Penn and 4th. Does anyone know his story?

[Emm]

This morning while crossing E. Basin to get over to Maine Ave I had a good encounter with a DC Circulator driver. I signaled to turn right while biking up to the crosswalk. At this point the bus driver began slowing, and then got into the middle of both lanes and stopped at the crosswalk. The driver not only noticed my signal in advance of me getting to the crosswalk and reacted to it by stopping, he also was kind enough to know that seeing around him was difficult, so he blocked traffic until I crossed. This might be the best encounter with a bus I’ve ever had.

To be honest at that intersection I find DC Ciculator buses are sometimes the ONLY drivers who stop for me. They’re not perfect, but at least 2/3rds of them are good which is significantly better than other drivers and area bus systems…

[Zack]

@Emm 181625 wrote:

This morning while crossing E. Basin to get over to Maine Ave I had a good encounter with a DC Circulator driver. I signaled to turn right while biking up to the crosswalk. At this point the bus driver began slowing, and then got into the middle of both lanes and stopped at the crosswalk. The driver not only noticed my signal in advance of me getting to the crosswalk and reacted to it by stopping, he also was kind enough to know that seeing around him was difficult, so he blocked traffic until I crossed. This might be the best encounter with a bus I’ve ever had.

To be honest at that intersection I find DC Ciculator buses are sometimes the ONLY drivers who stop for me. They’re not perfect, but at least 2/3rds of them are good which is significantly better than other drivers and area bus systems…

Yeah, I have noticed the same thing, they are pretty good at that! Meanwhile, WMATA …

[consularrider]

@Zack 181700 wrote:

Yeah, I have noticed the same thing, they are pretty good at that! Meanwhile, WMATA …

APS school bus left crossed me this morning at 4 Mile Run Dr and George Mason. At 8:40 am I was proceeding west straight through the intersection on green behind a line of cars and the bus driver just went ahead made her left turn after the last car cleared forcing me to grab my brakes and stop a couple feet short of the bus. WTF! Too bad I didn’t get the bus number to report it.

[dasgeh]

@consularrider 181704 wrote:

APS school bus left crossed me this morning at 4 Mile Run Dr and George Mason. At 8:40 am I was proceeding west straight through the intersection on green behind a line of cars and the bus driver just went ahead made her left turn after the last car cleared forcing me to grab my brakes and stop a couple feet short of the bus. WTF! Too bad I didn’t get the bus number to report it.

If you have the time and date, you can still report it. It’s likely they can figure out which bus went through then (they have GPS and routing data, and cameras on the buses). At the very least, they will remind all drivers to be careful. transportation@apsva.us

[EasyRider]

Belated post … my Wednesday morning commute was among the better ones in recent memory. The night before, I lost my wedding band in the grass just south of the intersection of doom. My chain had fallen off and after putting it back on, I used fallen leaves to wipe the grease off my hands. Three miles later I realized that in so doing, I had pulled the ring off my finger and dropped it in the grass. I turned around and after 45 minutes of searching with a headlight in the dark, I gave up. The next morning I rented a metal detector and found it within 15 minutes!

[DrP]

Over the weekend I used my car. I drove along roads with all those election signs that have sprouted like weeds. (Note to those folks – the more signs I see from your candidate, the less likely I am to vote for the candidate since clearly the candidate likes polluting)

I enjoyed my commute along the trails where I did not have to look at all that “advertising.” Even in the rain.

[rcannon100]

Morning forecast: 42F
Afterwork forecast: 65F

[Tania]

Happy to see the temp bike lane shift (due to construction) they’ve made on G between 14 and 13th NW. G street still sucks, but they’re trying so points for effort.

[huskerdont]

@Tania 182702 wrote:

Happy to see the temp bike lane shift (due to construction) they’ve made on G between 14 and 13th NW. G street still sucks, but they’re trying so points for effort.

I thought I’d be one of the first to use it, but then a car pulled into it in front of me so I was in the road instead. But yeah, I was happy to see mode separation here finally.

[Tania]

Be interesting to see if the Ocean Prime valet attendants honor the temp no parking signs.

[DrP]

Just so there is no mistaking that at least some e-bike riders think they are riding motorcycles, I was passed by someone on an e-bike today with a jacket that clearly read “DUCATI” on the back.

[cvcalhoun]

@DrP 182940 wrote:

Just so there is no mistaking that at least some e-bike riders think they are riding motorcycles, I was passed by someone on an e-bike today with a jacket that clearly read “DUCATI” on the back.

Better the ones who think they are riding motorcycles when they are actually riding bicycles than the other way around. I am in general a huge fan of e-bikes (even though I don’t ride one myself). But I saw one riding around the other day that was as noisy as a motorcycle. I seriously hope not to encounter that one trying to ride the CCT.

[cvcalhoun]

My morning commute could definitely have been better! The frame to my Trek Verve–which is less than a year old–cracked. I have no idea how this can happen–after all, I avoided carbon forks precisely because I know they sometimes crack.

The good news is, it’s covered by the warranty. And the bike shop was able to supply a rental bike, and even move all my accessories (lights, rack, Bar Mitts, etc.) over to the rental. The bad news is, even the largest rental bike the bike shop had forces me to hunch over much more than I like to reach the handlebars.

This comes on top of my having developed a vitreous hemorrhage, which causes me to see black spots everywhere. (It looks as though there are roaches on all the walls, which is disconcerting.) I just hope all of this is fixed before Freezing Saddles.

[Author]

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