Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Remember the old McDonald's jingle for the McLean deluxe (as in mick lean, not mick clean, as this thing surely did not clean out the arteries)? The hot stay hot and the cool stays cool. It was an ingenious design to serve the thing in a standard styrofoam container, the ones that open and close like clam shells--but here's the ingenious part---serving it with the container open, i.e both sides face up/concave, with the hot part of the burger (one half of the bun and the beef) on one side, and the cool side of the burger (lettuce,tomato) on the other, on top of the other bun. Will such a feat ever be duplicated in the annals of asinine marketing? Will it ever cool down?

Oh, I know, it's way too early in DC to say "will it ever cool down?", being only early June. But when the ride starts out in 70 degree weather, it can only go up from there. The forecast is for 98 degrees in DC today (but a much nicer 97 up here in Gaithersburg where I work) so hot damn this should be a fun ride home. The wall of heat is felt at intersections or any time you stop. Then it fades with the breeze of forward motion, until it doesn't, and your ears remain hot from stoplight to stoplight. It's not good when your ears are palpably hot. I don't look forward to that in few hours, when I catapult from my seat at work and head out on the Tikit into the hot, blue (hazy) yonder. But, given my 17-year-old car has no air conditioning, I'll gladly take the bike.

Lately on my commute-by-bike days, I've been tacking on a couple extra miles. It did wonders this morning, as I was literally humming and clicking my heels as I headed from the warehouse (where I "park" the bike against a random crate) into the office. It's nice to come to work with that positive feeling, even if some days it can get ground out of you like garlic through a press. But I like what I do, for the most part, and I love the casual environment. Any place I can wear shorts, and park my bike inside---gravy! So, here's to all us working stiffs, and especially those that choose to bike when they can. I only hope I can make it work when the baby is born. Oh yeah, that's another post to come!

Monday, June 6, 2011

2011 Commuting (Looong Overdue)


I've been commuting to a new job since late 2010, so it's high time I update my commuting route and associated travails. I now bike from my house in Tenleytown to one of several northbound red-line Metro stops. That's the short leg of the commute. Then I bike from Shady Grove Metro to my office, just about dead-on 5 miles. That's the lovely* bike lane shown above. My wife, upon seeing it for the first time when she drove me to work one day, was duly impressed with my obvious safety, the white line surely a clear demarcation point for out-of-control texting motorists.

Nonetheless I have pretty much adventureless commutes on this section, except when the DOT decides to put those orange barricade thingies directly in the bike lane, and I have to ride around them, which entails riding left, as there is no curb, and into a traffic lane.














Once the bike lane summarily ends (a common feature of bike lanes) I have the option of continuing on the road (after hopping into traffic/dodging right turning cars, since the bike lane was continued, up to its terminus, to the RIGHT of a right-turn bay), or hopping onto a sidepath. I do often take the sidepath as there are never more than 2 bikes on it (including me) and no more than one arm-swinging morning walker. It's actually a bit of a pastoral section of road, with some sort of county-run (?) orchard, so there is the rare greenspace, complete with the occasional buzzard overhead, and dead, decaying goose on the path itself (preceded by enough goose-poop to fertilize said orchard).

Then it's into the industrial park itself, complete with moving van companies, and soon-to-be second tattoo parlor. It's an interesting place to work as there is an airfield nearby, so I get three parts flat-bed trucks and one part Corvettes and other super cars owned by those who can afford planes.

So that's my commute!

*Inasmuch as any bike lane can be considered lovely.