Dupont Circle III

Dupont Circle II

Dupont Circle

Happy bike-day

Sometimes you have a good bike-day.

My Electra was in the shop, so this morning I CaBi'd from Petworth to Bloomingdale for a quick photo shoot. Stopped off at Big Bear Cafe for a coffee (man, the place was packed on a Saturday morning). Then CaBi'd from there to The Bike Rack at 14th and Q (100 percent on the R Street bike lane) to pick up my bike. Ran into one of my neighbors who was thinking about a new bike. I, true to recent form, gave her the upright/slow/normal clothes spiel. I know, I'm probably getting annoying.

Moseyed over to Dupont Circle to look for citizen-cycling pics. Didn't find much going on photo-wise, but did put a few of my Moo calling cards on any parked bikes that looked like candidates for the Chainguard Revolution. In a nice little moment of karma, my friend Eric sent me this cool video that was sort of apropos to the bike-day I was having. Watched it on my phone before heading up to Adams Morgan (first real hill of the day) did a few errands, warmed my hands up in a few places.

Grabbed lunch from one of the Latino vendors who set up on weekends in the little plaza outside City Bikes. Really great Puerto Rican pork and a garlicky plantain dish I can't remember the name of. The nice guy who sold it to me sat down while I was eating it and explained all the inside tricks he uses to make it.

There I met Eryn and Patrick, around the time I was taking this picture of the plaza scene:

They asked me about my bike because she was shopping for an upright bike and had been eyeing the Electras online. She actually had heard of District Citizen Cycling! ("wow, that's you?!") Very cool, first time that's happened. Further up the street, here's Eryn and Patrick taking out the last available CaBis at the 16th and Columbia station:

Riding home, dropped in for the tail end of the bike clinic behind Qualia Coffee on Georgia Avenue, where I finally made some decent photos that helped redeem the day a bit in that regard (see previous post):

Kind of cold out there, and the wind had some bite, but plenty sunny. Nice DC early winter day. Just the kind of bike-day that puts you in touch with the city in a way that driving and walking don't. Walking's great, but biking you're flowing like water through the streets, covering ground quickly while absorbing your changing surroundings, finding a kind of rhythm, feeling DC's great neighborhoods and how they connect. City zen!

Connecticut Ave and Q St

Garrett, age 63, has the music in him, singing praises, a one-man, one-bike band. A super nice guy. Said when he's done for the day he just gets on and rides home.

The passing students have that look of those who don't get out in the city much.

More DC chic

Another case of understated DC cycle chic. As I wrote when I started District Citizen Cycling a couple months ago, I didn't think my native Washington was necessarily a chic kind of town. What counts as relatively fashionable here might seem modest by European standards. But the ride-as-you-are (chic or not) ethos of so-called 'citizen cycling' seemed a good fit.

I'm certainly no biking fashion guru. In yesterday's photo, a stylish hat and coat was enough to make me notice the girl riding down 15th Street. This young woman on Q Street is a similar case - ok, no chainguard for the purists (too bad, she could lose the pants strap), but a sweet bike with fenders, somewhat more upright posture, bringing home the shopping, riding slowly, in casual/stylish clothes that made for a nice holistic presentation with her bike. A great ambassador for DC citizen cycling.

Just watch out for that taxi.

DC chic

This chic young woman had the newly two-way 15th Street cycle track almost to herself yesterday. Well, I think she looks pretty chic.

Easy Rider

Check out that chopper. 

[Fabienne: Whose motorcycle is this? 

Butch: It's a chopper, baby. 

Fabienne: Whose chopper is this? 

Butch: It's Zed's. 

Fabienne: Who's Zed? 

Butch: Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.]

Always happy to get a slice of DC neighborhoods in there too. That stretch of Q Street has to be one of the most beautiful in the city, and has a nice bike lane. Not bad for cruising on a balmy November afternoon.

photo © Bill Crandall

17th and R St

I must have passed this building a thousand times in my day, but never really noticed the cool roofline. What would you call that turret-type thing, architecturally-speaking?

photo © Bill Crandall

16th and U St

16th and U has DC's first bike traffic signal, making it kind of a bike crossroads for commuters. More on that in a future post. This one's as much about the nice architecture as the citizen cyclist. Just as urban biking is as much about the city itself.

photo © Bill Crandall