Monumental Bike Ride

Yesterday, I took a walk along a bike-hike trail.  Towards the end, I was hot, foot-sore, and cranky about retracing my steps. I continually eyed the bicycles going in both directions, thinking about how free and fast they seemed.  I occupied myself during the walk thinking about whether I should get myself a new bike, one I'd actually want to ride.  Then, right at the end, the penny dropped.  I belong to a bike-share!  There aren't any bikes anywhere near where I live, but plenty near places I want to ride. And those bikes are way nicer than any bike I've ever owned. So I formed a plan.

This morning, it was up very very early, and down to park on the street outside my office. I used my bike key, and was off and gliding in minutes.  I dislike hills, but downtown DC, where all the monuments are, is totally flat. It's all landfill of a swamp, after all.

The bike has only three gears - but I only used two of them.  I was off to the Capitol first (driven by which light was green) and then down the length of the mall to the Lincoln Memorial, and then down into Potomac Park to Hain's Point. I'm a bit nervous about urban riding, but I was rolling before 7:30 am and there was little traffic to contend with. I have been observing bikes around town, and it seems to me that bikes choose between car and pedestrian rules as it suits them.

I saw bunches of bikes down along Hains Point. Every bike I saw going in direction passed me, but I didn't care.  It was relatively low humidity and a good breeze was blowing, and it just felt really good.  I stopped down at the point to get a sip of water, and almost immediately was set on by biting flies.  I didn't linger, and headed on back.  I accidentally rode through the FDR memorial (saw the "no bikes" sign on the way out) and wandered through the sidewalks around the memorials, a bit turned around. I was surprised to realize I had come on the Korean war memorial. Things are all torn up between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument where the reflecting pool is being reconstructed.

This is the longest bike ride I've taken in a couple of years - more than ten miles. It felt good, though I was plenty ready to be done.  But I thought about how with this bike share, I certainly can explore different parts of the District or even Alexandria. The bikes are often at metros, so it would even be possible to do a one-way ride, or a walk and a ride to make a circuit.  Early in the morning is the ticket.

I don't know how much I'll do this, but there are possibilities, and this certainly was fun.  Here are the stats and the link:

Monumental Ride

Ride Time: 1:07:13
Stopped Time: 6:50
Distance: 10.88 miles
Average: 9.71 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 22.99 miles/h
Ascent: 246 feet
Calories: 480