I have been off the bike for about 2 1/2 weeks. My wife and I went to visit our kids. Our daughter is doing a semester abroad at MacQuarie University in Sydney, Australia. Our son is teaching at a school in Phuket, Thailand. Since my daughter had a two-week spring break we decided to go see her and check out Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand.

We headed west on 9/10 and kept going, arriving back in DC on 9/28. Yesterday, despite severe jet lag and a head cold that I’ve had off and on since 9/8, I rode to work. Riding with jet lag is a bit like riding drunk. Balance is a real problem, especially at when stopping and starting up.

While I was gone, the Alexandria City Police department began targeted enforcement at stop signs, singling out bicyclists. This is probably in response to complaints from some cranky residents of Old Town who refuse to acknowledge that they live in a tourist trap and on a major bicycling artery, the Mount Vernon Trail. They have political pull so from time to time the Alexandria police appease them with obnoxious enforcement.

The police are apparently requiring bicyclists to put a foot on the ground when stopping. The penalty for noncompliance is a $91 ticket. Suffice it to say, my jet lagged body did not appreciate this.

Last night on the way home I counted the number of cars that came to a complete stop at stops signs on Union Street. 6 out of 10 did not. The first of the 6 was an SUV that nearly hit me as I stopped and put my foot down.

On the way to work I rode to work on Royal and Saint Asaph Streets. No cars, not a single one, came to a full stop at stop signs. I lost count at how many there were but the total must have been more than 30.

I have ridden through Old Town 4 or 5,000 times. (No lie.) I have never hit anyone or been hit by anyone. Not a single accident. Cars have nearly hit me dozens of times. None of them were ticketed.

My only response to this nonsense is to put my foot down literally and figuratively. I will stop at ever stop sign and put my foot down. I was also stop patronizing businesses in Alexandria. I probably spend several thousand dollars a year in Alexandria.

I try to keep in mind that the police officers involved probably don’t want to be out there harassing people. But harass they do. Doesn’t do a lot for respect for the badge.

Rant over.

Pictures of my travel can be found on my Flickr page.

Tomorrow is the annual 50 States Ride in DC. It’s the Washington Area Bicyclists Association’s main event. You ride on each of the avenues named after a state. The cue sheet is nortoriously complex, typically running 9 pages. The weather rarely cooperates.

I won’t be riding it this year, but I will be thinking of my friends who will be slogging up and down the hills. For those of you who are new to the event, here are a few pointers:

• The route is about 62 miles long. It feels like 162. It will take you all day. Don’t complain. Suck it up.
• The weather almost always plays a role. Rain or oppressive heat and humidity, sometimes both, are the order of the day. (This year’s forecast looks pretty decent though.)
• The people who work this event, WABA employees and volunteers, get up way before dawn and work into the evening to make this thing happen. Thank them profusely. Buy them a beer at the after party. Hug them.
• You will stop at a red light, a stop sign, or a rest stop about 1,458 times. Instead of bitching about it, introduce yourself to the people who are riding with you. I’ve met more people during the 50 States Ride than all the other rides I’ve done put together.
• Your hands will be tired. You’ll be breaking constantly.
• When you get to Massachusetts Avenue in SE, feel free to let ‘er rip. It’s the best downhill in the city. Sadly you will come to a mess of traffic lights and a traffic circle at the bottom. Don’t blame me.
• If you feel overwhelmed, remember you can bail out at any time, if you can live with disgrace, that is.
• If you’ve done the ride before, take a rookie under your wing. I’ve done this several times. It’s great to see the smile on that rookie’s face at the end of the ride.
• Take pictures and post them to WABA’s Flickr page.
• When you get to the Tacoma Park rest stop, yell “Hail Rootchopper!” Mike and Lisa will understand.
• The rest of Washington will be out and about like any Saturday in September. Say hello. Smile.
• Save a little something extra for the last five miles. You’re gonna need it.

And most of all, Have FUN!

Over the weekend I put a new rear wheel on Big Nellie, my Tour Easy recumbent. I test rode it and all was good.

Two miles into my ride to work I realized that my rear shifting as FUBAR. I only had three or four working gears. It wasn’t a disaster but it was annoying all the way to work.

Now that Labor Day is in the rear view mirror we can enjoy the delightful weather of fall. NOT. It’s oppressively muggy here, made worse by the fact that the air conditioning was turned down over the weekend. I changed into my work clothes and went to my office. Sweat just poured off me. Gross.  By ten the air conditioning had caught up with the humidity so the rest of the day wasn’t so bad.

The ride home was an exercise in deft shifting. I took a detour to Spokes Etc. in the Belle View shopping center. Aaron made quick work of fixing my bike while I waited. This shop has done this for me dozens of times over the years. They rock. Thanks, Aaron.

I was wearing my Anthony Rendon jersey today. One of the shop employees mentioned that Rendon is his cousin. I asked him for his autograph.

I lie.

The ride home was routine except for the sauna-like conditions.

I realized today because of other committments that I will not see another regular season Nationals game at the ballpark this year. I had a blast going to games with my kids and with Ryan, Kirstin (twice), Renee, Ed and Mary, Mike and Lisa, and Katie Lee (twice). Thanks to Delonte and Raymond for their most excellent bike valet service.

Of course, there is always the possiblity that the Nats will make the playoffs and give me another chance to see a game. 🙂

I’ve had a head cold for three days. Not a bad one. Just enough to keep me from going out for a long ride or a hike in this great Labor Day weekend weather.

I rode about 20 miles on Saturday. Very gently. Just enough to get my blood flowing. On Sunday, I took the day off from riding and mowed the lawn. Mowing my lawn normally takes about an hour and is easy. Not this time. I was tired afterward.

Today I took the Cross Check out for an easy sping through the neighborhoods in southeastern Fairfax County, mostly in the Mount Vernon Area. I do love riding this bike, especially now that I have put a bigger saddlebag on it.

I managed to avoid any significant hills and just cruised along. As the temperature rose, I felt the warmth like a blanket. I was sorry to end the ride at 30 miles.

Tomorrow I get back to commuting on Big Nellie, my Tour Easy recumbent. I put a new rear wheel on it on Saturday because the old one had a bowed rim that was causing the rear tire to hop annoyingly with each revolution. After putting the new wheel on, the tire still hopped. I looked it over, deflated the tire and then forcibly pushed the out of round part of the tire back into the rim. I think the tire bead got slightly out of round from being seated on the bad rim. Long story short, it now revolves without the hop.

Speaking of hops, it’s Labor Day. I think I’ll have a beer, put my feet up, and finish the laundry that I started a couple of hours ago.

Beer and laundry. Now that is sick.

As the days have gotten hotter, my blog posting has slowed along with my riding speed.

We are in a week of dog days characterized by oppressive heat and humidity. For office workers like me this means that I have a somewhat uncomfortable bike commute. I am mighty glad I am not a roofer or working on a road crew.

This time of year begins the migration of birds south. Downy egrets sprinkle the near side of the river. Cormorants too. Days are getting shorter. I leave work in twilight. It almost makes me want to move to South America. Muy loco. How about Australia? Or New Zealand? Or Thailand? Crazier still.

I’m talking nonsense.

Today, as I rode to work, a sense of calm came over me. Stresses in my life that have been bothering me off and on for months finally fell away. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than, as the song says, right here, right now.

Tonight, after work, I met up with Sam, the organizer of the Pennsylvania Avenue protest this summer. We had a good talk over a beer in the downtown neighborhood called Penn Quarter.  After about 45 minutes we went our separate ways. Two beers plus heat and humidity made for a tedious ride home.

It may have been tedious getting here but it is home. And there is comfort in that.

In the past my riding would drop in August, because of family commitments. Not this year. I banged out 14 commutes, eight on my Tour Easy recumbent (Big Nellie) and six on my Specialized Sequoia (The Mule), for a total of 438.5 miles. On the weekends and days off I rode an additional 374.5 miles, 60 on my Bike Friday (Little Nellie) and 314.5 on my new Surly Cross Check (No nickname yet).

So my total mileage was 813 miles. I’ll take it.

I threw in two hikes: one along the Potomac River in Arlington Virginia and DC, the other was Old Rag on my birthday.

For the year to date, I’ve ridden to work 113 times for a total of 3,463.5 miles. The Mile was my commuter of choice with 64 rides to and from work. The rest of the commutes were split pretty evenly with Big and Little Nellie. For casual rides, I’ve gone 1,856.5 miles. 856 of those miles were on The Mule. At the current pace, the Cross Check will take first place by the end of November. It loves big miles.

My neck and back so far have not been big fans of the Cross Check. I need to take it back to the bike shop to see if I can tweak my set up. It’ll work out, I am sure. It is a mighty nice bike.

For the year I’ve banged out 5,320 miles or about 665 miles per month. September will be an off month as I will be bikeless for a couple of weeks.

I have spent the last several nights dealing with insomnia. This happens from time to time. I sometimes stress out about things to the point where I just can’t shut down my brain. It happened to me last winter. Now I am obsessing about vacation planning. It’s totally stupid but all the details are running around in my head all day.

The last three days have been primo for bike commuting. The weather couldn’t be better. On Tuesday, I was a bit groggy but enjoyed the ride. Yesterday was groggier still. I struggled and wobbled quite a bit. Today, forgetabout it. I am very reluctantly working from home.

I tried exhausting myself last night. I came home from work and mowed the lawn. I was physically tired. I took a melatonin tablet at 9 and started to fade when Mrs. RC decided it was time to chat. Then the Nats game got interesting. By the time it was over the fade had faded and I was wide awake. Yawning, tossing, turning.

Ugh.

I am hoping tonight is the night the sleep dam breaks.