Coffeeneuring Ride No. 1: Tryst Coffee (Washington, DC)

Where: Tryst Coffee

• Address: 2459 18th St. NW, Washington DC
• Website: http://www.trystdc.com/
• Bike friendliness: Lots of bike racks in front and near vicinity, indoors crowded but plenty of room on patio for me and my folder
• Other notable information: Across the street from Donburi and its amazing Japanese rice bowls.

Date: Saturday, October 4, 2014

Drink: Mexican Hot Chocolate 

Total Mileage: 6.98 miles overall (4.58 miles Home to Tryst)

Photo Verification:

It came with animal crackers!

Ride Notes: 

• At Yuma St. NW and 36th St. NW, there appears to be some sunken park or garden that isn't marked as a green space in Google Maps. But I noted the intersection today as I rode past so I could look it later, and Google Maps street view has some user-uploaded photos of the area. I plan on going back in the near future to take a closer look.
• I noticed a Neighborhood Slow Zone sign for the first time today! I wonder if they've been up for a while, or if they are recent like the Neighborhood Bikeway signs they just put up near me.
• Today was the first time I've ridden with tights on; I guess it really is October. It was cold enough to also merit some merino clothing (I've recently drunk the merino kool-aid), so I got to wear this great dress for the first time (currently on sale at Nau). It layers really well so it's perfect for fall/spring, but I can see it working even on the cooler days of summer. It's versatile, cute, comfortable, ride-able, and has pockets--basically everything I want in a dress!
• Speaking of cold-weather apparel, after this evening's ride I'm thinking of knitting myself some hand warmers. The trick will be to finish them in time to actually use them.
• All this time I've been riding across the bridge on Calvert St., I never realized it was called the Duke Ellington Memorial Bridge: 

Nice way to close my first coffeeneuring ride

Route Notes:
I've only done the full ride from home (in upper upper Northwest) to downtown-ish DC only a few times, mostly because on the route I take there's a stretch that I end up riding on the sidewalk right at the beginning, and that's never appealing. There are plenty of people who are brave enough to ride down Connecticut the whole way; I am not, and so I catch a route that's marked off starting at the DC/MD border, which takes you all the way down to Dupont Circle. In theory I could take this route the whole way and avoid the sidewalk, but I don't because of this:

Those are double digit grades! (Visuals via MapMyRide)

Not only is the road steep, but the first/last time I rode it, the road itself was in a bad condition, and cars would just come flying down. I don't think there's a sidewalk or even a curb that separates you from the greenbelt/ravine:

I was fooled into riding this. Never again, Google maps!

So what I do instead is do some sidewalk riding until I pick up the route at Connecticut Ave. and 36th St. NW. The rest of the route going into Adams Morgan takes you primarily along neighborhood streets. It's downhill overall with some uphill grades, but those are slight enough to be manageable for me. There are a couple of hairy segments:

• The route has you crossing Reno Rd. NW as part of the transition from 36th St. to 37th St. Crossing Reno Rd. as a pedestrian or biker is not appealing. I've written about issues with Reno Rd. in a previous post, since it intersects a proposed Neighborhood Bike way in my neck of the woods. On this route, there is no stop sign on Reno Rd. and the cars are coming fast, and the intersection is at an angle that makes it difficult for cars to see pedestrians and vice versa. At  this intersection there as a crosswalk, but that means little to most DC drivers. Today, kitty corner from where I was trying to cross, one woman stood there waiting with her stroller for a while. I finally disembarked and walked my bike, which let us both cross; incoming traffic could see me better than they could see see her. 

• The route also has you going along Woodley Rd., which is busier than a standard neighborhood  street, but only a two-way road with lots of cars parked along the side. At one point, I was trying to get out of a bus' way and get past the parked cards as well, and I was going so fast downhill that I didn't feel comfortable looking behind me to check the traffic. It's times like that when I wish I had a mirror.

On the way home, I was going to get on the Metro at Woodley Park, but ended up riding up Connecticut to Cleveland Park. That's the longest I've ever spent actually riding on Connecticut--not pleasant, but doable.

Observation: Typically I get angry at people who don't have lights on at night, especially on a road as busy as Connecticut around Woodley. However, this indignation was apparently not enough to remind me to turn on my own lights a couple of times this evening. Thankfully I never went very far, but I'm still disappointed in myself.