Where: Baked & Wired
- Address: 1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, Washington DC
- Website: http://bakedandwired.com
- Bike friendliness: Don't appear to be any racks nearby, but there are some parking meters as well as a fence that people use to lock up their bikes.
- Other notable information: There appears to be a book exchange on one of the shelves toward the rear of the shop. At least I hope it's a book exchange, because I left a paperback there for any takers.
Date: Sunday, October 5, 2014
Drink: Mocha
Total Mileage: 8.78 miles overall (6.54 miles Home to Baked & Wired)
Photo Verification:
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| I came for the cupcakes, but I stayed for the quiche |
Ride Notes:
A couple of throwbacks to yesterday's post from today's ride.
- I checked out that little parklet that I passed during yesterday's ride. It's not big, but it definitely goes further back than I expected. There are benches along a path that loops around various planting areas, and there's a sunken part with more benches and another path. Right now everything had died back, but you can tell that things are going to grow in beautifully in the spring/summer. It was just so great to find be there, and I had it all to myself--it was like my own Mary Lennox/Secret Garden moment. One day I'll take a picnic with roasted eggs and hot potatoes with salt a fresh butter.
- I took a picture of the Neighborhood Slow Zone sign that I saw yesterday (see picture below). I'm actually surprised that I have't seen more of these around DC--I wonder how many there are actually are? Even for this sign, it's at the foot of what I'm assuming is the slow road (Woodley Park surely isn't), and it's not very visible be hid some trees though you can't tell from the picture below.
- I fell off my bike for the first time! It happened so fast that I just couldn't believe it. I was trying to avoid a scrum of joggers on Rock Creek Park Trail. I was behind three who were taking up the whole path, and one person following them. Coming toward us was a whole bunch of joggers, and then trying to go around them was a "fast" jogger. Normally I can just go off the trail and cut through the grass and avoid mess. Unfortunately, there was wet sandy dirty right off the trail, and as soon as I tried to get off of the path, my little Brompton wheels got stuck in the sand clumps and I went down. Luckily I had gloves on so my hands weren't scraped up or anything, and I was perfectly fine otherwise. Anyway, I'm sure joggers hate that there are bikers on that trail, but believe me if there were a better way for me to avoid the trail I would. I much prefer a good protected bike lane to a trail or multi-use path any day.
- The Brompton had its share of attention today at the coffee shop: An older man asked me about it, and whether they were making them out of carbon yet (refreshingly, one of the few people who didn't ask me how much it costs, although if you're asking about carbon bikes maybe that's not your primary concern); a toddler touched it; and a guy in his late 20's took a picture of it while I had it sitting in the corner.
- Also, I know one of the supposed nice things about a Brompton is that you can fold it up and take it in with you, but sometimes its' nice just to be able to leave your bike outside. Although it's compact for a bike, it's still hard to navigate a crowded coffee shop with it. I actually did bring a U-lock and cable because I thought I might be able to lock it outside, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. Still, I ride it because it's a much superior ride to my Globe, especially if I'm going further than 3-4 miles.
- I was just about to cross Dumbarton Bridge when a huge bronze buffalo caught my eye. I had to stop riding and go up to the sidewalk to take a look. DC does love its bronze animal statues, as do I.
- I acquired a coffee mug per one of my stated goals for coffeeneuring. It even made it all the way home in my crowded and heavy bike bag. It's got that classic coffee mug shape, although when I compared it to the other similar mugs I have at home, they all look slightly different. I guess that means there's not any one company that makes them for all the indie coffee shops in the country.
- Today's was sort of a test run for my fall commute clothes. My current gloves are definitely too warm (at least when I'm going uphill), but I can't go without. I'm going to have to dig into my yarn stash and work out a plan for some hand warmers. My boots worked okay but surprisingly there was a point when my toes were getting very cold.
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Route Notes:
While I'm fine riding my bike from Upper NW to downtown DC, I don't really ride back up. Instead I take the Red Line back up and ride from the Metro station to home. From Georgetown I usually just take Rock Creek Park Trail back to the Woodley Park Metro station, but I wanted to try a new route today, and besides I already had the whole falling incident happen to me. Instead, I took 29th St. up to Q St. NW, crossed over Dumbarton Bridge, and went right to the station. The nice thing about this route is that it goes right past the Dupont Metro entrance with the elevator.
Riding from the Metro to home is usually uneventful, but today I noticed something at the intersection of Military and 41st St. NW: a green bike that definitely wasn't there yesterday--maybe it's an advertisement of some sort?
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| There appears to be a cow-based advertisement on the wheels |
By the way, I just noticed that this is also the head of one of my least-favorite streets in Upper NW DC, Reno Rd. I'm not surprised, since it's always been one of the weirder intersections I've come across. You can't tell on map, but people heading north on 41st St. have to go around a little bend to accommodate people who want to go southbound from 41st onto Reno. Again, I blame it on Reno!
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| Red arrows = route going north on 41st St. NW. Green arrows = route going south as 41st. onto Reno Rd. NW Note: 41st St. NW between Western Ave. and Wisconsin Ave. is a designated neighborhood bikeway |
Observation: There's something amusing about toddlers who come up to the Brompton to touch it. Maybe it's the scale of the two of them right next to each other, it reminds me how small both are.
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