How Was Your Commute Today?

[7rider]

I think I missed the memo or something that today was Everybody Get Outside Day.
Granted, it was pleasantly cool, with less humidity than we've seen in recent days. It was, indeed, a glorious morning to be outside. And folks were. By the truckload.
Normally, I can count on one hand the number of other cyclists I see on my ride in, and only slightly more joggers along the MUT that parallels the road I ride. This morning, I must have seen 50 joggers and 20 people on bikes (including one woman, riding in a pair of mini short-shorts, wearing her helmet strap across her lower lip, a la the Queen's Guard, who ran the light at Colesville Road - a 6 lane highway where cars routinely come flying down the hill - from either direction, and it's risky to cross WITH the light for fear of red light runners. To run the light at crossing is near suicide.
Ah, well.

[ZenBiker]

arrghh - they're chip-sealing the roads in my neighborhood. This means laying down a layer of tar, then a layer of small diameter gravel, compacting it a bit, and then more tar/oil to seal it. Generally the gravel goes on and then some days pass before the top seal is applied. Wouldn't be so bad to ride on the gravel if it were even, but at random intervals there will be a "drift" of 1-2" deep, loose material across the road

So every evening is a new adventure in finding alternate routes home, depending on what the road crew got done during the day. At least the flag men on the project are sympathetic, commenting on how they've created a bumpy ride for me!