CaBi Weekend!

Hi fellow riders (and readers)!

I had a wonderful weekend, all courtesy of Capital Bikeshare.

First, it was the DC Roller Girls Roller Derby Bout at the DC Armory on Saturday. Whooo!!! A friend of mine was joining me for the game, and I managed to convince her to bike there with me, despite the forecast of rain. When the time came to head out, the rain was nothing more than a mere misting of water. I got wet, but not soaking wet. Hair & makeup stayed in place :)

I was really lucky when I arrived at the Armory, because I managed to snag the very last dock. We were running late, and I would have been a very unhappy girl on a bike if I had to spend time looking for another station nearby. Still, we got there with no trouble at all.

(For those that are curious, I took a CaBi from 16th & Harvard, to the 5th & K St. Station, docked it, unlocked it again, and then rode from there to the Armory. In all it took 42 minutes, or two trips of 21 minutes).

Unfortunately, the DC All-Stars got their booties whooped by the Dutchland Rollers. Still, it was an intense match! (I even think one poor girl may have broken her nose). This was followed by yet another match between the Cherry Blossom Bombshells against the DC Demon Cats. The Demon Cats won (yay!), but the Bombshells played hard and made the Demon Cats earn their win. A total blast of an evening.

Afterwards, we rode back the way we came and stopped by my place to change up for dinner. Despite my reassurance that my friend would not look a hot, wet mess if we rode to the restaurant, she insisted on cabbing it. Blah! ;-) Ya'll know how I feel about cabs.

We decided on Meridian Pint. I will say I really, really, really enjoyed the food & the beer. I did have one minor complaint, but its minor and this isn't the blog for that.

A very enjoyable day overall.

But the fun didn't end there. Oh no....

Because the next day was...SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

Whoo!!! Ok, I'm not really a football fan. I don't mind watching it at all, but I can't tell the difference between a quarterback and line backer. Still, I like the excitement, the bets, the commercials & the beer. My friends and I had a table reserved at the 4 P's on Conn. Ave.  Plus, Matthew Lesko was there! You know, this guy:

Source 

And yes, he was wearing the Question Mark suit.

Rather than cab it with them (yuck!) I decided to bike it. I had noticed a CaBi station right next to the restaurant previously and figured it would make an easy ride. And it did! I enjoyed good food, good beer & didn't have to wait for a cab like the rest of the suckers out there afterwards. I simply checked a bike out & rode home.

Today, I needed to get downtown for an appointment. I knew there was a CaBi station only a few blocks from my destination, so I decided to use that. My only mistake was taking 7th St. NW downtown. I normally take 6th St., but the bike lanes on 7th were calling to me. Ugh. It took forever, and traffic was horrendous. I was stuck behind a bus for 4 blocks. Never again! I'll stick to 6th, thank you. One bright part of my commute was the compliment a bike messenger paid me downtown. He passed me and was gracefully riding his bike like a fish in a current, swerving in & out of the rush hour traffic (not recklessly, mind you).  I caught up with him 2 blocks later, and he expressed surprise at my speed. He said he didn't expect me to catch up with him (mind you, I was following traffic laws and stopped at every red light. Yes, WABA, I remember the pledge!). I was pretty chuffed at his praise ;-)

After my appointment was over, I was starving and couldn't decide on what to eat. I decided to ride back home, and if something caught my eye, I would stop. I took the Penn Ave Bike lanes & 15th St. cycletrack (which was completely clear the entire way!) Sorry, no obligatory White House photo op this trip. I was too hungry! When I got to P St., I noticed the CaBi station right next to the Whole Foods. Problem solved. I stopped and docked. Then I noticed the Sweet Green & the Lululemon store. When did those happen? Can you tell I don't make it to that part of town very often? HA! I'm always amazed at that block, because I remember when there was *nothing* there except the hardware store. I made a bee-line for the hot/salad bar before the remainder of my paycheck could disappear. I got my lunch, packed it up in the CaBi basket, and headed for home.

On my trip home I managed to watch 3 different protests. I love this town.

Some pictures:

Maybe the CaBi bike was cold?

Rollerrrr Derrrrby!

So sad :(

Yeah. This guy outdid me in the "drunk, carrying around strange objects in a bar" category...

Ummm... officially, I have no idea where this came from.

Waiting in line for the Derby. Did you know I'm the mayor of DC Roller Derby?

Superb Owl time!

I like the thing on top of the building.

Next week is Valentine's Day. Any special plans?