ready to rock.

Well, I've decided to play things a little differently today. The bars in DC will be open till four in the morning, so i plan to work the late shift. most of us are out of cash and are feeling anxious and poor. Hopefully today we all start making some dough. 

I meet four cabbies from Austin, Tx last night. they seemed like a fine bunch. This seems to be a trend: my interactions with the locals has been largely positive: waves and smiles from a distance. 

Yesterday (single digit cold mind you), after a fine lunch in chinatown, four of us set off to see the Lincoln Memorial. we raced down Constitution Ave. (a dangerous and busy street-more on this later) when suddenly, the two cabs in front of me drifted too close, the one cab's lug nut slammed into the spokes of the other trike, destroying half the wheel. with the tension of those spokes gone the wheel pulled into the frame and was near-taco. We pulled off to a side road, near the RFK building to assess the damage. the cab was too damaged to ride: my friend was going to need to walk the cab back to our garage (a mile away at least). As we stood there we were approached by four people who needed a lift to the nearby aquarium. the two of us not involved in the fender-bender took the ride and raced off.

The drivers in DC are very aggressive! traffic is fast, drivers cut each other off and weave through anything in their way. The cops patrol with their lights on all the time just to make sure that traffic never stops moving. I rode past a white bicycle decorated with plastic flowers tied to a lamp post. A sign hung from it's side: So-and-so bike rider was killed on this spot. If i where Catholic I would have crossed myself. 

In order to work in this kind of traffic, we all find ourselves having to ride hard and aggressive in turn. 

Riding to chinatown, the traffic locks up, I hop into the lane to my left, sharply cutting off a SUV, and push forward. I weave back into my lane only to squeeze between the idling cars and those parked along the street. I get through to the light and pull in front of the line of cars, shooting out of the intersection (just) before the light turned green. Heart pounding, nose and toes numb, I pound onward standing on my pedals for more power. I'm breathing at a hard but steady rhythm, I imagine that i leave a trail of steamy clouds as i exhale like a locomotive (think i can). Effing car, a cab driven by a loudly dressed Siekh man blares on his horn seconds before he cuts me off, nearly clipping me. Holy Shit (a prayer of sorts); I pedal on.