75 mile day  Spent most of yesterday on the bike. The day started with a 20+ mile ride to the Bike to Work Day meeting at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments offices downtown next to Union Station. It's one of the few places that has covered, secure parking in the underground garage. Because of the forecast I hauled rain gear that I never used.

After the meeting I rode over to the National Museum of the American Indian for lunch (spinach, black bean and rice burrito with guacamole), then to the National Gallery to see the latest exhibits. There's an excellent show of engravings, The Prints of Félix Buhot: Impressions of City and Sea, which is adjacent to a show on development of printing techniques, Origins of European Printmaking: Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Their Public. I usually feel pretty secure leaving the bike parked in front of the museums. There are usually lots of people wandering about along with an occasional security guard. Nevertheless, I use two locks, a cable with lock and a Kryptonite U-lock.

Then it was time to head home to shower, eat and get ready for the next event, the Non-Motorized Transportation Committee meeting at the Government Center, about 15 miles away. I wasn't hungry but knew that I needed to take in some calories as I had already burned quite a few.

It was a mild evening and I was able to ride in shorts and t-shirt on both legs of the trip. A cold front was blowing in on the ride home and somehow I seemed to catch a tailwind no matter which direction I was riding. I sailed home.

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:08 AM #