This is how my morning started:

Pedal pedal pedal swerve road pedal pedal pedal swerve sidewalk pedal pedal pedal swerve road pedal pedal pedal swerve sidew-w-w-w-wh-WHAM!

When you're on a bicycle trying to go up a driveway ramp to get onto the sidewalk, and you're mostly oblique to the ramp, and you don't see that the ramp has a lip which is raised about an inch above the level of the road, your tires will not behave in the same manner they would if any one of those things were not true. The sad thing here is, I was trying to get out of traffic and onto the sidewalk out of harm's way. Casualties:

• Knee, right (bruised and raw, but not skinned)
• Tail light, blinky (cheap enough to be a total loss)
• Knuckles, right pinky and ring finger (skinned)
• Glove, right
• Pride

One jean leg looked a bit dirty, and my shirt hardly showed signs at all. And if you're wondering, I actually fell on the driveway ramp/sidewalk and not the road. One nice woman driving by stopped to see if I was okay. I was mostly disgusted at that turn of events but unharmed, so I waved her off. Hopped back on the bike and continued my ride.

Crystal City is slightly farther than I was thinking it was. Including the wipeout, the ride took about 40 minutes. I was expecting it to take no more than 30.

I was riding to Crystal City to attend the one-day "Presenting Data and Information" course presented by Edward Tufte. If he comes to your city and you haven't seen him, by all means go. It's 320 bucks, but that includes copies of all three of his books and a poster of the Minard map/diagram of Napoleon's army's march to and retreat from Moscow (altogether worth about $150), so the lecture itself is then $170 and worth it. Plus you can get discounts on the books there, so I finished out my original set of three. I'll probably give a set to my sister for Christmas.

I'd planned to get there about ten or fifteen minutes early, but instead got there only one minute before the beginning of the lecture and had to get a seat, still all sweaty from the ride, as he started.

It was fascinating. He's a good lecturer, uses visual aids well (as you'd expect), and he fills the time very well. It seems about 15% commercial for himself, but I can excuse that because he's written the best texts in the field. He can't be blamed for using them as material during the lecture.

The ride home was rainy and traffic-filled, but uneventful. I came home and got naked just so I could dry off. I totally understand why bicycle clothing exists, so I guess it's not very sensible of me not to own any. I at least need to replace the padded shorts that died a couple years ago. Cotton and bicycling don't really mix.

link (9 nov)