Day Four: A Monsoon Will Not Deter Me

With Jon officially moving to Van Ness today, this morning was my last "easy" commute to work on RideOn Route 81 from his apartment across from the White Flint metro.  Turns out Route 46, the one I was looking for the other day when I stumbled on the 81 as it was pulling up, has its stop on Rockville Pike, not on Marinelli where I was looking.  (Thanks Alexis).  The 81 and I had some awesome times, but all good things must come to an end.

With Hurricane Snooki Nicole dumping cats and dogs on our region, today was the first time my commute really necessitated an umbrella.  It wasn't bad for just taking the RideOn in this morning, but I was really hoping that it wouldn't damper my plans for my PM commute: running to Twinbrook then transferring connecting to RideOn Route 5 from Twinbrook to Silver Spring.  I even walked over to the CVS in Rockville Town Center to pick up new insoles for my running shoes at lunch time.

As 5:00 approached, the skies turned more and more foreboding, but I was determined.  I don't mind running in the rain that much - my main concern is always being prepared so that my iPhone does not get wet.  (Because, let's be real, if something happened to my iPhone... well...)  I scoured the Sixth Floor for a ziplock bag to carry it in, and was beginning to think all was lost, until REBECCA came through with a gallon size ziplock.  I owe you one Rebecca.  Several co-workers warned me to "be careful out there" on my way out, but I wasn't worried.

When I got outside, however, it was drizzling and it did look like the end of days, so I thought I should try to get to the Twinbrook metro with a heightened sense of urgency.  (Taking the Q4 was an option this whole time - but I didn't want to wimp out).  Luckily for me, the Twinbrook metro is about 2.5 miles from my office, which is also the distance I can irresponsibly push the pace of a run without really feeling the consequences later.  Any further though, and my shins decide they hate me for several days.  So I took off on the southbound side of Rockville Pike.  The rain started to pick up a little just as a Route 46 bus pulled up to my left, which would have taken me as far down the Pike as I had needed - quite a temptation, but I resisted: so much so that I took the next opportunity to cross the Pike over to the northbound sidewalk, meaning a RideOn bus would not tempt me in such a way again.  The rain persisted and I pushed the pace a little more, realizing that I had left the office without being entirely sure of where the Twinbrook metro was... "Twinbrook Parkway?" I thought.  It felt like a trick.

AND IT WAS.  Good thing I was paying attention, and was on the lookout for the green Metro sign telling me to turn left on Halpine Road.  I wasn't sure what time it was, with my phone tucked away in the safety of the ziplock, but I was shooting for the 5:45 Route 5 bus.  Turns out I was so worried about getting caught in the rain, I booked it down to Twinbrook in time for the 5:33.

The Route 5 bus takes an interesting route to Silver Spring - passing through North Bethesda and Garrett Park before heading up 16th Street.  For a while I was on a street called Capitol View I think?  Definitely learning new ways of getting around Montgomery County everyday I undertake this adventure, which I love.

I walked in the door to my apartment at 6:29, one hour and 8 minutes after I left the office.  It took me 22 minutes to run to the metro at Twinbrook, then about 40 minutes on the bus, then about a 6 minute walk to my apartment from the bus stop (in the rain).  All in all, I thought it was a great way to get home and when I walked in the door, my workout was already done for the night.  I'm feeling pretty ballsy, so tomorrow I think for the first time in this endeavor, I'll break out the bike.  I'm eyeing a Sligo Creek Trail / RideOn Route 48 plan for getting to work, stay tuned...

Metro... Oh, Metro

After work tonight, I planned on meeting co-workers at the Nationals Phillies game, for my last regular season opportunity to see the Phightins (even though we started mostly our B Squad) and the last Nats home game.  I knew my SmarTrip was still in the negative from taking Rachel and Michelle to Georgetown Cupcake over the weekend so I glanced at the screen for train arrivals, which indicated the next train to Glenmont would arrive in four minutes. With no lines at the kiosks, that was more than enough time to bring my SmarTrip back to the positive side.

When I reached the platform however, I heard the familiar chime of the doors closing and I darted for the closest door but didn't make it. I watched the train pull away and again checked out the screen for next arrivals. It said that more trains would be there in 1, 6, and 11 minutes, but that soon changed to one singular Glenmont train arriving in 4 minutes. After an actual wait of about 8 minutes, the next train pulled in.

If I had known the next train was either "1" or "ARR" I would have taken the escalator stairs two at a time and made the train. As Greater Greater Washington's David Alpert writes, this latest malfunction isn't a safety issue but it sure doesn't make using Metro more pleasant either.

Metro has got enormous problems that require enormous fixes. But this seems, to me at least, like something Metro should be able to get right.

A Carless Low Point: The Mooch

I was hoping it wouldn't happen so soon.  It's only Day Three.  My AM commute was fine: another very pleasant ride on Route 81, which took about a half hour from the White Flint Metro to the Rockville Metro.  But, to get to a work meeting, today I had to borrow someone's car.

I attend regular meetings of the C&O Canal Network, which is a gathering of stakeholders and advocates for the C&O Canal and Great Falls Park, on behalf of our office.  The meetings take place at the park's visitor center, located down a windy entrance from where Falls Road meets MacArthur Boulevard.  In other words, it's lovely, but it's way out in the middle of nowhere, from a public transit perspective.

Going to meetings of this kind in the community is part of my job, and I fully expected various meetings like this one would arise during the month I'm going carless.  I had been operating under the assumption that the County had a car share program that would be available for people just like me.  While it's true that the County did institute a pilot program for such a car share service, it was eliminated, along with an avalanche of other really great things, from the Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget - and understandably so.  Various departments still make cars available to their employees, but if you want to pick one up, you need to get yourself to the depot, located on Seven Locks Road in Rockville.  It is not my intention to be critical of the County - this is a blog about getting around without a car - so I will refrain from commenting on the wisdom of locating the County's fleet of vehicles for use by employees in a spot you need a vehicle to get to.

I plugged my destination into Google Maps, and was given the route to your right.  Three buses, a nine-minute taxi ride, and one hour 54 minutes later, I'd arrive at Great Falls.  Seriously?  The 46 to the 34 to the 402 and then hail a cab?  I decided that this was not a good use of my time.  I talked it over with my very supportive Chief of Staff, who immediately offered to let me borrow her car.

Three days in, and there it is: the mooch.  I was really hoping that this endeavor in my own carlessness would not result in just using other people's cars.  I'm chalking this one up as a rare exception in order to get to a remote (to say the least) part of the County for work purposes.  But I'm not gonna lie, I do feel a like I cheated...  Tomorrow will be better.

What I Hope to Achieve, Part 1: The Fitness Factor

Crossing the finish line at the
St. Patrick's Day 8K in DC 
in March. Probably not
supposed to use this photo, 
huh?

I'm planning to run about 2-4 miles a day, depending on where I'm going, as part of giving up my car.  I may be filling in missing pieces of RideOn routes or running out of the District to get to a RideOn route, once Jon moves to Van Ness.  What's nice about incorporating a run into my work commute is that when I get home, I've already gotten my workout in and have the rest of the night to do whatever I need to do (read: hang out with Jon, watch my beloved Phillies dominate in the postseason after having won their fourth straight NL East championship). As I've already seen, it takes just about as much time to run down Rockville Pike during rush hour as it does for a RideOn bus to make the same trip.  It has its share of logistical problems, but I'm dealing with those.

This past spring I went to visit a friend living in Seoul, and then spent two weeks backpacking around Southeast Asia with her. It was a huge trip for me and I wanted to make a huge change accordingly beforehand. In anticipation of my travels, I lost about 20 pounds through changing up my diet, cutting out alcohol altogether (except for one grandfathered-in weekend with Millersville friends visiting), and exercising. After I got back I dropped another 10 pounds, meaning that I weighed 165 pounds for the first time since probably 6th or 7th grade. I had discovered that I actually loved running - something I hated having to do in gym class - and ran a 5K, 8K, and 10 miler in Charlotte, DC, and Philly, respectively.

In June I came down with a nasty case of shin splints, probably because I pushed my body too hard too soon after taking some time off (at least that's what Jon and U.S. Track Champion Lauren Fleshman, my favorite runner, would tell me). This required more time off to give my legs a rest. I also had to back out on a friend who I was going to run a 10 mile race in Baltimore with. To be honest, I'm still getting back to where I was.

I've also got the afforementioned cruise to the Bahamas coming up in 12 days, so if I could drop some pounds before that shitshow sets sail, that'd be hot. But it's really about getting back to where I was as a runner and maintaining my goal weight (ack, hate that term) the weight at which I feel my best.  So the goal is to get back to 165, which, at the beginning of this endeavor, was 12 pounds away.

Of course, fitness isn't the only factor involved in this decision, and I'll have more on the others in later posts.

Day Two: RideOn and a Logistics Fail

I'm trying to be a little more respectful of my legs, since now they not only take me around for leisurely runs but they are also a means of getting to work.  So I opted for taking RideOn, and when I left for White Flint station, I thought I'd be taking Route 46.  I got there a few minutes early, but I couldn't find the spot for 46 anywhere.  I even went all the way around the newly-installed median in Marinelli to make sure I didn't miss it on the other side of the street.  As I was inspecting the RideOn stop across the street, I noticed the Route 81 bus, with its sign reading "Rockville Station", pulling up.  So I ran all the way back around the median, and hopped on the 81.  There were a few riders getting on with me, but most of them got off at the stop for the Tower Oaks Building.  (I was there for a fundraiser with Roger one time and got a tour - it is an incredible building, green to the max, and I'm not surprised at least a handful of their employees opt for a carless commute.)  My commute this morning was actually REALLY NICE: the bus wasn't crowded and I had plenty of room to sit comfortably without feeling like I was in somebody else's space.  It took about a half hour: I got on the bus at 8:00 and arrived at Rockville around 8:30.  Although, that's just about the same amount of time it takes me to run that distance...

Earlier I noted that my efforts to get around and get to work without a car were complicated by the fact that I would be running either all of the way or part of the way to work, which requires changes of clothes and shower supplies at the office - items I wouldn't need if I were just using the bus or Metro.  My plans are further complicated by the fact that I (roughly, depending on the week) split my time between my apartment in Silver Spring and my boyfriend's apartment in North Bethesda.  Further complicating my plans still?  Jon is moving on Thursday.

I had taken all of my clothes I had at Jon's back to my apartment: I didn't want him to have to worry about my stuff while he was packing all of his own stuff for the move.  The problem?  I planned to sleep there a few nights this week, meaning when I got to his apartment yesterday after work, all I had were the clothes I arrived in.  Fail.  So this morning I rolled to work in my running shorts and a tshirt of Jon's from a college track meet (he's got hundreds of those, anyway. He may not see it again.)  Good thing I had planned ahead and have about two weeks worth of work clothes hanging in a supply closet at the office...

Day One: This Was Actually Fun

After taking the Q2 in this morning, the plan for getting home (read: Jon's) after work today was running.  The rain held out and the conditions were actually perfect for it - I was pumped to change after work and get outside.  And I found that running is even more enjoyable when it means getting where you need to go without having to sit in traffic, or waste gas, or contribute to pollution, etc etc.  I knew it would be a good run: about three miles down the Pike to Harris Teeter where I was meeting Jon.

Running down the Pike isn't as bad as you would think, except in certain stretches.  There is a steady uphill grade starting at Congressional Mazda all the way until you get to Bloom, which is pretty miserable.  Navigating the intersection with Montrose Road (or is it Parkway there? who knows) is a little tricky too.  But I didn't have to stop at an intersection a single time - not sure if I just hit all the green lights exactly right or if it just takes a long time to turn onto the Pike no matter what.

Really, the worst part of running on the Pike are the drivers.  I got beeped at several times while people waited for me to make right turns off of the Pike, as if I were the one supposed to be yielding to them.  People seriously looked at me like I was crazy.  Running down Rockville Pike - I dunno, maybe I am?  Shout out to the lady in the black Camry that pulled out into a crosswalk to turn, saw me coming, and backed back out of the intersection.  You, are awesome, black Camry lady.

If you're a runner and you've never checked out http://www.mapmyrun.com/, you need to do so immediately.  They've got a really handy iPhone app that tracks your location with GPS, and measures your distance and speed.  If you close the app on your phone to do something else, like take a picture of how much running down Rockville Pike can suck in certain spots, it pauses the time - really it's the only downfall of the app.  I love it and use it almost everytime I run.

I was pretty happy with my time, too.  3.1 miles in 31:06.  Tomorrow I might run in the morning to work, or I may take RideOn.  We'll see what Carless Day #2 brings!

Day One: Not That Bad, So Far

Day One of my endeavor in carlessness was, of course, the same day a flood warning was issued for the area.  But while the skies were ugly and the roads were wet, it could have been a lot worse.

The "pantry" in my office

I had already planned the different routes I could take to get to my office in Rockville, including a metro bus and a combination of a RideOn bus and running.  Since some other days I'll be running or biking, today I wanted to take the recently improved Q line to work so that I could carry everything I wanted to have for the next few days.  That included lunches for the week, clothes to run in, and food for breakfast.  If I were simply planning to get around by using bus or metro, that would require some planning in and of itself.  But what further complicates my plans is that I intend to fill in missing pieces of bus routes by running or biking.  As a runner, if I'm running in the morning I always prefer to grab a swig of orange juice, down some water and eat breakfast when I get back - meaning that I'd need to keep some breakfast food at the office as well.  So I stuffed all of that stuff in my backpack, and realized that, of my three pairs of black dress shoes, two were already at my office and one was at Jon's apartment.  But, I also needed to take my running shoes to the office, and since I was otherwise lacking a pair of shoes to wear, I just rolled with those.  "Stranger things have been seen on a metro bus," I reassured myself.

It took about 10 minutes to walk to the bus stop at Spring Street and Georgia Avenue.  I couldn't believe how crowded the bus was when it pulled up.  Every seat was filled and ten, maybe fifteen people were standing in the aisle.  I would have tried to snap a picture, but my hands were full and everytime I try to take a picture on my iPhone I encounter major ongoing capacity issues due to my obsession with music, and my phone tells me there's no more room for pictures or anything else.  I wondered what would happen first: the State Radio mix I was listening to would come to an end, the bus would get to Rockville, or the plastic bag carrying my milk, salad, and shrimp pasta leftovers would break. 

I tried to follow the crowd and move back each time the bus stopped and more people tried to stuff on.  Then, somewhere on Viers Mill, the girl sitting right next to where I was standing pulled the "stop requested" cord.  I casually glanced around and realized I was surrounded mostly by people my age or younger probably en route to Montgomery College's Rockville campus where the line terminates.  With no senior citizens in sight, I jockeyed for position in taking over the newly vacated seat and lucked out when the girl took off for the front bus door, blocking the other potential seat-claimer.  SCORE!

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I paid the right amount in bus fare... my SmarTrip card went in to the negative on Saturday coming back from Georgetown, so I grabbed some change before I left my apartment for fare.  But, if there are different fares for SmarTrip and cash, then I probably didn't pay enough.  Amateur mistake, I'll do better next time, I promise!  The bus arrived shortly after 9am - about ten minutes late which I am guessing either happens every time it rains, or it just happens every time.  I'll get on the earlier bus from here on out.  All in all, it took about one hour to get here.

Alright, lunch is almost over.  Tonight I'm running to my boyfriend Jon's apartment after work as long as the weather holds out.  If not, I'll be riding my first RideOn bus.

Places: Jon's Apartment (For Now)

My boyfriend Jon moved to the DC Metro Area (I refuse to call it the DMV) about a year ago after graduating from college.  He settled in North Bethesda, across Rockville Pike from the White Flint metro.  He's been there for over a year now without a car - so the challenges of that lifestyle that I'll likely encounter in the next month are old news to him.  The area, I would say, has served him pretty well for the last year: the White Flint metro stop got him where he needed to go in the city, the mall was right there for shopping and movies (even during the Snowpocalypse) and he was able to work there part time while he slaved away as a Capitol Hill intern for free.  Jon and I have been dating for four months and he is the most caring, hilarious, intelligent, supportive person I know.

This endeavor in carlessness would have been a lot easier for me had I started several months ago.  That's because on Thursday, Jon moves to his new apartment in Van Ness.  He always wanted to move closer in to the city since he moved here - I have also, albeit in a more hypothetical way - and I'm really excited for him.  But until then, I have to figure out how I can get myself from Rockville to White Flint for a few days.  I've ruled out taking Metro Bus, because unlike trying to get from Silver Spring to Rockville, there is a RideOn route that makes the entire trip.  If I take RideOn Route 46 from the Rockville Metro, it's got a travel time of 24 minutes and a cost of $0 - as I mentioned before, County employees are fortunate enough to enjoy free RideOn service.  An alternative would be to run this distance - it's 3.6 miles, and of course would be free and take me about 35-40 minutes.  (Since I started running about nine months ago I've been able to cover a lot of ground, but never at more than about a 10 min/mile pace.)  But, as anyone who has ever walked any stretch of Rockville Pike knows, it's not very friendly for that purpose.  I actually have run this before, as dangerous as it is, as part of an eight-mile route around Rockville/North Bethesda I used while training for the Broad Street Run.  So, if it's not pouring tomorrow (or even if it's drizzling) I'll lace up the running shoes and meet Jon at Harris Teeter to grab some food to cook dinner.  As far as what I'll do when he moves to Van Ness, that will take a little more creativity for a later post...

A Final Trip to the Grocery Store

This is the last weekend before my endeavor in carlessness begins.  I've tried to take care of some things that don't necessarily require a car, but are much less headache-inducing with one.  Mainly, I went to the grocery store to stock up on items that suck to carry several blocks: the huge container of orange juice I always get, milk, and cereal.

From my apartment at Colesville Road and Spring Street, the closest grocery store is the Whole Foods located on Wayne Avenue.  I like Whole Foods for picking up fresh produce, just a few items here and there - not a huge trip to the grocery store.  I've never really thought about driving there - it probably takes as long as walking.  So maybe I only get a few things there because I walk, or maybe I walk because I only need a few things.

For huge trips though, I drive down to the Giant past the metro on East West Highway.  It's definitely walkable - but not if I'm picking up a gallon of milk or a gallon of orange juice, or a few boxes of cereal.  So, while I hate driving places I could just as easily walk to, my rule has pretty much been walk to Whole Foods and drive to Giant.

It was my lucky day - I was planning on stocking up on bulkier or heavier items and Giant had big boxes of Cheerios "buy two get one free."  Part of the reason I should never walk to this Giant is because I am a complete sucker for these deals.  I also picked up an extra bottle of shampoo to keep at work.  I thought about getting something a little more masculine than Herbal Essences since my co-workers might see me carrying it around - but whatever.  I like the way it smells, OK?

Ironically, I won't be using my car much for anything else this weekend.  My high school friends Rachel and Michelle are in town, and later we're going to Georgetown Cupcake - the new hotness when it comes to having female out-of-town visitors - and hitting the monuments after that. 

Friday Preparations: a Healthy Supply of Clothes

In yesterday's post, I noted that I can't quite get all the way to Rockville from Silver Spring by using a RideOn bus - only as far as Twinbrook.  This leaves a roughly 2.5 mile missing piece of the commute that I intend to fill in either with running or biking.  My plan is to run this distance starting out - and scope out the route to see if it's bikeable as well.

Given that I'm beginning this endeavor in going carless in the last week of September, I was hoping the temperatures would finally be cooled off from this summer's ridiculousness.  Looks like I got my wish, and then some:  the weather forecast for Monday is 69º and showers.  An awesome kick off, to be sure.  If it's raining, I may just grab an unbrella and take the Q.

My clothes, hanging in a (mostly)
unused supply closet.

But either way - I'll need to have a supply of work clothes handy so that once I've run or biked a few miles I can shower (if need be) and change.  So this morning, I brought in enough work clothes to last me two weeks.  Notice I've got 10 shirts and several pairs of pants shoved into the corner of a supply closet, as I'm trying to minimize the footprint this endeavor has on my co-workers as much as possible, out of due respect for them.  Also, I got myself into hot water (no pun intended) last week after accidentally leaving a towel in our floor's miniscule bathroom when I took a shower after a between-work-and-evening-meeting run around Rockville.  The towel had been there for several days until an anonymous complainant reported it to the Council's operations specialist - and, since I'm a nice guy, I fessed up and apologized.  So I'm feeling like I've already used my showering-at-work mulligan among my co-workers.

It will be interesting to see what kind of reaction my efforts garner among the fifth and sixth floors - for now I think I'll play this on the DL and see if anyone even takes notice...

Places: My Apartment

I live on the edge of Downtown Silver Spring, at Colesville Road and Spring Street. I just signed the lease for a third year at Colesville Towers with my roommate, a friend from high school who works in PG County. The location works well for us: she has a 20-25 minute commute east, and I have a 20-30 minute commute west. There are few other places I think we could live together and still have manageable commute times.

While I don't think it was ever her intention to use public transit to get to work, it definitely was for me. For the first week or so I took the bus, the Q2, from the Silver Spring Metro to the Rockville Metro. Shortly thereafter however, the bus stops were relocated all over Downtown Silver Spring (OK - they were moved to Dixon, Bonifant, and Wayne - but to someone who had lived in Silver Spring for all of 10 days, it left me slightly disoriented) to allow for construction to begin on the Silver Spring Transit Center. That was enough for me to get in my car and tolerate the gauntlet of red lights down Viers Mill, until I figured out that, despite my assumption to the contrary, it was actually quicker to take the Beltway to 270 to get to Rockville.

Living in Silver Spring, I have several options for getting to Rockville Town Center where my office is located. I have the recently-improved Q line if I want to use Metro Bus, at a cost of $1.50 (one way) and a door-to-door travel time of 55 minutes, give or take. Other than driving, I see this as the quickest way to work.

Another (laughable) option is taking the Red Line. This trip, door-to-door, has a travel time of 70 minutes, give or take, and an unbelievable cost of $5.20. It sounds ridiculous to imagine a daily commute costing $10.40 - and obviously the Red Line was not designed for east-west travel across Montgomery County. East-west travel across MoCo? That's a line of a different color (hopefully).

Probably the most likely option for me, which requires a much longer commute time but has other benefits as well, is using RideOn. RideOn does not have a route that travels all the way from Silver Spring to Rockville - the best I can do is Silver Spring to Twinbrook Metro. I could easily run to fill in the missing piece of this route - it's a distance of 2.4 miles. Since running is a part of my (almost) daily routine anyway, it makes sense to me to incorporate it into my commute to work. The best part of this option? While it's got a travel time of 85 minutes, approximately, the cost is $0 - County employees are fortunate enough to enjoy free RideOn service. Opportunities for dollar savings are a major motivating factor for me in taking on this endeavor, and I'll have more on that, as well as the logistical considerations like showering at work, in later posts.

First Post: What I Want This Blog to be About

This blog is about one simple decision: living in the DC suburbs and deciding to ditch my car.

Reactions to this decision among my friends have fully run the spectrum from "but how will you get ANYWHERE?" to "what took you so long?" I realize that this is not a new concept. In fact, according to the 2000 Census, 37% of DC households have zero cars. So I know that this has been done before - not only that, but starting a blog about doing it has probably been done before - and it will be done again. I don't expect to uncover major shortcomings of public transit that thousands of people don't already experience everyday. But as I contemplate my 2011 New Years Resolution (yes, I think about them well in advance) to permanently get rid of my car, I want to use the next month to fully flesh out the realities of living carfree: Metro, buses, sidewalks, bike lanes, pedestrian safety, and the overall impact not having use of a car will have on my life. Because that way, if I hate it, I still have time to mull other possible New Years Resolutions without having to waste an unfulfilled one on carlessness!

But seriously, that's what this blog will be about. And inevitably, it will be about the music that fills my earbuds on the bus, the book that accompanies me on the metro, and the friends I discuss this experience with.

A few disclaimers: this blog will take place over the next month or so of my life, which includes a long-scheduled cruise to the Bahamas in mid-October. So, am I cheating on the "one month with no car" claim? I guess a little bit. But... that's just how the dates fell so roll with me, aight? I also work for a member of the Montgomery County Council, so you The Reader should know that any views or experiences relayed on this blog are that of my own, and not of him, the Council or anyone else in Montgomery County Government.

Defining what I want this blog to be about is the first thing I wanted to do. Tomorrow, I'll take a look at where I am and where I'll be going...