Biking the Third Street Tunnel

Perhaps the greatest thrill LL experienced during the inaugural madness wasn’t chatting up Joel Klein at the 9:30 Club, or accosting Ben Affleck at the HuffPo ball, or even sitting yards away from Barack Obama as he was sworn in.

Nope, it just might have been cruising through the Third Street Tunnel on his bike.

Now, LL is aware that said tunnel was the site of much misery on Tuesday, as a holding pen for holders of inaugural tickets denied access to the Capitol grounds (cf. “Purple Tunnel of Doom”). He means not to make light of their suffering.

It’s just that it’s not every day that you get to ride your bike through an underground interstate highway artery and take advantage of a fabulous shortcut across the Mall. LL was prepared to bike as far east as 4th Street NE to get around to the south side of the Hill, where he was supposed to gain access to the ceremony, but he decided to give the tunnel a shot when he passed the Massachusetts Avenue ramp. It cut a good 10 or 15 minutes off his commute.

At the time LL came through, around 8:15 a.m., the lines up to the purple/blue entrances were still rather orderly, and he was able to zip right through. If only he had a video camera to remember the moment…but blogger Nikolas Schiller did! Experience the thrill:

Tags: bicycles, Cycling, nikolas schiller, Purple Tunnel of Doom, Third Street Tunnel