Spent some time last night @ home further diagnosing and trying to deal with a creaking sound from the cranks/BB area. Was sure I'd fixed it over the weekend when I replaced the non drive side plastic cup of the BB (which had cracked) with a metal one. No dice. After a couple days the creak was back.

Think I may have finally found thew culprit this time... drive side crankarms w/ chainrings may have been a little loose. Pulled it off, cleaned everything up and put itg back on (with grease per Sheldon Brown website suggestion). Got it good and tight. No creaks on this AM's commute!!! Knock on wood. It was nice to not have to worry about embarassing creaking noises when pedaling harder.

FD needs slight adjustment now. Chainrings must be slightly closer in now that that crank is tightened down better.

Otherwise ride in was good. Sun came out a little at the end. Better than last night's ride when a double decker DC tour bus passed me with only a foot or so of clearance, almost running me into the curb near Jefferson Memorial. Took note of the license plate number and plan on contacting tour operator to complain about the driver.