Dan on Bike

A recent article on edmonds.com outlines 10 rules for motorists to coexist with cyclists.  I read them more as guidelines or advice, and these points could really apply to interactions with any slower moving vehicle.

3. Adjust That Attitude: Motorists tend to think of cyclists as ”in their way,” Clarke says. Rather, they should think of them as equals, just as entitled to the roadway as drivers are, says Clarke and other experts in the cycling community.

Drivers who get impatient with bicyclists might want to stop for a moment and think about the human being on that bike, says Bob Mionske, a Portland cycling attorney and cyclist: What if that rider was my friend, a friend of a friend, or a neighbor? Somehow, seeing bicyclists that way makes people a little more patient, he says. When drivers don’t humanize cyclists this way, he finds, they often perceive riders as mere objects.

If you can pinpoint the moment when a bicyclist is starting to irritate you — because you can’t see where he is going or because he’s moving slowly and is making you late — picture him as a family member or friend. That might calm you down, Mionske says.

Discussing these rules with your cycle-annoyed friends may be the first step to convince them that most cyclists are more like them than they think.

Have you seen this commerical?

The lady comes down the driveway, looks only to the right, turns left, and proceeds to ride around the block on the wrong side of the road. Now, it is possible it is set in the UK, but with a company named Liberty Mutual, I don’t think so.

They probably didn’t mean to show someone riding so dangerously; more likely they didn’t even think about it.

Making a beer delivery at work today.

I had a break in my routine recently, and I wisely took advantage of the situation to turn it into a cycling opportunity.

Short story: I dropped my truck at my son’s apartment, taking my bike in the back, and then rode to work.

He lives a few miles north of town, so I saw this as a chance to take a different route to my office. The apartment complex is located along a busy divided highway, but luckily there is a wide shoulder for us pedal people. Actually a fairly low stress way to travel, even though it is a bit noisy.

At Cumberland Ave, I was able to jump onto the Cattail Trail, which runs along the edge of Celery Bog towards campus. The quiet scenery with the occasional runner is a big change from the cacophony of the highway.

However, I found that the trail was closed at Lindberg where a long running construction project to build a bridge over the bog has raised the roadbed above the level of the trail. Haven’t heard yet how the trail will be routed once the project is complete.

My detour took me down McCormick Rd and then onto Cherry Ln, where I encountered my first screaming motorist in quite a while. Not sure what the driver of this oncoming truck was saying, but I think it was “(something, something) trail right over there!”. He also gestured to the Cattail Trail running along the north side of the street. Since I was riding on the shoulder on the other side of the street, I am not sure why he was upset about me using the pavement (American definition) instead of the pavement (British definition). Whatever! I was having too much fun to care.

At the end of Cherry I flew down Northwestern Ave, stopping at Greyhouse Coffee for an iced tea latte and coffeecake. Breakfast of Champions.

Also, here are a couple of photos of bikes that have been languishing in my camera.

The break in the seemingly endless summer heat wave that we’ve experienced recently has been good for my riding schedule. I’ve had the opportunity to ride three times in the past week.

My ride to work on Thursday was uneventful, but the meeting I had at 8:30 was not. It was only after I sat at the table in the small conference room that my body decided it was time to sweat. I had to excuse myself to go towel off. (TMI – I know)

Saturday found me on an early morning ride to Granville. Nothing special, but at the same time very special, as the quiet cool morning was very conducive to wandering thoughts and fast rolling.

This morning, I rode into town to visit the Greyhouse. My daughter met me there, and she did homework (before the school year starts – how weird) while I web surfed.

A quick update on the construction site for the US231 bypass. Crews are hard at work building a temporary road to steer traffic around the new intersection with SR26.

The forecast shows more great temperatures until the middle of next week, so I’m looking forward to more rides.

Regular readers will remember that I’ve been trying to focus on commuting by bike this year. However, the weather has not cooperated. We jumped from two months of near constant rain to this past month of heat. This makes the one or two days a week when my schedule allows a ride in less likely to be suitable. With my work environment, I can’t really arrive rain-soaked or sweat-soaked to a meeting.

Anyway, I got a couple rides in during June, but July has been a wash.

However, yesterday the neighbor came over to ask if I wanted to ride before work. Sure I do!

We started at 6:00 and a had a nice hour of foggy riding to Granville – after we retrieved my dog that decided to run off while I was pumping up the tires of my long neglected road bike. I’m not giving up on commuting, but morning rides may be a better option some days.

Today is Memorial day in the US. Even though I was off work, I’m going to count this ride as a commute, since I followed the same route, and tackled work-related programming projects at the coffee shop. Traffic was nearly non-existent on the way in.

There has been some progress on the highway this week. Cranes have been brought in to install anti-cave-in devices where a culvert will likely be built for the creek to follow under the new road.