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A full week of commuting

image Last week was the first full week of commuting I've ridden in a long time. Perhaps in more than 6 months. It feels fantastic!

Here are the highlights of the week:

  • Dexter at Mercer is open at night again! This intersection has been under construction since last summer. Mercer in this area has been under construction since I moved to Seattle, so for at least 3 years, but it's only been since last summer that Dexter was significantly detoured. After 8 PM, the whole intersection and several blocks around it have been completely closed, requireing me to wind around the hainus construction at South Lake Union to get back on Dexter. That is a tiring detour at night, because drivers are tired and annoyed at being detoured as well, and with the accessable roads changing on a weekly basis with minimal signage, the path is difficult to navigate on a bike in the dark. But now it's open! And we seem to be passing on the finished portion of the road for that 2 block section! This makes riding home at night infinetly more enjoyable!
  • With the newly opened road, there is a new bike lane and new street side parking. For the first two days, confused cars parked on both the parking lane and the bike lane, making streetside parking two deep and causing me to ride in the street. It was pretty funny to me, especially since there are signs everywhere explaining what to do. I wonder if tickets were issued or if drivers simply took a few days to figure out what to do.
  • I was passed by a guy on an expensize racing bike wearing a full racing kit and....no shoes. Just socks.