photo credit: http://www.monkeylectric.com
Last night a tall cyclist, I deemed him “fly white guy”, caught up to me at a traffic light. He commented on my colorful array of lights. I have 38 LED’s with my bike in 5 lights, so more than most. When I first starting riding I had nearly double that in LED’s, but I’ve upgraded in quality and lumens over the years so I am actually more visible with fewer lights. He still couldn’t figure out why my bike was strewn with cables and switches, so I showed him the air horn. I explained that it is useless any time you need it because you can‘t honk and brake at the same time. But then, as the light lingered red, I qualified that the horn was best for “green light texters”. He said that would be a good marketing slogan for PEMCO (local car insurance company); “Green light texter- you are not one of us.” I guess PEMCO’s current advertisements are based around a “We are a lot light you, you are one of us” campaign (great campaign for a local company). After that, we turned on separate roads only to meet up again at another light. We chatted again about the pros and cons of different side streets and then rode in silence for several blocks.
This morning “racing kit and backpack #53” (there are too many guys like this to tell them apart) gave me a thumbs-up as he passed me, hollering, “I like your lights! That’s awesome!” A few miles later “guitar case pannier” (how cool is that?!) passed me while hollering, “Great blue stars!” My monkey lights are in a star pattern at the moment. I’ve had them this way for months, and for some reason people are taking a notice now.
We are getting Rocky Mountain rains again. Except in the rocky mountains it only rains (or shall I say dumps) for 20 minutes or so, not the days on end we are seeing here. Potholes are springing up left and right on my route, and I wonder if the rain contributes to the road decay. Seattle certainly has a hard time keeping it’s roads in decent repair, it may be that the weather fights against it. This rain is uncharacteristic of the Northwest, however. Rains fall light here, we’ve grown to expect a constant dewy mist, the kind of thing that renders umbrellas useless. This rain breaks umbrellas!
Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 143