A squirrel crossed my path in a residential street this morning. It occurred to me that this seemed strange and shouldn’t. I regularly saw “wild” animals in all the other towns I’ve lived in, especially while biking. Squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, ducks and geese would be normal sights. In Seattle I see droves of pigeons every day, but nothing else. I hope to see more squirrels as the summer unfolds, he was a fun sight.
What I didn’t see was any other cyclists. I didn’t come across a single other rider for the first 5 miles of my ride. This is unheard of. My home sits on a major bike corridor, and the route I take to work is one of the heaviest traveled by bike in the state. Filled with a Twilight Zone sense of eeriness, I wondered if I missed some important news about pending doom. Apparently it was just a fluke as riders congested downtown like usual.
As I pedaled downtown, I hit a red light at Pine. This is also unusual. I have a long light at Bell, that I meet while red about 99% of the time. Since downtown lights run on timers, the wait at Bell puts me on the exact same lights routine every day. The only variation is the one I mentioned before- the light timer occasionally changes at 5th and Virginia. It was set the “right” way today, but then I had to stop at Pine. Weird. Also, Pine was flooded with water for a block in every direction. Weird! It hadn’t rained in days, so all other roads were bone dry. Why was the road so wet that I made a wake as I passed?
Then, I get to work and someone parked their bike in my spot. MY SPOT! I parked my bike in the exact same spot every day since June 2015! Every single day! I always go for that spot, but cannot during Bike Month because so many people ride that month that the cage would fill up before I could get to it. But why now? It was the only bike in the cage. It’s not really a big deal, but these fair weather riders should pay respect to those who have suffered through the long, dark winter! Pay some respect! The sun comes out, which is great, but now the roads, MY ROADS, are littered with swerving wide-eyed riders. And taking MY PARKING SPOT! How dare they?!?!?!
Fremont Bridge Bike Count: 395 (30 mins. later than usual)