Out of curiosity, I decided to count all the men and women I saw biking this morning. When actually pressed to label a cyclist with a gender, I found it difficult to do. So many cyclists wear the same black plants, reflective jacket and helmet. Both men and women tend to have long, board-like body types. I noticed my own body shape change and straighten the more I started riding more than other activities. Tufts of hair or ponytails poking out from under the helmets did not confirm gender. I opted to only count those with determinate characteristics (beard, hourglass figure, etc.) This meant that I really only counted those who passed me. Several cyclists would catch up behind me at stoplights to later trail off who didn’t get counted. I didn’t feel like looking behind me and staring. I counted 26 men and 5 women. Tomorrow I think I’ll count pedestrians and/or bus stop lines. The more I paid attention, the more I felt like there were more men out there in general, and I’m curious to confirm that. 

And the light on 5th and Virginia is back to normal! For the past few months one light has been out of timing with all the others on 5th avenue. This is the only stretch of road, to my knowledge, in all of Seattle that is timed so that cars can drive through all the stoplights at the speed limit without having to stop. While I can’t keep up the 25 mph speed limit, without traffic I can make it .6 mi. all the way to Union. A car without traffic could get to Spring at .8 mi. After 7:30, I almost always have to stop at Pine for a bus, cab, or cars turning right, and then at every other block where cars turn right until I get to work. It’s been frustrating to have to stop at Virginia every day, because this is a flat stretch of road that I can blast through at about 20-22 mph, fast enough to not tick off the cars behind me. Of course, this stretch is often  full of green-light-texters, and timid-parkers who slow everyone down. The great thing about this stretch though is that all right-hand turns have a turn lane, so no one is slowed down by a turner (they have to wait until pedestrians clear the road, which is never). The light at Virginia regularly goes out of sync on Sundays, as it's been, but not usually during the week. I am not sure what the goal with that is. Perhaps, if I am lucky enough, a traffic engineer will read my blog and comment (hint, hint, you traffic engineer you!)

Fremont Bridge Bike Count: 263 (I was 155 yesterday, crossing it an hour before normal)

*Today's blog post inspired by TMBG