Project Sunrise
Best of Project Sunrise 7
Best of Project Sunrise 6
Best of Project Sunrise 5
Best of Project Sunrise 4
Best of Project Sunrise 3
Best of Project Sunrise 2
Best of Project Sunrise
Hot Wheels! 100 degrees!
Why did I decide to ride my bike in the middle of a 100 degree day? Well, what else am I going to do? I’m glad my rubber didn’t melt consider the heat waves this year cooked all the onion in Walla Walla while they were still in the ground.
Holiday Ride: The 4th of July
I dressed in red and white, hopped on a blue (ish) bike and rode around to celebrate my…uh…American independence. Sort of seems like the only value America has left, but hey,I’m an independent woman, right?
Two wheels rotate for Pi Day
Ok, so I know Pi day is March 14 (3.14), but it took me a while to archive rides this year. I decided to ride in the shape of the Pi symbol, in a mileage of 314, on 3/14. Considering that I’m pedalling in circles, making round wheels turn to do it all, and that I finished eating a pie, it was all too meta for my brain to handle. I became giggly with excitement and likely scared passers by with my solitary laughter. No matter, this ride was fun.
Urban road realities
I am more sympathetic than most cyclists when it comes to obstructing bike lanes. Most cyclists oppose any and every time a bike lane is occupied by anything other than a bike. I get it. I mean, the bike lane is a designated lane of traffic, just like a bus lane or a carpool lane. It shouldn’t be violated, even if it opposes the whole “share the road” philosophy. At the same time, cars often need to stop to talk on the phone, make a quick stop, or deal with a hazard. There are many legit reasons a vehicle needs to stop, and urban bike lanes nearly always eliminate the option of a shoulder. Bike lanes also tend to be on smaller, residential roads with street parking. Cars turning into traffic don’t have good visibility and often need to nose into the bike lane to see. I get it. It’s OK.
There are exceptions, and Washington Driver BNY3804 is one of them. You see, BNY3804 opted to park on the north shoulder, when the south should has street parking. There is no excuse, except for a mechanical failure. I’m pretty sure BNY3804 just stopped for a delivery, because you see this sort of quick stopping with Amazon, Fedex, and UPS trucks all the time. Luckily this road had good visibility and I could safety bike around it.
Going to the Bike Shop in COVID-era
My bike is but a few months old, and it needed to get some adjustments. I’m not used to using a double chainring and needed some help getting my derailer set right for the perfect amount of trim. I wasn’t sure how much life my stock chain had in it (turns out to be a lot!) and one of my discs had some rub.
I procrastinated for weeks, but finally got out to the bike store. The store moved to separate entrances; sales and service. While several people didn’t read the signage, it was clear and well done. It worked for the most part. Each customer had to wait in line outside until space opened up inside. Each staff person had a marked “zone” to stand in, and they kept a 1:1 ratio for staff and customers. Each staff person had to be their own cashier and checked out thier customer only. Sanitizing stations cornered the zones. They did a great job.
Biking in COVID-19 Era
I ride past a few parks every day. They all look the same. The swings are tied up with caution tape and the parks are blocked off.
A single mom and her little boy live in the apartment above me. He’s young, maybe first grade? It’s hard to guess because he’s so spry and hard to catch a glance at him. He runs back and forth all day long and jumps from the furniture. Sometimes he branches out to the elevator and sprints up and down the hallways of all the floors. These are not long hallways; on 2 units deep. One time I watched the mom go outside to put trash in the dumpster. The boy yelled from the balcony, “Mom! Mom! Mom! Look at me!” The mother, clearly embarrassed and worried, hushed him and told him to go inside. More than annoyed (and it is annoying to hear all this thumping!) my heart breaks for this child. Kids can’t go to school and they can’t play outside.
Project Sunrise Continues
Project Sunrise: Week 1
I decided to ride my bike to Kerry Park every morning to greet the sunrise. The goal is to bike a slightly different route to Kerry Park every morning and take a photo. I have been riding my bike to work most days for the past 8 years. I have the lucky advantage of living in a north enough latitude and have a long enough commute in each direction that I often get the chance to ride with either the sunrise or sunset and sometimes both. If it weren’t for the grey weather that hides the sunrises and sunsets, I could probably see sky colors most of the days of my commute. I’m working from home now with the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order that looms over most of the country as we limit contact to combat COVID-19. I don’t have a morning commute any more and the gym is closed. My job is the 24/7 sort, so the working from bit doesn’t feel all that different from normal, but having no access to the gym has been the death of me. This project gave me a destination, a way to get out of bed, and a good climb too. I finally found a repeatable ride that meets 2 of the 3 parts of a good ride: exercise, destination, social time. This activity is about half of what I did while working onsite, so it should be easy to maintain every day. I decided Sundays don’t have to be sunrise rides because there is already a “sun” in the “day” (har har). You can tell easily from the summary photos which days are not sunrises!
Cars in Bike Lanes edition 34
This video sort of speaks for itself. Cars regularly make u-turns in front of me. They swoop in and out, presumably without even noticing that I am there, crunching on my brake handles. I find it a little uncanny; rarely do I see cars making u turns in the distance. It seems they only do so right in front o me. Anyway, I’m sure that’s an awareness bias. This car dumbfounded me though. I assumed it was pulling into the driveway. It didn’t and it had tons of space in front of it. Why it was trying to back up (wher I was waiting for it), was beyond me.
Seattle Cyclist’s Solution for Being Seen
Bike commuting on dark and rainy morning, a car driver pulls over to tell me I'm doing it right! :D
“Fantastic Lights!” is the best compliment a driver can give a bike commuter. Someone gave me this very compliment the other day and I can’t be more proud. It took the research and efforts of myself and several others who care about my safety to come up with the perfect setup. It was no easy feat. But exactly what is my setup? Why did I pick them? A lot of people have been asking.
There are 8 elements to being seen in 3 different categories to make my total of 24 visibility features:
My jacket is SOOOO reflective
Visibility from the front, rear, and both sides
I have lights, reflective features and colors exposed on all sides. This helps cars passing on my left, cars turning on the road from my right, oncoming cars that suddenly decide to make a u-turn (this happens more than you would think!), and cars coming up from behind have a better chance of seeing me.
Reflectivity, lights, and bright colors
Reflective features pop when lights shine on them. They punch through rain and fog and are the simplest and brightest. Reflective features are great in that they are never too bright, but they only work when the person looking has a light. Since so many Seattle drivers drive without their lights on, night and day, these are insufficient. They also don’t do anything to help pedestrians see you. I have a fully reflective jacket, reflective features on my shoes, pant legs, gloves, and panniers.
Lights are visible night and day. I have a total of 72 LEDs on my bike. Lights can be so bright they are blinding, especially to pedestrians. They can also be positioned poorly so as to shine in someone’s face. I angle my lights to cast a shadow only about 4-6 feet to be sure I don’t blind anybody. My lights are all different levels of brightness. I can go from 50 lumens to 1000 lumens. I try to keep each light around 500 lumens but have several of them. 700 lumens is pretty bright when focused, so I only do this when needed, or if I need them to help see. Some of my lights are focused, and some are broad. I have all sorts of colors, too.
Seattle is particularly grey most of the year. It may be board daylight, but the outdoor color is dim and muted. Most active clothing, especially women’s active clothing, is black. Clothing manufacturers deal with this by adding reflective features, but again, they don’t do any good if headlights aren’t shining. Black clothing disappears into the background and is hard to see. I do what I can to be as colorful as possible. This helps offset the grey of Seattle.
Static and dynamic features
I have steady lights and flashing lights. I avoid the flashing strobe when it’s dark because that can be quite disorienting. However, I have many lights that flash at various speeds and patterns. The movement pops when a driver looks. We are trained to identify fast moving things, like other cars, while we’re driving. If you glance at the road quickly, a bike moving 10 mph might look like it’s not moving at all. Flashing also penetrates longer distances, so you can be seen from farther away. I also have reflective features that are static, like my panniers and jacket. They add to my overall brightness. But I have reflective moving features, like my feet and hands, that add to the flashing lights. All this movement makes me easier to spot.
My Setup
But what exactly do I have, you ask? Here are my most asked about accessories, all listed out. I add links to the products where I could. Note that I’m just a commuter in Seattle trying to stay alive. I’m not selling anything, I don’t get any perks if you buy what I have, and I am not particularly recommending that you buy what I have. I just love my setup, and want to share it because so many people ask.
Proviz Reflect 360 CRS Plus Jacket on me. This is the new jacket. Super fun! I haven’t been this excited about clothing in a while. It’s waterproof, warm, full of pockets, and bright as can be.
Monkey Light on my front wheel. This is a series of LEDs that flash in a pattern. I have over 70 pre-set patterns to choose from. I feature a different pattern for each season and holiday, but my all-time favorite is dead fish (of course!). This has generated more conversation and has consistently been more fun than any other bike accessory ever! (Thanks Louise!)
Cycliq Fly 12CE and Fly 6CE on my handlebar and rear rack. These lights are designed specifically as headlights and tail lights and include video cameras that were used to make the videos highlighted here. These have been the glitchiest and most unreliable, but also most complex and high-tech of bike gadgets.
Cygolight Hotshot on my seat post. Just a simple, long-lasting tail light. This is the gold standard. You are bike a bike commuter if you don’t have a light like this! The battery lasts forever! (Thanks to…shoot, I can’t remember if it was Bryan or Louise! These two keep me safe!)
Niterider Lumina on my handlebar. This is a solid headlight light that gives me exactly what I need. I’ve gone through 2 of these lights over the my many years commuting.The company’s customer service has been top notch. I could (and did) get by with just this light and a tail light all winter long (Thanks Bryan!)
It's bike Month
Seriously…how did it get to me May already? I’m not sure, but apparently it’s bike month. So, let’s see how I do!
The Tunnel Ride
Last year’s Emerald City Bike ride was kinda cold and a bit of a slog. I worried another ride on the viaduct in cold February might be the same. The weather cooperated well for The Tunnel Ride, however. We stayed cool and dry. And the snow waited for everyone to get home before it started falling.
Check out my Video
Check out my Photos
many of these photos are compliments of the lady Wooleaters. Thank you for being such great photographers! This was more a day to document history than it was a ride. What will this same spot look like in 5 years? Ten years? It won’t be the same.
