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.

When cars turn in no turn lanes

So this happened the other day. A car made a left hand turn in a no-turn lane. It wouldn’t be that big of a violation, except they turned into my path. Without signaling. Luckily, the Postal van in front of them made a left hand turn while signaling, so I was already on the alert, and already slowed down. However, I didn’t actually think the car would turn because it waited until the very last moment to turn its wheels. I’m not sure if the driver even noticed me. What you can’t tell from this video is how dangerous this is for a cyclist. Unlike cars, cyclists don’t have the braking power cars do in the rain. The wet road and sharp breaking caused my tires to skid and my rear will to kick up and swerve off of the ground. I am an experienced cyclist, so I new to hammer my brake levers with caution. A less experienced cyclist probably would have hammered hard on the brakes which would have sent the bike into an uncontrollable skid. Once the bike is skidding uncontrollably, the options would be to either hit the car or fall to the ground. Usually falling is the best option, but I wouldn’t recommend it downtown where drivers are looking at their phones and might not even notice something lower than their grill. I’d hate to be run over after nearly hitting a car and crashing my head on the concrete. I’m not sure what I could have done here, other than stop at the green light.

If the bike lane didn’t exist, I would have been biking in the farthest left lane, which had sharrows before this lane was made last summer. Because I would have been biking with traffic, I would have been behind these turning vehicles and not next to them. I would have been safe. It is not intuitive for a car to make a left hand turn on a green light and have another vehicle in the way. I don’t blame the drivers here. Downtown driving is confusing. There is a lot going on and the drivers have to notice one tiny “no turn” sign at the light level. THis is the first intersection with a “no turn” sign after several others. I might have easily done the same thing. I don’t blame the drivers for this hazard. I blame poor traffic planning and poor road design.

This is why I am a cyclist who tend to vote against the cycling safety “improvements” pushed by the city. I am 100% for protected cycling lanes, but Seattle hasn’t figured out what those are. Seattle’s “solutions” are inconsistent across the city. THe city depends entirely on painted roads, cones, and signs. Maybe urban planners can absorb more data in traffic than I can. I’d rather a simpler road structure with fewer colors and signs.

A full week of commuting

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.

To the Fair!

The boy had tickets for the spring fair in Puallayup with the goal of eating lots and lots of elephant ears. I decided to offset the bodily effects of fair food gorging by riding my bike there to meet him. The perfect weather perfectly complimented a fantastic ride! I let MapMyRide set the route for me. Then, rather than writing turn by turn directions on a tiny piece of paper taped to my handlebars, I copied the route into Google Maps, put one ear bud in, and let the GPS voice guide me. This worked out well, because I didn't have to worry about the paper blowing away or getting rained on. I also didn't have to worry if my next turn would be a long way away, or if I'd already passed it.

Riding down 1st ave south of downtown felt odd. It didn't feel like a road intended for any bicycle to go on. It was a divided highway with four lanes, littered with light industrial buildings on both sides. It just seemed so...busy. I took comfort in the shadows passing me on the pavement. The city intended this for bikes, even if there isn't another crazy cyclist in sight. In fact, I saw none on the entire stretch of road. Riding on the road felt like an adventure in tourism, however. It was a lot of fun! I passed a mannequin store. You don't see those every day. I also passed the Living Computer Museum, and the Museum of Flight. I rode by Starbuck's corporate hub, as well as Boeing. I enjoyed riding on the Green River Trail. This was a forested trail nestled in the twists and turns of cooperate centers and workplaces. It was also long, straight stretches of power line shadows. I enjoyed the brief moments I could really get into a rhythm without stoplights to break it. I really got to pedal quickly as I got onto the Interurban trail, a separated bike path that spans miles and miles and miles south of Seattle. There are so many biking opportunities south of Seattle, I wish I wasn't so reluctant to pass through downtown to get to all these gems. I started to tires after miles thirty. But, at mile 35 I got a second wind knowing that fair food would soon be in my hungry belly. The closest thing to wildlife I saw were some forlorn looking peeps smushed on the sidewalk that looked like they'd survived there since Easter. I rolled into the fair parking lot with barely enough time to stretch before B arrived to meet me. We wondered the fair, ate way too much fair food, ate some more, looked at exhibits and livestock, listened to The Coats in concert (acapella band), and smiled and laughed before watching the sunset on the way home.

Ride to Bellevue Pond

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The day was too sunny and pleasant to not ride. So, I headed out to Bellevue Pond via the Burke Gilman Trail over the north side of Lake Washington. The cool, crisp air numbed my right foot while invigorating my soul at the same time. Great ride!

Kubota Gardens

kubota route

Friday a group of riders from work got together and rode to the lovely Kubota Gardens, a free city garden in south Seattle. It was the first time I visited the area, and it was a fantastic trip. Everything you look at and take in is better when viewed from the vantage point of a bike.

We made a lovely loop that took us up some hills headed south from downtown, and also took us through Seward park on the way north. This route lends to great riding with is mostly smooth roads, accommodating vehicles, and views of Lake Washington in the sunshine. We captured amazing glances of Mt. Rainier while pedaling up and down the charming Chief Sealth Trail. I felt like I was riding the through Powerline Park in Beaverton, Oregon. Both parks boast a well maintained, multi-sue path down a long and narrow greenway that follows power lines. You could steal amazing views from either park if it weren't for the obtrusive powerless in the way. Just check out the photos I linked above- they could be the same park!

The group took some fun photos once in the Kubota gardens. Check them out!

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Seated for a proper classroom

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42 Traffic Lights in 8 miles

I recounted the number of traffic lights I pass through on the way to work. I counted this before, but wasn't sure if I got the numbers right. I did, I pass through 42 lights on the way to work. Interesting tidbit- over half of these lights are in the last three miles as I approach downtown. You can imagine how much of a difference in ride time this would make depending on how many reds and how many greens I hit. I've improved a lot in anticipating the timing of many lights, and adjusted where I sprint and where I cruise in some places. This cut 10 minutes off my ride time. I could work on this more and save even more time, I'm sure, but I am not real motivated, especially since my lungs limit me from sprinting in some areas I see other cyclists take full advantage.

I was so worried!

As I rode into work on the sunniest of mornings, I got to thinking about riding for fun. This lead me to thinking about my bike, and how it needs some maintenance. This got me thinking about my favorite bike repair shop. It's on the way to work, but horrible inconvenient otherwise. This means I procrastinate on getting the work done that I need. At this time, I approached the building, and to my shock- it was closed down! The windows were boarded up! I rode on in sadness and disappointment. I felt for the little guy, the small business just trying to do good, honest work and how that is in our economy. I felt guilty; if only I'd gotten my work done sooner, maybe they would have stayed in business. I irrationally felt like my one chain replacement would make or break the business. As I shook my head in remorse, I rode up to another building a half mile down the road. And there was the Wrench- bigger, shinier, closer to town! Wow! They must be doing fantastic as a business! The new lot had to have a much pricier lease. I pedaled the rest of the way into work with a smile on my face, happy for the world, and comforted knowing some things do go well sometimes.

Danger abated. Lovely Acquired.

A woman driving sped through a two way stop of which I had the right of way on my bike. This sort of thing happened frequently at intersections near my home, as Seattle tends to yeild left at all intersections. This means that all they have to do us look to the right and go, because everyone to the left must yeild to the vehicle on the right. I frankly disagree, perhaps becuase I don't consider myself a Seattlite, who knows. I think those who have stop signs should stop. Being used to this intersection, my pace was slow enough to stop on a dime. I proceeded. At the last minute, already half way through the intersection, she saw me and stopped. I gave her the polite (I hope) flat-handed stop signal  hand as I curved around her stopped car. It was all very pleasant and civil. Another great ride!The sun is shining, the weather is warm, today is at its very best. Horray, today! Here are some photos of the park I rode to, where I am now writing this post, with the sun on my back.

2 days in a row!

I did it! I stayed above 10mph on the Fremont hill for 2 days in a row! This time I counted that the hill is 2/5ths of a mile long. Trust me, it seems like it goes on forever.All drivers were great today. One female ruder with panniers like mine blocked me out of the curb at a light. Making me awkwardly sit to the side of her so I wasn't in the way of a turning lane. But pretty uneventful ride otherwise. The ride home was dark and rainy, but great. I like days like this.

7.95 mi./7.85 mi. 36mins./ unknown 13.21 mph average 24mph max

Here's the commuter getting ready to go inside.

Achievement Unlocked!

I lost my commuting base this year, much to my sadness, but I just simply didn't feel like riding in the traffic and urban roads any more. It's more tiring that fun. But, today I rode! And I gave it my 100%. It's been a goal of mine to ride this certain hill without breaking below 10mph for almost 3 years-and I never did it- until today! The hill is particularly bad, it starts out quite steep, then appears to level off. But it doesn't, the hill lessens in slope, but keeps going, and going, and going. That's why it such a killer, it's too easy to push so hard trying to get up the steep part of the hill that you wimp out at the end of the hill. The fastest riders start out slow, a pace slow enough to maintain the whole way. I never manage to do it, I've gotten close, but have always dropped below 10mph, even if for only one pedal stroke.  Of course, my heart rate was above 170 for the whole thing, and I rode the rest of the way in with a burning throat. I chickened out on the way home, so I didn't ride home. Still, I'm happy I did it and rode. I am going to set my goals light, and give myself a full four weeks to ramp up to the 60 miles a week I've been riding for a couple of years. But I am going to do it. It starts today.

• 8.52mi
• 41 min.
• 12.32mph
• 23.4mph max
• 347' climbed
• 351' max
• 140bpm av pulse
• 173bpm max
• 305 calories burned