Last night I biked up the parking garage ramp at work. This is a milestone of sorts. That ramp is a hated thing. The narrow, short ramp quickly travels 2 floors in a 360+ degree loop. The curve is sharper than the turning radius on the Ford company van. I drive the ramp as slowly as I can, wheels squeaking the whole way, blindly hoping that no oncoming vehicles come my way. It is a ramp I would never take with a manual transmission. In the company van, the driver's seat sits so high that I cannot see the sidewalk until I am on it (the first place the ramp levels out). This isn't a problem on a lower car, and I have come to expect the glare of pedestrians shocked that I proceed into the sidewalk while they are crossing. I wish they knew I couldn't see. There is the loud "caution vehicle exiting" announcement, but still I understandably shock them. When I worked my later shift, I could exit the building via the front doors. Now that I leave while the building is still open to the public, the ramp is my only polite option. I usually walk up it. Other commuters cycle up it without much concern. I have visions of a co-worker in a company van blindly smashing into me. One commuter fell cycling down the ramp. He blacked out with amnesia, and his head felt the impact for a couple of weeks. I am so careful and tentative, but last night I had a brief window with no traffic so I bombed up the ramp to see if I could get the whole way up without crossing the invisible center line. I did it all the way until the very end, where I was able to see if anybody would be coming my way. It worked out well. I'll probably ride up it again, when there is another window of no traffic.
Soaking Wet Commute
The rain pounded hard this morning. Rain fell for the past several days, and a wake formed on the sides of my wheels from the standing water on a good part of my route. It hasn't rained like "Seattle rains" much in the three years I lived here. I think it is only appropriate that the rain is falling so much now, and it happens to be the month I joined the "Ride the Rain Challenge" for commuters. My ears feel deafened during most of my commute from the din of cars and trucks driving by. For about 10 seconds this morning, silence wrapped me during a rare stretch with no traffic around. I got to hear the pitter-patter or the rain falling on my jacket and ground. That sound is one of the most wonderful things about rain. I crave that noise. Months of rain can go by in the city, and I don't hear that noise. I am so grateful I got to hear this sweet and simple treasure.
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.
Achievements?
mapmyride
The other day, I decided to track my morning commute on my my ride. I've never done this before. The following day, I was sent an email displaying "New Course Achievements". What does this all mean? I wasn't sprinting. I wasn't competing against anyone? I looked on the stats, and the people who ranked behind me were not necessarily slower than me, and they weren't necessarily female, although the "queen" is supposed to be a female. MapMyRide, you are odd!
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