pulling over to talk on the cell phone

To those of you who pull over in your car to talk on your cell phone, I commend you! Thank you for making a responsible choice. Driving is the most life-threatening thing most people ever do, so it means a lot when you give your caller your focused attention.  However, there are ways to be even safer, which I’ll highlight below:

1.  If possible, choose a parking spot to pull over in. You won’t have to pay if you sit in the car and are just there for a few moments. Please make this choice especially if there is an empty parking lot less than a car length away from you. Please, please make this choice if there is an empty parking lot and open street side parking on the same block you want to stop.
2. If there is no available parking spots and no shoulder, it may be better to wait to answer the call until you find such space. If you must stop you vehicle in the middle of the street, please turn on your hazard lights. If you can’t turn on your hazard lights for some reason, at least turn on your headlights. 
3. A bike lane is part of the street. Conditioned cyclists can ride 25-30 mph, the same pace as cars in city and residential streets, so a bike lane is very much a part of the street. Think of it the way you would think of a carpool lane; part of the road but not intended for everyone. Go ahead and use it in the event of an emergency, that’s cool, but if it’s not an emergency, you may be causing more danger than you are fixing. 

I encountered this situation as I was riding into work. The morning was dark, wet, and rainy. I heard the tiny “ding ding ding” of a bike bell long before I saw it. As I strained my ears to figure the source of this patient, yet persistent “ding ding ding”, I saw in front of me a large SUV parked in the bike lane and a cyclist stopped behind it dinging their bell. “YOU WANT ME TO HONK MY HORN?” I yell at the top of my lungs as I approach. The SUV obviously didn’t hear his persistent “ding ding ding”

“AAAAAWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN”

I laid on my air horn and it was fully charged. A loud blaring honk jolts the driver, causing them to point their finger angrily. Neither me nor the quiet cyclist could tell what he was pointing at. He obviously heard my honk and he obviously wasn’t moving. Because the SUV was wedge in the bike lane between the curb and a parking lane bump out, we had to get off our bikes and walk into traffic to get past him. Sometimes I see delivery trucks or whoever using the bike lane as loading zone, which I am completely OK with when there are no other options. It’s obvious the driver is making the safest choice in their given situation. However, most of the time there is a perfectly good shoulder or parking spot just a few feet away. In this particular case, this SUV couldn’t have picked a worse spot to pull over. As we passed we could see he was on the phone. The person on the other end probably heard my air horn, too. The cyclist was amazed by the OOMPH of the air horn. I told him it was effective on "green light texters" as well.

The SUV was parked inside of a protected lane, like the one above, so there was no way for a cyclist to pass without hopping a curb. photo credit: http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/it-turns-out-that-protected-bike-lanes-are-fantastic-for-walking-safety-too

I often hear that the shoulders and street side parking of many roads were eliminated so bike lanes could be added. This pisses people off, and I sometimes wonder if people park in bike lanes out of spite. To that end, I have a few points to add:

• Adding bike lanes allows more people to ride their bikes, meaning fewer people on the road, meaning car drivers can get where they are going faster and with less traffic!
• If there was not a bike lane, people like myself would still be biking. Except we’d be on the road. Slowing you down!
• That doesn’t mean I agree with the City’s decision to add bike lanes at the cost of parking. I don’t. But the City didn’t listen to me. It doesn’t help you to take it out on the cyclists. If your neighbor comes over and drops a big bowl of dog food on your floor and your dog eats all of it, you’d take this up with the neighbor. You can’t blame your dog for eating the food, that’s what dogs do. You can’t blame the cyclists for using the bike lanes, that’s what they do. Would you rather the alternative? 

Ride in the Rain Challenge 2016 Results

The results are in! I am happy with my participation in this challenge. I ranked first in distance out of all the other co-workers on my team and 2nd for number of trips. I am happy to rank first in distance. The challenge itself looks at numbers of trips. I assume looking at number of trips is more inclusive, because folks who are not cyclists can still ride their bike here and there. I am all for including more people, but when it comes to commuting, I think distance should be just a commendable. The shorter your distances the more trips a rider can make. There is a direct socioeconomic correlation with how close people are able to live from work and the grocery store, etc. I looked at the rankings, and the people who made the most trips did so by logging several quarter and half mile trips every day. I look at them and think, “lucky duck! Can I be your roommate?” When I looked at the participant who logged the most miles, I felt real respect. This guy had a 25 or 30 miles one-way commute to work depending on which route he took. And he biked to and from work every day. Respect, dude, respect. 
It was a good month. November gave me decent weather and decent drivers. Yeah, it rained, but it wasn’t crazy Noah-gets-PTSD sort of rain. It was just rain. It was cold. But not so cold. It was dark, but I am not yet tired and blind to daylight. I actually like riding in the rain better than most of my other options. Rain means fewer people out on the road and more cautious drivers. During the beautiful sunny days of summer, I am often stressed by the congestion of bikes on the road, the wayward tourists and overall distracted state of people in general. The people who come outside in the rain mean business. These are good people to share the road with. 

Fremont Bridge bike count: 129

Now that the Ride in the Rain Challenge is over, I am down to “winter numbers” on the bike counter. I likely won’t have more than 250 people riding  before me until February when people start training for Chilly Hilly. On rainy days, I’ll be in the low 100s. Good days ahead. Indeed.

The commuter mishap every cyclist has nightmares about

This day shall forever be remembered as the day I went to work without a shirt. That’s right. I totally forgot to bring the shirt I had planned to wear with me. It was an innocent mistake. See, I thought my work shirt might double as an extra layer while I rode into the health club this morning. Because the ride to the health club is all downhill, I am often extra chilled. However, when I woke up I found the temperature outside 10 degrees colder than expected and opted to pack my work shirt and choose a warmer shirt to ride with. I am used to having my work clothes packed in my bike panniers, so with the excitement of the morning, I just walked out the door without ever getting the shirt packed. We found out the secured apartment garage had a prowler in it again last night. Instead of leaving like I normally do, we checked out our stuff in the garage as I left. The vandal spared us this time. They tampered with the lock and door of our storage shed, but stole nothing. It appears other neighbors might not have been so lucky. Would I have still forgotten the shirt without all the excitement? Probably. 
Luckily, I couldn’t have picked a better day to forget a shirt. That extra warm shirt I wore biking worked out just fine as a backup. The bike shirt was new in 2004, and was too worn to look remotely appropriate much less professional, but luckily I had a little jacket to wear over it that kinda matched. Whew! Crisis abated! I am so glad I don’t work for a company that scrutinizes the professionalism of my attire, or else I would have been up a creek. I am also glad I have space to store extra sweaters and socks and underwear, to minimize the crisis of mistakes like these! 

Fremont Bridge Bike Count: 253

Traffic light triggers for bikes

when I first moved to Seattle, only a few intersections had sensors for bikes to trigger light changes. Often I'd have to waddle over to a crosswalk and press the pedestrian crossing button, or just wait for a car to come up behind me. Then I started noticing these little "T" shaped markings all over the place. I have no idea if I just didn't notice them at first or if they were installed in the last few years. 

The key is to get your tire over the "T". If your tire is merely near the " T" the light will not change in your favor.  

Some markings are big, some are small, but I see them at nearly every intersection with lights affected by sensors.  

What surprises me is how many cyclists I pedal up to who don't use the sensors. Even a Cascade Bicycle ride leader didn't know about the "T". They either sit, waiting for the light to turn on it's own, or hobble over to the pedestrian crosswalk. I've heard some cyclists think they could be anywhere over the car sensor to trigger it and I've heard some say they were too light (I'm pretty sure it's a magnet, people, not a scale) or that their bike was such a fancy compost that the magnet didn't respond. I am fully convinced it's all about having your tire RIGHT over the "T" as pictured in the photos. 

I, for one, am thanksgiving thankful for these sensors. My commute is better since their installation. Thank you, Seattle!

Thinking of a kayak for my commute

Hey average rider, I am totally kicking your butt!

This October made history as the wettest October ever recorded here in Seattle. Not only did the rain fall, it fell hard. November is traditionally the wettest month of the year, and with my commutes mostly in the darkness already, I didn’t look forward to the Ride In the Rain Challenge. My count at the Fremont bridge rapidly dropped down to winter levels in the 150’s. I opted to join the challenge at the last minute. How could I not? This sort of thing is very much Seattle and I just have to do it. I have another long, dark, wet winter ahead, might as well make it as fun as possible, right? As soon as November started, my count jumped back up to the 250's, meaning there must be 100 commuters before me who are doing it just for this very challenge. Way to motivate us, Washington Bikes!

To commemorate the rain, I’ll share with you an epic rain ride experience:

Rain fell heavily on the way to work the other day. No matter, I have top end waterproof cycling jacket, and warm thinsulate gloves, and gore-tex shoes. It wasn't until half way through my ride that I noticed my jacket failed. My jackets has never failed me in the 3 years I've been riding in the rain, but today my arms, shirt, and phone all got a drippy layer covering them. 

Then, I turned an unforgettable corner. I turned right onto 34th from Stone Way, a turn I make every day. Usually my only concern is making sure there isn't another oncoming cyclist in my line of pedal. However, on this day, I turned the corner and everything stopped. So many sensations hit me all at once. I felt my bike come to a halt. This was the sort of halt when you suddenly find yourself going up a very steep hill and you shift in the wrong direction. If felt like the front of my bike got punched. At the same moment, I felt water cover me. Streams of cool water poured inside my clothing. My shoes, submerged in water, filled more quickly than I could register. As I watched water pour over my knees, my body responded automatically, involuntarily. Out of some soul unknown to me, my legs pushed down with all their might. My body didn't hesitate, when the force of my legs did nothing, my body reflexively stood up and pushed down. And pushed. And pushed.  My mind felt like a bystander, a watcher in all of this. One leg moved. Then another leg moved. Sometimes bikes halt suddenly in a ride, perhaps a strong wind or a skipped gear, and the body does everything it can to keep from falling over. As if falling meant terrible, irrecoverable doom. My brain the bystander finally caught up to the moment, "I am not falling. I'm upright. I'm a-OK. Let's observe the situation. What is going on?" I looked out and realized I hit a giant puddle. It was dark outside so the glossy black of the puddle was hard to distinguish from the black gloss of wet asphalt. I looked ahead, "where does this puddle end?" It seemed to reach forever ahead of me, ending in the middle of the car lane beside me. Reflexively, I started to turn toward the edge of the water. I stopped myself, realizing that would mean me turning into traffic and I was working too hard to pay attention to what's behind me. I looked down. One foot, gone, lost in the black glass. Waves crested over my knees. The other foot, gone. I thought, "How is it even possible that this water is so deep? I am on a road, I am on this road every day, how did it suddenly become a river I have to cross?" I got through the thick of it, the pool became a more typical wake of water splashing up form my tires. I, dripping from wet, looked around, frantic to find another cyclist. I pedaled alone. 

The next day, the river had drained. What I noticed though, is that the road takes a particular dip at this corner, making it much lower than all the road around it. What I also noticed was small walls of sandbags built up at the edges of the asphalt. I couldn't figure out what the sandbags where trying to protect, but that explained for the added depth in the puddle. To this day, the corner is covered in a thick, wet muck of leaves and road debris. It's easy to see how drainage grates wouldn't stand a chance in this spot. 

Friendly Friday

It's 5 o'clock rush hour in downtown Seattle on a Friday night. Rain just started to fall and I am zipping down 4th avenue in the shared bike lane. I look over my shoulder and notice a car lurking behind me one lane over. I continue on, look again, and notice the car still hasn't sped up. Why, I wonder, as I look ahead and see that there are no cars ahead of this one even though the other 2 lanes are full of cars. Oh, well, I wonder. I guess I need to change lanes soon. At that moment, the car sped up a little too fast, overtaking all the empty road ahead of me. That's when I realized the car was waiting for ME! The thoughtful driver probably saw me glance over and look at him and thought I was about to change lanes. He then held back all the traffic waiting for me to change lanes and I never did. I totally get it, when a cyclist looks to the side it totally looks like they are about to change lanes. Something about how the whole bike moves just from the head turning. Also, unlike a driver in a car, it is very obvious every  time a cyclists' head turns. I felt very warmed that the driver was so cautious and thoughtful of me. I feel bad that rather than thanking them, I probably annoyed them by making no intention to change lanes. 

A little farther, I'm stopped at a traffic light, and the cyclist in front of me gets in the middle of the car lane instead of the bike lane. "That's weird", I think. At that moment, the cyclist points at me and the giant UPS truck to the side of me. "He's trying to turn", he says. "Huh?" At that moment, I realize the bike lane is closed off ahead of me anyway, so there was no reason for me to be in the bike lane and every reason for me to be with the other cyclist so the UPS truck could turn. I moved, and the UPS truck happily went about it's way. I appreciated the cyclist pointing that all out to me and the driver for being patient.

Toward the end of my ride, I sped past all the slowed cars in the congestion of Greenwood. SCREE! A car is trying to turn out of a shop and the car stuck in traffic is letting them in. I don't know this because all I see is stopped traffic and can't see the big empty space nice people in the cars above me are leaving. I screech to a stop, leaving space for the car to get out of the driveway. Instead, he stops and waves me on. Aww, it was just so remarkable seeing people so genuinely patient during rush hour. No sooner do I pass those vehicles that the same thing happens again. I stop fully this time, no way are two drivers going to notice me in a row. But this other driver did the exact same thing. He actually seemed pleased to encourage me along. 

I probably miss out on many kindnesses made by others, just as I did early on in today's ride. However, their efforts are meaningful nonetheless, as I am still just as touched realizing it after the fast. I hope I can extend similar kindnesses to others on my next ride.

Shocking analysis of the Dexter Climb

When I started commuting to work years ago, I made it a goal of mine to span the entire Dexter Climb without dropping below 10mph. The special thing about this hill is that it creeps up on you. You start climbing. It becomes a bit of a bottleneck as you find yourself passing other cyclists just as more still are passing you. You make it past the bus stop and to the end of this , nice steady hill. And then. That's where the hill really starts. Suddenly, you realize it’s gotten steeper and longer. You look ahead, and you can’t see where the hill ends. If you pushed already, you don’t have enough push now to keep the pace. Finally, you can see ahead and it looks like the road levels out. But your eyes are lying to you. It’s still a hill and it doesn’t give up being a hill until you get all the way to the intersection. You know you’ve won when you cross the line of cars waiting for you faster than a snail, with a little breath and dignity left.
Today I pushed up the hill with everything I had. I thought it would be fun to compare Strava’s analysis with yesterday, when I strolled up the hill in a daze and no ambition. 

Todays' aggressive Dexter Climb

Yesterday's chilled out Dexter Climb

Yesterday I didn’t purposefully go slowly up the hill, I just carried on normally. Today I really tried. I gave it all I got. Just as I crested that last bit of hill I could barely muster the energy to make it to the end. It was the sort of effort where my legs went numb and my peripheral vision went black. Still, I stood on the bike and gave it everything. The monstrous difference in perceived effort appeared to be just that- a different in perceived effort. My cadence and heart rate were the same. I finished the climb a whopping 1 second faster. This seems to fit, given that I can coast all the way into work versus pound it to work and the difference in time is negligible. My peak heart rate was 2 beats higher today, which is interesting given the vast difference in perception. Most notably was a spike in pace part way through today’s climb. I passed someone on a folding bike before a bus bump out and tried really hard to pass them with enough oomph that I wouldn’t slow them down when I went in front of them. Perhaps the results would have been more impressive had it not been for that obstacle. Other than that, I am surprised in how similar each climb appears when just looking at the data. 

Today's aggressive Dexter Climb Analysis 

Yesterday's chilled-out Dexter Climb Analysis

Exploring Strava

Screenshot of this morning's "flybys"- I am the hollow black dot in the middle of the map.

I signed up for a Strava account for the first time a few weeks ago. I’ve been hearing about this cycling app/community for years, and always steered clear of it because everything I heard leaned toward competition. I am not in it (whatever “it” is) to beat anyone or win anything. Strava seems like the app of choice for cyclists, however, so I finally decided to give it a try. 
Immediately I can see the social pieces it builds right into the experience, whether you want them or not. They are somewhere very close to the fine line separating “totally cool and barrier-breaking” to “creepy and invasive”. 
For example, last Sunday I joined Cascade Bicycle Club for a group ride. I loaded my ride data into Strava, and the first thing it showed me was several other Strava users who went on the same bike ride. Even though I don’t know their names (we had 3 pace groups and some 45 people) much less their Strava usernames, Strava’s system easily calculated that we all went on the same bike ride together. Each person gave the ride a different name, but Strava knew. It knew we were all together. 
This morning I used Strava to track my morning commute. Stava’s “flybys” feature tracked other Strava users who I passed or passed me this morning. Not only did it track them, it provided me wither their names, routes, route speeds, and the exact point where we met on each other’s route. I’ve been naming the regular commuters for years, but only in my head. In theory, I could learn not just the name of “high cadence grey backpack lady” but also where she lives and works and how fast she rides overall. What about “flappy yellow rainjacket guy”? Strava could take my commute to a whole new level. 

"flyby" data from my Sunday group ride

A screenshot of my “flyby” data from my Sunday group ride is pasted above. Alexa, positioned below me, what the ride leader. I assume we only matched 96% because my phone stopped tracking just a few miles before I finished the ride. All the other people, well, they must have been on the ride, too. 

Pedestrians on the run

As I zoom downhill on my way to work in the morning, a pedestrian on the other side of the street starts to sprint as full speed across the street, jay-walker style. She is bolting for all she’s worth. I’ve never seen anyone sprint with such gusto while carrying a backpack. It’s after she crosses the center-line and reaches the middle of the car lane that she sees me in the bike lane. That’s when she stopped cold; deer-in-headlights.

“IT’S OK, PEDESTRIAN, I ALREADY SEE YOU.
I’VE BEEN WATCHING YOU SINCE YOU WERE ON THE SIDEWALK.
I ALREADY STOPPED.
I WON’T HIT YOU.
I PROMISE.”

Once I waved her on, she walked the rest of the way across the street and to her bus stop. 

Fremont Bridge Bike Count: 333

Wring-your-socks-out commute

Today was the first sopping-wet rain of the fall season. Seattle has a lot of rain, and it seems to tend to peak during morning commute time, but it rarely rains very hard. Today was one of those rare days. Today it rained like in the movies, solid sheets of water thrumming straight down. It pummeled my face with this stinging-dagger-drops. It ran down my legs, through my socks, and puddled securely inside my water-proof shoes. 
The locker room at work lacks space to dry wet items. Wall hooks are premium spaces and our lockers (if you are lucky enough to have one) don’t vent. I try to leave my locker doors open on these soggy days so my clothes can air out and I don’t open my locker doors to thick air and the odors of wet dog and mildew. Sadly, well-meaning co-workers close my door every time I do this. I have gone through every effort to make it obvious I meant to leave it open, short of handing a sign, which I’ll do if they close my locker today. I really hope it’s obvious. And if a co-worker steals my dripping wet bike gear…well…then I’ll be a sad panda.

I'm the one doing it wrong

The last couple of weeks of commutes have been particularly challenging when it comes to near misses and feeling safe. No person or thing has been hurt, but I’ve felt pretty shaken several times. This led me to re-evaluate my riding behaviors. I took time to carefully observe others. I always thought that a responsible, safe cyclist was supposed to “behave like a car.” I’ve taken this seriously and do everything on a bike just like I would when driving car (behaving the same at intersections, etc.) with 3 exceptions:

1. If there’s a bike lane I’ll ride in that
2. If I can’t maintain the pace of traffic, I’ll ride on the shoulder or edge of the lane
3. I avoid coming to a complete stop (starting from a dead stop is tiresome when you have to do it over and over) 

I see other cyclists riding between cars on the center line, jumping sidewalks and running lights. I always thought those “reckless bike-messenger wanna-bes” were the odd ones out. But then, after careful observation over the past couple of weeks, I’ve taken note of other cyclist behavior. I’ve probably observed hundreds of other cyclists. I am the only one who rides with traffic. If I am the only one, then it must be me who’s doing it wrong. Where did I get this idea of riding in the first place? Why have I felt so virtuous for riding this way for so many years when it clearly is not the way to ride? Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen anyone else ride with traffic in a very long time. I feel embarrassed for having touted this riding style for so long. 
It all makes sense to me now. This must be why I get honked and yelled at so much downtown. I think pedestrians would rather me just go on my way than slow for them, and I think cars mostly prefer I just get out of their space as quickly as possible. I’m going to let this observation sit with me for a bit, I am not sure what to think of it. 

The morning commute of achievement

picture blatantly stolen from: https://yogawithmaheshwari.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/chaturanga-how-to-perfect.jpg

I rode my road bike to work today while I wait for new tires on my commuter to arrive. I tried patching up my tube on the commuter one last time over the weekend, and it too went flat. HOLY MOLY! I got to work 13 minutes faster and burned 80 calories fewer than I typically do on the commuter! The perceived exertion was about half. The Dexter hill? That hill I challenge myself to ride without dropping below 10mph? The hill I can meet said challenge if I redline my heart rate at 175 bpm? Yeah, I blew up that hill at 12mph with my heart rate never going over 165. I was able to pedal at car speeds in downtown traffic while barely winded. It’s remarkable the difference a bike can make. I also walked up the 4 flights of stairs from the parking garage like a healthy person. I usually take each step slowly and deliberately, pulling myself up along the side rail to keep the sharp stabbing collapsing pain my knees at bay. What is most responsible for this difference, I wonder? Is it the overall lighter weight of the bike combined with missing the 20+ lb. load on the panniers? Is it my flashy tires with considerably less rolling resistance? Is it the mid-range components compared to the entry-level components on my commuter? While more people still passed me than I passed, I can tell myself they must all have better bikes than me. Sure, it has nothing to do with individual performance. Nope. I bet all those people flying past me have hidden electric motors, too. Right, right?
I also did a real chaturunga in yoga this morning. In 20 years of practice, my knees always hit the ground first. Today, perhaps because I felt so pumped on the bike, I lowered to the ground in the ideal way; chest and legs touching simultaneously. 
Confusingly, I checked in at my health club with more gains in lean muscle mass than I had in all 6 months of working myself out to death; blood, sweat and tears. I say confusingly because the spent most of the past month sick with a cold. I hardly exercised at all and lifted weights even less. Obviously, I can’t continue to gain muscle while lying in bed, so I’ve decided this whole body composition methodology is bogus. I will move forward gauging success only by performance. Body compositions seems like an easier fitness indicator. When it comes to fitness, there are so many factors; endurance, stamina, power, speed, etc. that I am not sure what I want to measure or how. For instance, the speed at which I finish a 100-mile bike ride is an indicator of endurance. However, stronger muscles will enable me to climb more efficiently which would improve my finish time. And it is a different muscle that allows you to power up a short, steep hill than it is that allows you climb up a long, constant hill. Who knows. As long as the process is fun, right? 

Fremont Bridge Bike Count: 311

One of those days

I bounded out of bed this morning with uncharacteristic determination to go to yoga class. I dress, ate, and hoped on the bike. Flat tire. Yoga is out. It would take twice as long to get there by bus, and since I happen to be out of spare tubes, I had to patch the tube which will take at least 10 minutes. Given the pouring rain, I would get to yoga too late and too drippy. I set to patching the tube and found my bottle of patch cement all dried up. That’s OK! I have more! And the second bottle was empty. That’s OK! I have more! With the tube securely patched and tires scoured for guilty objects, I pumped the tube and….pssssssssssst. A second pinprick hole on the opposite end! I set the second patch. My new super bottle of cement took forever to dry. I need a new tire, I know. I have about 9,000 miles on this tire, which is probably a pretty good life. The tread is worn, the side walls are cracked. I gave up trying to ride to work. The risk of the worn out tire being the cause of the flats and simply creating another flat down the road seemed too likely. Then the rain came pouring down. It was an omen. Defeated, I sat in my bike outfit on the bed. The cat just sat there and stared at me. It was like she knew. She just kept staring! It could have been worse, my coworker lives in Bothell, north of me. A huge “3 alarm” fire broke out in the wee hours of the morning downtown, redirecting transit and traffic through the morning commute. Not that there isn’t a reason delaying traffic during rush hour daily, but a fire through a historic area is particularly tragic. 

I see London, I see France...

I biked along the Burke Gilman trail on a warm and sunny day earlier this spring. A tall woman pedaled up to me and said, “Can I say something to you? I don’t know….maybe you already know….but….In the sun, and it’s sunny, I can totally see your underwear through your leggings.” I gasped, dumbfounded. Me?!?! How could this be?! “Thank you!” I yelled, “I had no idea!” She nodded, peeled ahead of me and was gone. 
I’d seen the underwear of many women riding bikes downtown. I usually shake my head, sad that some people don’t have enough money to bike in proper pants and had to wear tights, or had bike pants so old that the threads became transparent. It never occurred to me that the wearer might not even know. 
I pondered what to do the rest of the ride. I had no jacket with me, nothing to cover up my embarrassment. I happened to be wearing the world’s goofiest pair of underwear, of course. A sunny afternoon on the Burke Gilman meant hundreds of people would see my transparent ass and I was at least 10 miles from home. I had no choice but to shake my booty in pride. Yeah, I meant to show off my ass! Yeah, baby, yeah!
I wore “leggings” so I could easily transition from bike to gym. These leggings were new! And black! How could they be see-though? I hate going to the gym in bike pants because I feel like a goober lifting barbells with a diaper butt. At the same time, my business casual work clothes are no more appropriate for the gym than they are the bike. I already wear 4 outfits a day and I don’t want to pack another. Since that day, I’ve wondered about all the other pants I wear on the bike. How do I test their transparency? I can’t see behind me. I bike to work alone, and am not about to ask a stranger, “Hey, so, can you see my crack?” I’ve told friends they had to look at my butt on my bike in the sun, but sunny weather is hard to plan in Seattle and months have gone by since that incident and I still am none the wiser about the rest of my pants. It occurred to me that none of these women bearing it all would have any clue, unless someone like myself told them.  This appears to be a woman’s issue only. So few men wear lycra or other tight-fitting thin fabrics (outside of proper bike shorts) in the sun. 
So this morning a young woman passes me- and there they were, rainbow-striped bikini briefs for all the world to see. This was my opportunity to pay it forward, return the favor that was bestowed upon me. But I couldn’t. I balked. Honestly, I was more concerned about embarrassing myself, tumbling over my words than I was embarrassing her. I hesitated, too- maybe she wants us to see all those stripes? But, as women on bikes, this is our duty! No man in this day and age ripe with objectification awareness is going to tell her about her giant crack on display for the whole world to see. We have to do it! Or, better yet, ladies- check your backsides tonight! Grab a trusted friend, or at least one with a good sense of humor! If you can see it all at home, I bet you can see it all when it’s perched high out there in the sunlight. 

Fremont bridge bike count: 494

Rush hour good samaritans

My eyes dart back and forth. My feet pedal with the quick pulse mixed with hesitation that only rush hour calls for. The time is five o’clock and I am biking in downtown Seattle. The 6 lanes of one-way traffic on 4th avenue hustle with more bustle at this hour than any other. Transit buses overlap each other as some stop for riders, other have to fan out 2 lanes to make a turn, and others simply need to get going. Tourists jolt ahead only to stop at each intersection, rubbernecks reaching to find the turn they are looking for. Taxicabs and tired, stressed out commuters honk and tailgate, trying to get ahead. Other commuters, having given up on the rush, lay behind, texting in a daze while their car inches forward. Pedestrians assert their right of way, either because they too have to get somewhere right now, or they are downtown with nothing else to do besides meander the streets. Then there are people like me; the cyclists, trying to find the sweet but impossible balance of energy conservation while mimicking car like paces, all the while watching out for every lane change, distracted driver, pothole and utility grate coming their way. Other cyclists, riding the white line zip past me, blowing my hair up as they pass. I lurch forward, pedaling as fast as I can to stay behind the car in front of me as it approaches the next intersection. The car in front of me swerves to expose a sedan to my left, pulling to a stop, angled across 2 lanes. The driver dashes out to the back of the car. What is going on? I observe the situation. The older, white-haired man looked at me with clear, but expectant eyes. He hurried but looked at me again. The first thought that came to mind was “heart attack”. Why else would someone stop their car across 2 lanes in the middle of rush hour? I stop, not really thinking of the cars behind me. They swerve and merge with the lane to my side. He hustles to the back of the car as quickly as he could. He says to me between breaths, “that lady on the bike….” He bends to the ground, “dropped her iPhone.” He picks it up. The giant, bright, still lit screen displayed whatever artist was playing through the earbuds, still attached. “I didn’t want anyone to run it over. It could be smashed in a second” He says. I acknowledge him, gazing out ahead. I saw no one on a bike. “She’s lonnng gone” He says. I’ll call someone on the phone right away, get it back to her.” By then he was back in the car, starting the engine and navigating the screen at the same time. “Thank you,” I said, “you are doing a great thing today. You will make her day.” And with that, I got back into the thick of traffic and pedaled home. He may have hoped I knew the woman, it would have been great if I did. I didn’t help at all. Still, I smiled all the way home. Amidst all the skepticism and fear that abounds, , I took comfort in knowing here were people out there who were willing to take a risk to help a stranger out. The man’s action also gave me a useful anecdote. I could sit in rush hour traffic, basking in the despair that comes from knowing I’m surrounded by frustrated people, buried in a pointless rat race. Instead, I can now imagine a few dots among the thousands slowing down traffic because they are doing a selfless deed. That sure makes traffic easier to take!

Seattle traffic lights; I don't understand you

Traffic light timing in Seattle seems like it is all over the place. I can’t wrap my head around it. I wish I understood why or could get some sort of explanation behind it. Is there anybody out there in the internets who might be able to enlighten me? Hello? What are the chances you, oh wise one, might be reading my blog? 
For years I could ride the 1.9 mile stretch on 5th avenue downtown from Bell to Union waiting at just one traffic light. Since last fall, I’ve had to wait at 2 lights. For about the past 2 weeks, I’ve had the wonderful luxury of the timing being set the old way and I’ve been able to blast through. It’s been wonderful! Today was pay back. Today I, and every other driver on 5th avenue, had to wait at every single light on this 1.9 miles stretch. This had nothing to do with traffic. Because the lights are timed and the lower pedestrian level, traffic backups don’t slow my or anyone’ progress until south of Pike. All 8 lights were just timed to stop us at every block. I waited an additional 14 minutes at these lights (yes, I timed each one). It delayed me so much that I didn’t have time to shower before work. Sorry, co-workers. Please send you letters of disgust regarding my body odor to The City.  
I actually sent a letter to the city regarding the inconsistent light timing at 65th and Fremont. Months later I got a reply. They said they checked in out and couldn’t find anything wrong. Now the intersection flips back and forth between the “old way” and the “new random way” I am trained to expect anything. I still don’t understand why. There must be a reason the timing changes like this. Someone, a team even, planned this, decided this, and programmed this. I wish I just knew why. 

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/seattle-traffic-nightmare-heres-citys-software-plan-reduce-gridlock-using-high-tech-traffic-lights/

The source of the above photo reports that a computerized technology was implemented this month that is intended to "intelligently" adjust traffic lighting in "real time". Traffic on 5th avenue appears to be worse overall this month. The increased slowing south of Pike makes sense to me; it's tourist season and there is a large construction project on Madison. If this fancy traffic thing is the culprit, I would expect the crazy lighting today to be in response to something significant and unusual happening adjacent to 5th avenue, but there is no big event today. No president, no protest, nothing that I know of. 

Molasses

thick n' creamy

Today is the first day I biked all the way to work in a couple of weeks. I’ve been sick with a respiratory infection and every time I tried to exert myself I’d be attacked by a coughing fit that would leave my chest muscles stinging in pain and my lungs desperate for breath. I wasn’t really ready to ride yet today, but I had to start again sometime and with President Obama coming to town right on my commute route and the added congestion brought on by Pride festivities and various sporting events, I knew that taking the bus today would take twice as long as biking, or worse. Turns out it was a good decision. While traffic was light on my commute, I passed a steady string of cop cars, cop buses, and cop SUVs wrapped around The Westin and adjacent roads, Obama’s Seattle home base. People I met commuting just an hour after me, even those on the light rail, came in late. Obama doesn't even arrive until 3pm or so. 

Riding today can only be exclaimed in terms of molasses. I pedaled so slowly that the word passed by a though it were encased in dripping molasses. My tired, un-acclimated legs pushed through the air with a slow intention as though the air was made of molasses. My lungs pulled air in with a slow and ineffective intensity as though my esophagus was filled with molasses. The rain and clouds made the horizon look like it was behind a molasses filter. The cold in the air chilled my fingers and toes as though my blood flowed through me like molasses. My arms moved slowly, as though my body were filled with molasses. Molasses, everything molasses. I am glad I rode today, but I am hoping I start to feel better soon.

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 174

I glove you!

There is a certain spot where I disrobe on my ride into work. No, I don’t get totally naked, it’s just that there is a definitive line where my commute crosses into the urban heat island. Most of my commute into work is downhill, so the more rural stretches can feel bitter cold in the morning. I cross into the heat island long before my commute flattens out, so it’s before the last long, big hill that gloves, hats, and jackets come off. This morning I hurriedly swapped gloves, started pedaling just as the light turned green. I heard a voice call out behind me, “YOU DROPPED A GLOVE!” I awkwardly tried to stop and turn around- not so easy when you are on a bike on a sharp descent. The lady driving the SUV behind me actually got out of her car to pluck the glove out of the road in front of her and hand it to me. I gawked in shock. The light is green! It’s just a glove! You can run it over, it’s fine! But, there was no one behind her, and she was far swifter bending over than I would have been on my bike. I thanked her profusely. Seattle drivers tend to be more relaxed than other cities I’ve lived in. They are totally OK driving 40mph on an empty interstate, stopping in the middle of rush hour to say hello to someone on the sidewalk, spinning around in the middle of a busy intersection to find a better parking spot, slowing at a huge interchange to check their GPS, and stopping on a green light to recover a lost glove, apparently. Usually I am aghast at how calmly Seattle drives (dare I say passive-aggressive?). But today, the calm response helped me out, instead of being in my way, and I felt very thankful! There is a piece of community that is lost when you just drive life by. 

Image from http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/04/human-alteration-of-climate-what-media.html (as a side note, read this guy's blog, it's pretty cool [haha, cool, get it?!])

Skunk butt!

Because of planned bike riding shenanigans later, I rode my “good” bike into work today. Before I left, I checked the forecast and noted it called for rain. I looked outside and saw it was rainy. But, because I left at oh-mygawd-o’clock in the morning, my sleepy brain didn’t really register this. I didn’t apply my removable fender and didn’t strap on lights. It didn’t take long for my butt, backpack, and jacket to soak up the wet street spray, grime and dirt. Again, because I rode my “good” bike, I had to carry my things in a backpack because it can’t support my panniers (which are delightfully waterproof). I carefully packed my backpack, like I always do, making sure nothing critical sat on the top of the pack if it were to rain. I did not, however, consider the bottom of my pack getting wet. Like my skunk butt, it too absorbed the water. So when I got to work all wet and soggy, I took a shower and then put on nice soggy work clothes. My shirt and pants are both dappled with polka dot blobs all around them. They are not uncomfortably wet, just a damp reminder of my poor judgement. I’m embarrassed for not having lights. How could I forget something that could really impact my safety? I got to work feeling shameful, but luckily without incident. 

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 188 (What? I have been in the mid-400’s for weeks! Can that many commuters really been steered away by the rain? Are that many people skipping out on work Friday to extend a 3-day weekend? Do that many people get Memorial Day off? I am shocked, I say! Shocked!)

Keeping up with Bike Everywhere month stats

Not only is the team I ride for in 1st place of all of the City of Seattle teams, individually I am in 4th place! Now, the placing is based on "number of trips" and since I ride to the health club and to work, I am riding more "trips" than I have in the past. However, I must mention that City Employees have to log their miles into the Bike Everywhere month system through a portal website maintained by the city. This particular portal does not accommodate anything other than 2-equally distant commutes per day. It's based off the outdated model that bike month was about commuters and rides to the grocery store, etc. are not counted. There is a tedious and time consuming work around that I took the time to deal with, but I imagine most employees don't bother. I certainly wouldn't have in the past. So, really, my being in 4th place has more to do with my logging methods than my actual biking. One thing I can for sure be proud of is miles ridden. So far I am in 16th place overall for the city in mileage. And 3 of the people ahead of me are on my team! Whoo hoo!