The Problem with Blogging: Not Blogging...

I'm not egocentric enough to think that anyone's sitting by the light of their computer screen waiting breathlessly for the next blog entry, but since I have the work ethic of a border collie--which is to say finding the off switch is tricky-- I tend to feel bad when not blogging more regularly. As in daily. Or close to it.

Bike-Car Communication: Not Always a Single Finger Salute...

When discussing this blog with a bike advocate, I heard him say he hoped it wouldn't devolve into a "car vs bike" blog with U-locks and coffee cups hurled over handlebars or launched from rolled-down windows.

Happy to say, it hasn't. At least I hope this blog doesn't appear to do that. Instead, I've been interested in what works, and how we can get to where we're going--mostly on time, and completely intact.

And today was one of those days where I once again found that gestures helped. Not the kind that can lead to road rage and a police report, but the kind that tell the other guy what you're up to. Some examples:

Thanks to the driver who, upon discovering she needed to slide into the right lane from the left, turned on her blinker before doing so,  then actually checked for traffic in the right lane before making her move. This was in marked contrast to the cabbie who decided to make a sudden U-turn on a downhill on Wisconsin Avenue, nearly taking out cars in both directions.

Thanks to the drivers who didn't try to lane-share or press me into the dreaded 'door zone' as we all  threaded our way through rush hour traffic.

Thanks to the bike cop who waved as we headed in opposite directions on the road. It wasn't a necessary traffic signal, just a nice friendly gesture.

Yes, these things really do happen. Sometimes the forces of goodness and niceness really do win. Even in traffic in this town.

Lights at Dusk...

Noticing something interesting:

Lots of drivers fail to put their lights on at dusk. I'm not talking sun-still-up-in-the-sky dusk, I'm talking it's-getting-hard-to-pick-out objects in the roadway dusk. The kind of dusk that made you call off your kickball game as a kid, cause you couldn't follow the trajectory of the ball, or find the bases anymore dusk. The, I didn't see that car in front of me until I was up on it dusk.

As a cyclist, when the light starts to fail, or when it's rainy or foggy, I think I look like a manic Christmas tree...three rear blinky lights strategically placed and blinking, and a front white light that is in strobe mode. The idea: to be seen. I'm very squeamish and would get really, really grossed out by being squished like a bug. And I'm no different in the car---I've seen people plow into cars ahead of them, and covered enough crashes to have it make me a little twitchy when a car comes up too close, too fast on my bumper, so I just wonder.

What's with the failing to turn lights on at dusk? Does it seem wasteful? Does it seem premature? I'm just curious about that...

Back to the Bike...

I have more than one bike, but just as when my car was in the shop, it makes me edgy when one of my bikes isn't available--as if you could ride more than one at a time.

That said, when I got the call that my bike repair was done, that it came in MUCH cheaper than I'd anticipated, I was racing to get from work down to the bike shop before it closed to pick up my hybrid. Bonus: great weather meant a quick after-work ride on one of my favorite routes.