You guys, I just fixed almost everything that frustrated me about my work commute by changing my route just a little bit.
- It's a full half-mile shorter, because it's more direct (less meandering).
- There's a bike lane for part of my ride now! A real, on-street, clean-and-smooth bike lane!
- I LOVE REAL BIKE LANES.
- Not as fond of sharrows.
- Especially when the sharrows are in the door zone.
- Or worse, in the parking lane.
- We need more bike lanes.
- Though it is FAR from perfect, the .6 miles of sidewalk on the busiest street is preferable to having cars zip around me at 35+ mph.
- And by far from perfect, I mean:
- The sidewalk is about two feet wide.
- There are pedestrians, including pedestrians with dogs on the sidewalk.
- They (pedestrians) are going both directions.
- On this tiny sidewalk.
- Because I'm polite and practical, I dismount and let them pass.
- When there aren't pedestrians, there are telephone poles.
- Telephone poles smack dab in the middle of the two-foot-wide sidewalk.
- And a street sign for work that isn't being done.
- Blocking. the. entire. friggin'. sidewalk.
- My new route has much fewer crazy hills.
- This is life-changing.
- For the first time since I have started biking to work (I've biked to work about 7-8 times now? Not enough, because it was too easy to talk myself out of a commute I wasn't enjoying), I'm ecstatic, have full-on "bikey face", and can't wait to ride to work more often.
I consider this a MAJOR coup.
In bike event news, the Arch Women's last brown-bag luncheon for 2013 is next Wednesday, October 16, 2013 from 12-1pm at the Railway Exchange Building on the 12th floor in the lobby. Topic: bike laws! No luncheons in November and December in anticipation of the crazy holiday season. For specifics, click here!
Scenes from my ride in this morning:
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Bike Lane! Yay! |
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Quiet side-streets. |
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Bike Path. |
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Sharrow! |
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Streets of downtown Clayton, MO. |
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Totally sweaty and gross, right? Nah.
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Glad you found a new, shorter route you like!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Now if I could just get my rear in gear and leave the house on time to bike to work, I'd be set. I over-think my commute instead of just going. ("What should I wear? Will it be too hot/warm enough? If I don't leave by X, I might as well not go..." etc). {sigh}
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