I rode twice last week (Tue 4/17 and Fri 4/20). I ran about 4 miles on Saturday and rode in to work this morning. What a gorgeous day to ride - low 50s, sunny, no wind. Can't beat it.

Ride on!!

After 2 years and more than 200 bike trips to work, I finally win the Jackass award!

OK, I deserved it. After all, I rolled through a stop sign on a nearly deserted road. Here's the story:

First, I do "run" stop signs from time to time and each time I do it, I know I'm breaking the law and if I get caught (i.e. ticketed), I will accept the consequences. This is my M.O. and recommendation for other cyclists:

• Never go full speed through a stop sign as if it's not even there. (yes, I know lot of cyclists that do this)
• Always look all ways and slow down when approaching a stop sign.
• If anyone is approaching in such a way that my rolling through it would affect them, stop.
• If anyone can see me - even from behind - slow down and at least give the appearance of stopping and looking all ways.

These rules - and the speed of my "rolling" - are affected by how tired I am, line of vision, traffic and the gradient of the road (e.g. uphill, downhill, flat). And that is exactly how I approached the stop sign yesterday. It was a T-intersection and I was on the base part of the T about to make a right. This road has a very steep uphill which crests and gently goes downhill for about 20 ft to a stop sign. I can clearly see that no one is approaching from the left for approximately 100 yards. This is a very quiet neighborhood street with a 25 mph speed limit. I do, however, see someone approaching from my right that will not be impacted by my decision.

I thus roll through the sign at no more than 10 mph. In fact, I don't even go directly into the traffic lane as there is basically an extra lane to the right where cars sometimes park for the local elementary school (it's 6:30 pm - school is out!). As the car is approaching from my right, the guy leans out of his window and says "That was a stop sign, JACKASS".

"Jackass"? Man, bikers have a bad rap. It may be deserved in some cases as there are some real jerks on the road, but most of us are really quite courteous on the road. I'm assuming this guy gets just as mad when cars roll through stop signs. RIGHT?!?!?!?! I'm further certain that he fully complies with all posted speed limits and gets angry when others don't. RIGHT?!?!?!?!?

What is it about being on a bike that's any different as it pertains to the law and not breaking it? The answer is nothing. So this episode is really a lot more about the driver of the car than me. Who pissed in his wheaties? Why does driving a car make people so tense and easily irritated? This is reason #106 why I ride my bike - stress free.

I'm sure I have lot's of people call me a jackass or worse, but I just don't hear them. Some drivers can seem to get so upset about having to pass me. Sometimes, I even slow people down for 5 to 10 seconds!! This is the world we live in. People area always rushing to get somewhere. For all the people that complain about how they "hate" their jobs, they sure seem in a rush to get there. For many, a cyclist is worse than catching another unexpected, unfair red light - and I did it on purpose!

The next time you pass a cyclist, instead of getting mad at having to wait a few seconds - or even a whole minute! - before you can safely pass, consider how nice it would be if you were'nt in a rush; if you were'nt going to work or on another errand. If you were, in short, able to relax and enjoy the day, the sunshine, the scenery for just a few seconds without a care in the world.

'Cuz that's what I get to do each day I ride my bike to work.

Ride On! Be Safe!

I wasn't able to ride any more last week and thus finished with 2 rides for the week. I rode yesterday and today and thus have hit 2 days/week for the last 3 weeks now. I'll continue to try to up that number, but really shouldn't beat myself up so much. For the two years or so that I've been riding to work, my longer term average is right at 2 days/week.

Recent Stats:

• Tue morning took 52 minutes - that's really slow, but mostly due to bad luck at lights
• Tue afternoon took about 49 to go home. Going home is usually slower, so you can see how bad the lights hit me in the morning.
• Wed morning took just under 47 minutes - I would say the lights factor was about par for the course.

The weather is awesome. 50s in the morning and 70s going home, plus plenty of sunshine and no wind to speak of. The weight is starting to shift too. I weighed in this morning at 204.5. I can't wait until I see a 1 as the first number in my weight again!!

Ride ON!

I rode yesterday, Tuesday, making it two days in a row. My goal is to hit at least 3 days a week this week and next and eventually ramp up to even more.

Yesterday's ride was perfect. Great weather - although the slight chill in the morning makes preparation a little more problematic. And daylight saving time is awesome - I love not worrying about darkness.

I left work at a little after 5pm to get to my son's baseball game which adds about a mile to my 13.1 mile commute. In fact, the whole family rode their bikes to the park for the game. Other than me looking like a total dork in my cycling gear, we had fun.

Stats:

• 27 mile roundtrip
• morning ride took 47 minutes
• weight: 205.5 (yes, that half a pound is accurate and noted)

Progress!!

I had a really good excuse for only riding twice last week. Really!! But for the first week back, that's okay.

I'm off to a good start on my second week back. The weather is perfect and with daylight savings I can shed the reflectives and lights.

Today's stats:

• miles: 13.1 each way
• time: about 52 minutes to get home (takes longer to get home than to get to work)
• weight: 206 - still no progress, but I better have lost a pound or two by the end of this week!
• tomorrow's plan - Ride On