(Critter report: saw a lizard today, which I narrowly avoided rolling right over, and some squirrels. I can't believe I didn't include squirrels in yesterday's post!)

Yesterday I had a thing after work that involved biking out on Martin Way & then Carpenter Road. I had almost forgotten how squirrelly it can be riding on really busy highway-like roads. I love biking, but I'm not exactly what you'd call the most expert cyclist. (As chad360 can attest to.)

Yes, there is a bike lane on Martin Way; however, there's also quite the dip by Top Foods: a long downhill followed by a long uphill, and the traffic zips by at (I would guess) 45+ MPH. So I stuck to the right edge of the bike lane, more in the shoulder than the lane. Heading east, I got to a pretty nice clip myself on the downhill, which is fun if slightly unnerving.

Carpenter Road, however...I didn't have very far to go, but I'm glad I don't have to do that on a regular basis! No bike lane, and no shoulder in places, and where there is a shoulder, it's full of gravel. Oh, yes, and it's curvy & hilly, too!

If people in cars had to put up with the conditions that cyclists often find in bike lanes and shoulders there would be rioting in the streets. Or at least standing-room-only City Council meetings. Pavement seams. Grates. Gravel, including some fairly sizable chunks of rock!

Coming back, I was riding into the wind, so very very slow comparatively. There's a chunk on Martin Way, too, just before the merge with Pacific, where the bike lane is in the most god-awful condition. Basically, entirely torn up with cracks and potholes. Jaw-rattling.

I know: not very encouraging, and I really want to be encouraging. And it did feel good, as always, to ride. But sometimes you just have to whine.