So I have never participated in a Critical Mass ride but in theory I love them. Critical Mass is a monthly bicycle ride to celebrate cycling and assert cyclist’s right to the road. Well I love bicycling and any and all who celebrate it and as a cyclist I certainly want to increase awareness about cyclist’s right to the road; I’m as sick of having “Get on the sidewalk,” yelled at me as the next bicyclist. So what’s not to love? Well as the debacle in Seattle on July 25th showed, quite a bit actually. A lot has already been written about this but for those that haven’t heard during the July 25th critical mass a driver plowed into a group of cyclists and then attempted to flee the scene. Accounts vary greatly but according to the eyewitness accounts I have read the driver made it a block before meeting another wall of cyclists where he stopped, was physically dragged from his car. His car then had the front and rear windshields busted and the tires slashed, while his passenger was still in the car. The driver was then hit in the head with an object, the accounts I read said it was a heavy metal U-lock. Wow, huh?

A little bit of air in the tires and the old mountain bike is back on the road. It is crazy weird switching from a road bike back to this behemoth. Particularly because I’m switching back from the typical road bike moustache style handlebars to cruiser style; which means instead of hunching over my bike I’m now sitting tall and feel a little bit like Elmira Gulch (aka the Wicked Witch of the West).

Yesterday I found out my bike had been stolen over the weekend. I left it chained to a rack in the parking lot of the building where I work and then headed up to Seattle to see the opening night of the David Lynch/Twin Peaks Festival at the Seattle Art Museum. It was fun; I sat two seats behind Kimmy Robertson (aka Lucy Moran from Twin Peaks), saw my old friend KTJ, and caught the premeire of Jennifer Lynch's new movie Surveillance. If it hadn't been for the headache brought on by the screechy sound effects in Surveillance and the stomachache I got from having Red Vines and beer for dinner, it would have been awesome.

Summer is here and gas prices are up - more of us are on bicycles. Remember to use lights for night. Here is some local inspiration: Night riding

What I really dig is when a company takes something that is beneficial yet boring, like safety, and makes it fun. Drivers give you room like you won't believe, kids will love you, everybody else wants to talk to you and riding around on a cloud of neon light is just plain fun.

Yesterday afternoon & this morning were a bit like bicycling through a warm sponge. In a good way, if that makes any sense. As everyone probably knows by now, we are heading into a couple of days of potentially record-breaking warm weather.

Although at the moment, all that hot sunny weather looks entirely theoretical. It's warmer, warm enough that I wore a t-shirt, no jacket, but still quite overcast. I guess the weather peeps know what they're talking about, though.

So don't forget to bike safely: dress lightly, carry (and drink!) plenty of water, and take breaks when you need to. And an extra tip: don't give blood & then expect to ride later in hot weather. I learned that the hard way last summer! I ended up begging a ride home from a co-worker.

On that note: my bikes are both a little too oddly shaped to carry on the bus (grumble grumble grumble) but I do have a couple of co-workers with larger vehicles who have standing offers to take me & my bike home in an emergency. Or if chad360 is around, he can come get me. Or, according to company policy, I think I could check out a company car, although I wouldn't want to put my bike in it! Or, worst case, I can bring my bike in the building and get myself home on the bus.

It's good to have some backup plans, because sometimes stuff happens. So far I've needed a ride 3 times: the aforementioned day, a rainy evening, and the day I almost got hit by a semi on the way in. That time, I thought I was fine, then somebody asked me about it, and I pretty much dissolved.

Anyhow, be safe out there!

(I missed a few days, I know. Didn't ride at all yesterday or Saturday; Sunday's ride was actually kinda lame. Freezing cold, blown almost sideways.)

So I'm writing this series as part of my Bike Commute Contest experience, but I don't tend to take the "Contest" part of the thing very seriously. I just don't ride anywhere near enough to be in the running for any sort of prize. The first year I rode, the guy who won was biking from Olympia to DUPONT. Yeah. Not ever ever ever going to beat that, or even get in the general neighborhood of it.

And there's always one crappy day where I just say "eh" and skip the ride, so there goes consistency. (Plus consistency award ties get broken by distance IIRC, so we're back to that.)

But...I can count all of this for two other contests! At work, we're doing this 10K steps a day challenge, which even includes a "friendly" competition with a few other credit unions in town. Bike time counts, too. So with that and some very serious gardening on the weekends, I'm averaging the equivalent of 18,800+ steps per day. I'm sure someone who hiked 10 miles is probably going to kick my ass, but I'm feeling pretty good about it anyway.

Then, I'm in this online bike challenge group as part of another website community, and this summer the founder has announced a "streak" challenge, so whoever rides the most consecutive days wins a super-cool GPS bike computer. (Drool drool drool) Again, I can't win for distance (although last month & so far this month I'm right around #10), but I can definitely be consistent, assuming I can tough out the "eh" days.

(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.

(Not including dogs on leashes)

• Cats. This morning I saw a black cat & a big orange and white kitty. The most "OMG ponies!!!1!" (cute) thing I've ever seen on the trail is a guy with some sort of harness/carrier thing on his shoulders with a cat perched in it.
• Birds. Mostly, I just hear them or only see them out of the corner of my eye, but one day last week I had to dodge around a pair of ducks who just weren't going anywhere. And a few weeks ago, a pair of (???) swooped across the trail right in front of my face. I swear I saw a belly and underside of wings on one of them.
• Bunnies! Have already seen a few this spring; they dart across the trail and are gone almost by the time you realize they're there.
• Deer. Last winter (December?) a deer and I startled each other in almost-dark on the trail west of Fones Road.
• And this morning I saw raccoons for the first time, between Boulevard & Dayton.

Four of them, off in the distance, and I went through one of those mental checklists as I got closer: too big for bunnies; wrong behavior for cats; wrong shape for dogs.

As I approached, they dove off into the bushes, then 2 came back out and did a perfect imitation of old-style highwaymen. One stood up on hind legs, drawing himself very tall, while the was on all fours standing across the path. But I zipped by them, leaving them turning their heads to look at me, then scampering away.

There's one other person at my office who is a semi-regular bike commuter, and another person we work with lives close to her. So they arranged this morning to meet up and ride in together, so the newbie could see the best route & have some encouragement/company on her first bike commute. I talked to them this morning, and they were both pretty excited.

The newbie just got a new(-to-her) bike with clip pedals, and new shoes, so I guess last night she did some riding around in her neighborhood to get used to it. Get all the falling down out of the way, is how she put it. She was also very proudly (!) showing off the bruises on her leg from that particular little adventure. But no falling today, apparently.

I had wanted to ride in with them, as their route meets up with mine, but I forgot to ask yesterday what time they'd be leaving. Another time, perhaps. I've never ridden with anybody on my commute, and would like to try it at least once.

In any case, I'm tickled pink about the whole thing. I think it's incredibly important to provide support & encouragement to new bike commuters, to make it as easy physically and mentally as possible. It can't be a standoffish culture, with an elite attitude; biking to work has to become as ordinary as possible. If there's several people who bike, and they're not weird dorky bike people ;) then that makes it open to anybody.

That's the idea, anyway.

So today is way out beyond gorgeous. Supposed to get up close to 70, and looking out the window right now...not a cloud to be seen. It's a joy to ride in nice weather, which I suppose is why they run the Commute Contest in May, rather than, say February or August. :)

The last couple of years, I've hung up my bike (for commuting anyway) in November and not picked it up again until late February - early March. And then I'm really erratic with the spring rain. I rode one really clear day in January, which was exhilarating, but whoa! cold. Got to work with ice in my hair, on my knuckles, my knees, my forearms.

I think about riding in the rain, because it's not like it usually pours around here as it does some places. Right now, I just haven't gotten around to getting new rain paints, but I've also had the experience of getting my glasses entirely fogged over.

Which leaves me in the lousy situation of either not being able to see because my glasses are covered in mist or not being able to see because I can't see without my glasses.

I've heard that a longer helmet visor or a cap with a long brim could help. Does anybody have any suggestions for riding on days that are, well, the opposite of today?