Maybe the fact that I got passed by somebody in jeans put me in a mood, but I just have to rant about the guy riding a gasoline-powered bicycle. He came cruising past me with a lawnmower-sized roar, spewing two-cycle raunchy exhaust all over the place. And you guessed it – he wasn’t pedaling at all. The pedals on that thing have probably never been used. At least I didn’t have to choke on his fumes on the trail. Apparently something is still sacred.
Tag Archives: cycling
Bring back that orange fiery ball
9 MarOn my bike ride home I stopped to take pictures of this orange fiery ball that appeared in the sky. It was rather warm and bright and I felt tingly all over. Please bring it back!!!
Biking in the snow in March?
6 MarSnowy bike ride to work today. Beautiful views and not too bad on the road. Thankfully the snow wasn’t sticking and I didn’t find any patches of threatened black ice. Still, snow in March? Please send sunshine for the afternoon ride home.
Bike Accident Report Hits Close to Home
21 FebEvery day I bike to work from Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood to Redmond to work at Microsoft – about 15 miles on the bike one way. I shoot down 8th Avenue, follow the Burke Gilman Trail to Montlake, hop a bus across Lake Washington and either ride my bike along Highway 520 to work (or in the winter, shuttle from Montlake to Microsoft in the morning). Afternoons I always ride the whole way back.
I always think riding east of Lake Washington is the most dangerous section of my route because I have to write on the shoulder of a narrow, busy road that has dropoffs and guardrails. But the Seattle section is dangerous too, as a new bike accident study by The Seattle Times shows. My route is littered with accidents as shown by this accident map. The map shows bicycle accidents in Seattle from 2007 to 2011. The good thing is that the number of accidents is holding steady as bike ridership increases – the fact that we’re out in higher numbers is apparently making it more likely for people in cars to see us.
Still, the study found that there is one bike accident a day reported in Seattle. Read the story that went with the map here. And indeed, my route is very popular – it’s always super busy, especially in nice weather, so I’m not surprised it is one of the most accident prone areas. The Seattle Times study talks about accidents where bikes and cars collide, which is likely the way most serious accidents happen, but I wanted to hear about bike-versus-bike accidents. The reason is I seem to have way more close calls with other cyclists than I do cars – especially on nice weather days when meandering cruisers intermingle with fast-moving commuters like me.
I do know I need to always be careful, especially because I like to ride fast. Anyway, I appreciate the study that the Times did and I’d like to hear more.
Hello world!
15 FebThank you to my lovely wife for setting up a much-talked about blog for me on Valentine’s Day. What a romantic (and digital) day it has been. Natalie sets up a blog for me and I make a Valentine’s Day movie for her with the help of our two daughters, Lola and Tansy.
I wanted to start a blog to write about anything I fancy, but in particular about gardening and commuting to work via bike. I love to garden and grudgingly enjoy biking to work, so why not throw my two cents out there, right?
I’ll get around to filling out the about me section, but for now, just know I’m a husband, dad, editor at Microsoft, Seattle leftie, child of hippies, and generally laid back guy.
More from me later. Count on it.
Roots and Spokes 