Commuting - This ever happened to you??

The other day I got into my car after not driving it for about 5 days and as soon as you get out of my neighborhood there is a bike lane. When I turned left, I almost went straight into the bike lane WITH MY CAR....... After I noticed that my right front wheel is going to hit the curb I came to my senses and though to my self, "did that just happen?". I mean I though I was on my bike for a second or 2. What a bewildering moment that was.

No but I have leaned into the turns. Felt like an idiot when I realized what I was doing.

I have begun to take my bicycle route in my car, and then realized that it was not the best car route. I have also gone reaching for my remote control to open the gate at my community, forgetting that the weight of the car will cause it to open automatically. ...Haven't yet veered into the bike lane, although I've wanted to be there quite a few times lately.

I make pedaling motions on motorcycles every day.

Cracks up the techs at the shop.

No, but after many days of not driving when I do I tend to drive slowly. It's weird but I think not a bad thing. Eventually though afer a day or so I revert back to speedier driving.

I was a passenger in a car about a week ago and noticed that the driver wasn't checking for cross traffic at intersections, driveways in/out of parking lots, and ahead of parked cars as we passed them. That's when I realized I had fully converted from a cager to a biker, and realized just how happy I was to have made that conversion. :) I also started giving directions based on utilizing the local MUP, and then had to have the driver backtrack a bit so that we could take a car-friendly route.

I was sitting at an intersection one day waiting for the light. The light changed, and I proceeded. Then I realized I had been watching the light for the pedestrian crosswalk. The light for cars was still red. This was an intersection I crossed twice every day with my bike commuting to/from work. Boy did I feel stupid.:(

We don't have bike lanes here, but I am always trying to check my visor-mounted mirror. I catch myself glancing up there anytime I hear a noise behind me, walking or driving. :)

I catch my self making hand traffic signals. I'm driving more with the windows rolled down and I used to never do that. At stop lights I look around me more. Not in a confrontational way but to check my surroundings and see who standing at corners and bus stops and that they stay here. You'd be suprised at how drivers just stare ahead or don't even look around themselves.
Ernest

We don't have bike lanes here, but I am always trying to check my visor-mounted mirror. I catch myself glancing up there anytime I hear a noise behind me, walking or driving. :)

I've done that. Someone dropped something very noisy behind me in a store a few months back, and I immediately glanced up and to the left.

I have tried to shift gears by twisting the steering wheel.

We don't have bike lanes here, but I am always trying to check my visor-mounted mirror. I catch myself glancing up there anytime I hear a noise behind me, walking or driving. :)

I'm the same way. I spend 10 or more hours a week on the bike, and instinct makes me look up and left whenever I feel like checking out what's behind me. I'm sure it has to look like I'm rolling my eyes.

My main problem lately is that the batteries on my cars are dying because I drive them about 2 miles a couple of times a week, just to run my son and all our gear over to the TKD studio, or to take the recycling and garbage to the landfill. Driving 2 miles apparently doesn't charge the battery up enough to make up for running the starter...

How about going through red lights when the coast is clear?

Fortunately that hasn't happened to me, won't either. Don't have a car :p

We don't have bike lanes here, but I am always trying to check my visor-mounted mirror. I catch myself glancing up there anytime I hear a noise behind me, walking or driving. :)
Yeah, done that a few times, not done the bike lane thing, but then, we've only just started getting them here. I have been sitting in traffic when taking the company van home because of cargo, and been stuck in traffic....wishing.....

My main problem lately is that the batteries on my cars are dying because I drive them about 2 miles a couple of times a week, just to run my son and all our gear over to the TKD studio, or to take the recycling and garbage to the landfill. Driving 2 miles apparently doesn't charge the battery up enough to make up for running the starter...

No, it won't. especially in Winter with the lights and rear defroster etc. Get yourself a trickle charger or look at getting another new battery soon. Alternatively, a trailer?

I marvel at how much smoother bumps in the road are when driving than when cycling.

i counter steer in my car. also i've been known to draft fast cyclist.

i go into the aero position when i begin to accelerate or reach higher speeds.

I don't have a car but i coach rowing and i drive a launch along side the boats. I've definitely tied to go aero when i needed to go faster.

I was on driving to work once and forgot to turn onto the freeway and instead started heading down a road that eventually dead-ends at the bike path I take.

I found myself looking up and to the left with my right eye closed while I was walking at campus yesterday. Paranoid that I no longer had a mirror, I keep looking over my shoulder to make sure there weren't any errant cars riding down the sidewalk, =)

I was on a schoolbus on 9W with my three-year-olds last week, heading towards Nyack. I don't think I leaned into the turns, but there was definite wistfulness.

Its kinda like when i drive an Automatic. I SLAM my left foot down to hit the non existent clutch pedal......

Its kinda like when i drive an Automatic. I SLAM my left foot down to hit the non existent clutch pedal......

Yeah, I've done that a few times, when for some reason I have a rental or a loaner while the family car is in the shop!

I was immune to the problems y'all describe until last summer when started riding a recumbent. If you haven't tried one, you probably don't realize how similar the rider's position is to a car driver's position. I first noticed this when I took my hand off the handlebar to shift! And I noticed, after a couple long rides on the 'bent, I was doing strange things when I drive the car.

No, but I have called out "Bump" to my stoker. Problem was she was sitting in the passenger seat beside me! As a truck driver I sometimes find myself making wide turns while driving my car.