always read this thread. i love all the different kinds of commutes and the different people who do them.

rode to work this morning just to prove that i could after having been sick and because i didn't want to finish the week with only two rides in it. i haven't had that since the first week that i just tried it out, and i think back then i did three. it went fine; it was actually faster than some of my other rides have been, so i guess i'm getting a) stronger and b) more savvy about how to make it all smooth. pocketful of dried figs was nice to have along the way.

leaving about half an hour earlier really seems to help. easier traffic, easier everything at that hour except for the fact that glancing to the left gives you full-on sunlight, right in the eyes. couldn't see a thing, but i'm thankful for having realised that early enough not to do anything dumb or dangerous at intersections.

got turned round and sent home again for having been sick. decided i feel fine about that; it's pretty much the best of all worlds. the main reason why i went to work at all was because i didn't want to miss another day on the bike. this way i got the day on the bike AND i didn't have to spend a whole day expensively pretending to work for it. took the other bridge coming home, since i had all this lovely additional time for messing around.

grrrrrr. yeah, they got a nice wide SIDEWALK to cycle on, but just try getting to it. that was really freaking mental; nothing but dead ends for i-dunno-how-many-false-leads, and then finally a sidewalk that was locked. had to come down and go through the whole process again just getting to the one on the other side. got a taste of what people mean by 'headwind' on that sidewalk too. but then for dilemma the ride home from that side might actually be nicer in a couple of ways. the hill coming up off the first bridge - it just ain't normal, martha.

got home, turned round and went straight out again (by car) to have dinner with friends-i've-never-met from scotland. that was pretty darned cool; turns out neither of them has ever had a driver's license and the story of me-and-my-bike opened up whole fields of speculation and interest from them.

songs for the day: chain up the swings, michael marra, and freedom come a' ye, hamish henderson. yeah!!