jimmuller 

I've been too busy for the past few days to post anything but I have been riding some. Did my commute yesterday and this morning (so far, since I'm still at work). Yesterday I first stopped by the polls, locked my bike to a barrier, went inside and voted. The weather was cool but tolerable. I dressed like I was x-c skiing, and that was really too much. This morning was warmer.

Traffic was light yesterday morning but a little frenetic in the evening. I figured the morning go-to-work traffic might have been spread out by the voting, and the evening characterized by people rushing to vote before going home for dinner. However this morning's traffic was light too. I got an earlier start than usual but I don't think explains it since I've had early starts before and it never made that much difference. So I hypothesize that people who work by daylight are now heading off to work earlier than they were last week. This evening's return home will be interesting.

Yesterday's return was the second I've done almost entirely in the dark and the first done in the dark through the peak of rush hour. It wasn't so different from doing it by day. BRIGHT lights help me see, and running both steady and blinking taillights (and reflective clothing) help me be seen. Drivers were generally courteous, just as they usually have been. Woburn Center was lit up like a baseball field and most of the rest of the trip is on roads with large shoulders. Those shoulders still have lots of debris from last week's storm though. Also some dump truck carrying gravel must have run from W.C. into Lexington. I know that because it left a breadcrumb trail of gravel littering the shoulder the entire way. It's not a threat to the tires but it makes for a slightly unsteady ride sometimes.

For various reasons I didn't ride on Monday, but considering how long it took me to get in, I might as well have. But it gave me the chance to check out the roads at that hour by car. I'm glad to have ridden yesterday and today. Great fun, a great way to get to work.