Note: I originally posted this to the 'Jokes' forum in error, having been sucked into the Bermuda Triangle of that 'Happy Birthday [your name here]' thread. I'll get the hang of this soon, I swear!


Finally got on with the loin-girding yesterday and rode the intended route to work! My wife rode with me; it was a first for both of us.

Interesting perceptual shift: looking at traffic from the relative safety of a sidewalk, I'd always thought to myself "How in the world does anyone find pedaling along in that roaring, fuming stream of metal juggernautry a safe and pleasant activity?". Now I understand. I had a blast!

My wife came along only for the ride. She doesn't intend to do more than short jaunts to the grocery store. I had her lead, and I followed perhaps a bike's length behind and to her left. She has a tendency to ride too close to the curb and so I stayed farther out and acted as 'cover' of a sort. I voiced words of encouragement and correction ("Door zone, watch for doors!") and I've no doubt she was heartily sick of it by the time the ride ended. I would have preferred a faster pace, but in all we made fair time. Round trip is approximately 13.5 miles.

We witnessed only one example of blatant disregard for traffic safety : a cyclist. We were hovering at a stop sign and this eejit came zipping up from behind and didn't so much as pause more than a second or two in his pedaling and applied no braking at all. I made it a point to tell my wife "See that? Never do that!"

I have no illusions about traffic. Riding the route on a Saturday afternoon is a far cry from peak-time on weekdays. But I at least established that the route is ride-accessible and I look forward to my first true commute. Because the missus and I carpool and I drive her to her downtown office and then drive myself to work (parking downtown is prohibitively expensive, and she has zero interest in riding her bike over the bridge and into downtown traffic), I won't be able to ride to work most days. But when she needs the car for appointments during the day, it's great to know I can hop the bike and be at work in a timely fashion and have a great time doing it!

-Rob