Originally Posted by
SouthFLpix
My second ever bike commute. It went well. I like riding early morning because there is not as much traffic out. Later in the day when I ride home I find it more stressful because of the increased number of cars on the road.
A new experience for me also. I had to take the left lane to go around parked 18 wheeler, which give me a bit of anxiety since I usually stick as close to the right side of the road as possible. Hopefully after a few months all of this will be old hat, and the stress of dealing with traffic will be gone.
I don't know how long your route is but one thing that may help is to plan out your route so that you reach the heavy traffic sections during off times. For instance, I ride through a school zone, I know that starting at 8 AM the school buses will be arriving for 8:30 classes. What I definitely want to do is get past that section before 8:15 (the heart of the arrivals). There are a number if intersections that are busy. If I arrive before or after the heart of the local rush hour the intersection is safer.
Of course it's not easy and you have to figure out where to make trade offs. As a general rule the earlier I get up the better as I can arrive at work before the rush hour (and school) begins. This also means I can leave early. Sometimes I do the reverse, I leave later for both start and end of my commutes. I have lights to take care of darkness so I don't worry about that as much.