Grats on you milestone! Also, great post about the old man.

===========
My ride home yesterday was good, with the exception of an over-zealous cop who tonguelashed me for going around some railroad arms (the had just started coming down when I went through - I stopped, looked both ways, nothing for 200 yards, then I rode across the tracks). The lights had just started blinking, and there was no sign of anything coming yet, so I felt like I had done my due diligence. Anyway, the cop was parked at the tracks on the other side, and he jumped out and immediately started yelling at me. Ugh. A bit over the top. About A MINUTE later (while he was still yelling at me) I could see the commuter train slowly coming down the tracks 200 yards away, perhaps another 20 seconds from the crossing at the rate it was going.
I was polite to the cop, despite his over the top response. I could understand his reaction if I had willfully bolted across with a fast moving train in sight or something (or if the arms were fully down when I arrived), but geez, pick your fights, fella.

About a mile later, at a light, one of the 'regulars' pulled up next to me on his fixie, and we rode for a couple of miles together until he needed to turn off. It is nice to see some familiar faces in the bike lane.

On a general note, the traffic is noticeably heavier and more stressful now that school is in session. I might need to consider some alternate routes.

Another nice ride in this morning.