Happy commute stories…let's hear 'em!
 

We've all heard tales of close calls and jackass drivers, but I'm sure we've encountered the opposite as well. I'd like to think that there are more courteous drivers than jerks, and stories like these will help diffuse the myth that it's "us against them". I'll contribute this gem:

Yesterday I was coming home from work, going uphill approaching an intersection. I was planning on conserving my momentum by doing a rolling stop and then turning right when a convertible just got in front of me and stopped at the red light. Great, I'll have to stop and queue up I guess…
But no, the driver pulled to the left, gave me a three foot gap, turned around in her seat, smiled and waved me through! Left me with a warm feeling for the rest of the day.

Great share.
Austin drivers surprise me in similar situations with some frequency.
Many drivers here also have a cyclist's perspective, at least in the central city.
Helps.

Yesterday, a guy flying down a hill on the Mount Vernon Trail was unable to negotiate a sharp right turn at the bottom, so rather than running into me (riding in the opposite direction), he cut in front of me, ran off the trail and into the road, and risked his safety to keep from hitting me. I yelled appropriate things at him and all, but later was thankful he didn't cause an accident or get hurt himself.

Just last night I witnessed the death of a big racoon, he was on the side of the road and when I got him in my headlamp beam he went across the road and BANG! a big red truck ran over it. HAving a big racoon problem in my area this is a very happy commute story! ;)

The BUI citation on Memorial Day Sunday night was not a case for the Court .. Dropped.

Attractive female joggers along the way always makes for a happy commute. :thumb:

I probably have had more positive than negative experiences with drivers and pedestrians while bike commuting. Quite a few times, drivers have rolled down their windows while stopped at red lights and said nice things to me. Sometimes drivers wave or give friendly beeps. Little kids at bus stops or outside playing often wave and say stuff like, "Hi, Mr. Bikeman."

The people who yell nasty things or blare their horns seem to stand out because they are unpleasant interactions, but fortunately that doesn't happen very much on my commute. It probably helps that I obey traffic signs (usually) and I'm also very visible because I wear fluorescent jerseys/jackets and have a mess of head and taillights on my bike.

This!

There's one in particular, always smiles ... really makes my morning :)

Last week I posted this, which is a very happy commute story: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...tive-encounter

Every day. Both ways.

I have to agree withi TSL. Other than the normal stupid things some drivers do whether I'm riding or driving, I rarely have any sort of problem while riding. This morning was notable because someone blared their horn at me as they passed. I just figured they were grouchy from a lack of coffee and kept riding.

Getting off the bike after work, and grabbing the ice cold beer from the fridge.

Why wait to get home? Just stick a tallboy can in each water bottle holder on the bike. :thumb:

And I'll give a +1 to "every day, both ways", for sure. I just looked back at the spreadsheet I keep for time & attendance at work. I keep various personal notes on it as well and I see my first day of commuting was June 28, 2013. I haven't ridden the bike every work day since then but more than not and I feel so much better physically and mentally.

I go for speed on the way to work when I'm fresh, it's cool, and I'm in a hurry. That's fun.

I go slower on the way home (it's more uphill) and I enjoy exploring alternate routes and riding farther up hills than necessary to work on fitness and have fun by spending more time on the bike.

My ride in is down to around 20 minutes but my ride home usually takes 45 minutes to an hour.

I am completely at peace because I don't feel like I'm competing with other automobile drivers. Bike commuting is a wonderful thing.

Soon I'll tell you guys about a free bike I just scored from a friend who upgraded to a better/newer/lighter/faster one. He's moving several states away and doesn't want to take two bikes with him. I don't have pictures yet and I've already gone on long enough here, but it's as if I've just joined a segment of society that I was completely unaware of before. It's as if being seen on a bike or being heard talking about bikes brings new (and old) friends out of nowhere.

My commute to work is also the route for lots of local delivery trucks (what we call "box" trucks) as well as many Semi-Trucks (what the Brits call "artics") and I am always amazed at how they take a special effort to leave me a safe path of travel between them or in some cases (like the 5 freeway underpass) blocking for me so other (automobile) traffic can't get too close.

True, these drivers are professionals, so you would expect a higher level of vehicle control and placement, but still . . . I mean, any of these trucks could drive right over me and barely feel the "bump" as I went under one of those huge tires.

So that's my good story, i.e. truck drivers who care, even though they don't really have to, pretty much on a daily basis.

Rick / OCRR

A happy commute for me often involves a cool gentle morning rain that helps me feel a little more connected to nature, despite riding on residential streets. I arrive at work cool and refreshed instead of the usual stickiness and profuse sweating.

I think I posted the story on here before, but once I was riding to work and I got cut off or something (If memory serves, the driver almost hit me when she was moving from the straight lane to the turn lane) and I caught up to the driver at the next red light. I turned my head to give her the stink eye, but she had already rolled down her window and wanted to say she was sorry for almost hitting me. That made my day.

On one of my commutes home one sunny late afternoon, a minivan with 3-4 little girls sitting in the back with open windows shouting out "hi bikerguy" and waving. I think they were having fun. I waved back.

Almost every commute ride is a happy one for me.

Today, I rode in to work to take in supplies and get a couple of things done. On the ride back home, I passed another, slower bicyclist riding a MTB in the street and carrying something in his left hand. When I got up close, I saw that it was an older gentleman, and he was riding while carrying a cold 6-pack of longneck bottles of Busch Light. I waved as I passed, and he smiled and nodded.

I hope to be that guy some day when I'm older.

After years of recreational riding just because biking makes me happy, I've finally found a safe path to commute to work. In my mind riding and joy are so fused that I find myself riding to work with a goofy grin on my face. Maybe that will wear off, but for now, I love it!

Couple of commutes ago.

I pass by 3 scrap yards. Big trucks, usually full to the brim.

He could have easily passed me, with plenty of room for both him and I. Instead he hung back the couple hundred yards for me to go past the left turn he was making.

For some reason this seemed like really nice thing for him to do.

and later that day, I found a route that ?might? be longer but cuts out a huge downhill and matching uphill as well as another set of hills, and a back road that shaves some distance but also gets me out of traffic.

A couple of months ago, on my regular commute route home, I was stopped at a red light. I was first in line sitting on the left side of a go-straight/right turn lane so if a car behind me wanted to turn right it could do so. A driver pulled up next to me and started asking me questions about how he should properly drive around cyclists such as myself. I told him why I was positioned in the lane as I was. Then the light turned green and I had to go. A few moments later the motorist passed me, leaving me lots of space, and with a generous wave.

I do have many incidents that I know a motorist is waiting behind me for a while for a chance to pass safely, or passes giving me plenty of room. I even notice when a motorist in the opposite lane wanting to turn left waits, sometime for quite a while, so they don't turn in front of me. I try to be generous with the Thank You waves.

Last year, late May ,a driver had stopped( 2 lanes of traffic each way) to let a mother mallard and 7 ducklings cross the road. All the other drivers could see what was happening and all went well until they got to the 6" curb. Mother duck could get up but not the babies. I hopped off my bike and scooped up the newborn puffballs one by one. Mother duck was quacking up storm. As she marched them toward the river, she stopped, looked at me and quacked. Made my whole week.

/thread

My old route was a happy one for almost half the distance just because it was on a nicely manicured trail. And then I started having a lot of run-ins with skunks one year so I just rode in on the expressway and saved the trail for my ride home. Wasn't thrilled about the traffic speeds, but again, getting on that calming trail made the whole ride worth it. I miss that trail.

While riding downtown, A lady let me pull out of the parking space on the side of the road to get into the traffic before the light changed. I really appreciated it.


I have jumped both wheels off the road after hitting a speedbump at local park. That makes me happy! :)