Had a rough, frustrating workday full of complications and bad surprises. Could not wait to enjoy the ride home. Except my commute was just as problematic. Got stuck behind a bus TWICE. Traffic signs and cones in the bike lanes TWICE. Kamikazee bike ninjas TWICE. Selfish motorists not respecting my right of way through intersections. Overly polite drivers yielding the right of way to me when they have it (that screws me up). Non-injury two car collision that left one car blocking the bike lane and the sidewalk. Just as I got to the railway crossing a train came forcing me to wait. The bike started dragging like rubbing brakes or a flat, but it went away a while later. Even though I'm lit up like the eighth night of Hannukah I almost got hit by a salmon-ing motorized stand-up scooter ninja and finally, the intersection that was updated two years ago to use cameras to trigger the traffic lights failed to recognize me on my bike for the first time after hundreds of successful encounters.

And I still enjoyed it more than a problem-free drive. (Of course it could have been worse, much worse.) I don't usually vent, but it was like being trapped in a Mr. Bean episoide. (rant off)

I love kamikaze bike ninjas. They freak out people operating deadly heavy machinery at high speeds and make them pay the @#$% attention. Just imagine how much safer cycling would be if ninja mode share was ~10% in your city.

All kinds of challenges. Like a bike skills obstacle course or something.

Sounds like my commute home Monday. It was cloudy and drizzly, and I left work a little later than I'd hoped which made it darker for much more of the commute than usual. Cold, headwinds, front light starting to die out. And my bike shorts chamois was giving me lots of problems with the pad seam chaffing between my sit bone and the saddle. OUCH! The 15 mile commute took me a whole freakin' 90 minutes that time. It was miserable.

Are all of these events coincidental, or perhaps collateral results of Marijuana legalization? I can't wait for Massachusetts to get on the pot-wagon!

Some days are like that, OP. Makes you appreciate all the other days when there is no drama and you catch all the lights, and the railway crossing barrier comes down just after you make it across. You make it home in record time. Sweet!

For me the most frustrating and anxious part of my drive is crossing a highway overpass where I have to straddle the line between traffic going straight and traffic going to the right onto an on-ramp to the highway. It's 200m of white-knuckle riding, and invariably there's always a 30km/h headwind.

I revel in those rides. Makes it that much more satisfying that I get my mission accomplished.

- Andy

Lol. Every so often, i have one of those rides that make me question some of my life decisions.

My commute has four of those places where right turn lane(s) cause traffic to cross the bike lane; two each direction. I'm usually early enough in the morning that traffic is light and it's not too bad. On the way back, one is well-protected by a nearby traffic light so I can always count on a big space between cohorts. And the final one at least I've got plenty of straight-line visibility, and my local cagers seem to be pretty-well trained. They almost never try to speed past me to get into the right turn lane, but if it's close at all, they'll slow down and cross behind me. I try to always give them a friendly thank-you-for-paying-attention-and-letting-me-live wave!

this

Totally. it's a pet peeve of mine when a car obviously beats me to a 4-way stop-sign, so I come to a complete stop, unclip, and put my foot down, and they wave at me, trying to be nice.

I think many drivers at four-way stops almost expect me to go through without stopping. I don't, but yeah, it's frustrating that they are there well before I am, yet they wait until I come to a complete stop before they proceed.