0 comment Friday, August 29, 2014 | admin
I'm not going to say it was entirely because of the socks, but today's commute was TERRIFIC! While in Portland, I picked up a pair of these wonderful socks. I got several compliments - from bikers and joggers en route to school today, but that's not what really made my day.
For the past several weeks, there has been ridiculous construction on Williams just south of Cheesman Park. From there, I typically wind my way down to Speer Blvd. and make my way to Wash Park. The first day of the construction, I headed out of Cheesman, unsuspecting to see a giant "ROAD CLOSED" sign, indicating that my detour was 8th Avenue. 8th Avenue is just about as bike-un-friendly as it gets at 8:30AM on a weekday so I sped my way down a block before turning off, horns beeping.
This devastating outcome has repeated itself several times over the past few weeks. With Downing as a back up route, I can say that these weeks have really lacked the beauty and simplicity of a nice daily ride.
Today, however, the sign - gone, giant ground-digging machines - gone, smile on my face - returned. The smile stuck with me as I cruised down my old familiar route. I noticed several bikes on my commute and realized how lonely Downing was. I was excited to have my route back.
After three hours of social psychology (at 8am mind you!) I came out of class to find that a scooter had parked next to my bike (would have photographed if I had a darn camera). I was parked at the end of a bike rack like this (on the outside) so that my panniers were out of the way of other cyclists - it's one of the most popular bike racks on campus. The scooter was parked next to me NOT locked to the rack (so did it really need to be there?), rubbing up against both my bars and my panniers. I couldn't reach my lock, nor could I move my bike. Luckily, scooters are light enough. I picked up the rear of the scooter and turned it 90 degrees. I got my bike out, scratch free and I'm sure the scooter rider came out wondering what happened. I thought about leaving a note but figured I had wasted enough time on this scooter riding, bike parking user fool. My social psych professor rides a scooter. Was this an experiment? Was it his? Alas, we may never know.
If I were Brendan, I would have drawn several neat diagrams/drawings to add to this post, I'm not. You just get the facts.
For the past several weeks, there has been ridiculous construction on Williams just south of Cheesman Park. From there, I typically wind my way down to Speer Blvd. and make my way to Wash Park. The first day of the construction, I headed out of Cheesman, unsuspecting to see a giant "ROAD CLOSED" sign, indicating that my detour was 8th Avenue. 8th Avenue is just about as bike-un-friendly as it gets at 8:30AM on a weekday so I sped my way down a block before turning off, horns beeping.
This devastating outcome has repeated itself several times over the past few weeks. With Downing as a back up route, I can say that these weeks have really lacked the beauty and simplicity of a nice daily ride.
Today, however, the sign - gone, giant ground-digging machines - gone, smile on my face - returned. The smile stuck with me as I cruised down my old familiar route. I noticed several bikes on my commute and realized how lonely Downing was. I was excited to have my route back.
After three hours of social psychology (at 8am mind you!) I came out of class to find that a scooter had parked next to my bike (would have photographed if I had a darn camera). I was parked at the end of a bike rack like this (on the outside) so that my panniers were out of the way of other cyclists - it's one of the most popular bike racks on campus. The scooter was parked next to me NOT locked to the rack (so did it really need to be there?), rubbing up against both my bars and my panniers. I couldn't reach my lock, nor could I move my bike. Luckily, scooters are light enough. I picked up the rear of the scooter and turned it 90 degrees. I got my bike out, scratch free and I'm sure the scooter rider came out wondering what happened. I thought about leaving a note but figured I had wasted enough time on this scooter riding, bike parking user fool. My social psych professor rides a scooter. Was this an experiment? Was it his? Alas, we may never know.
If I were Brendan, I would have drawn several neat diagrams/drawings to add to this post, I'm not. You just get the facts.
Labels: Bike Commuting