At some point last night, I got the crazy idea that it would be fun to ride my bike into work in the morning.
Fun.
Now, I’m no stranger to cycling, and I do love tooling around the seawall or taking long rides through the country on my bike. For the most part, I’ve never ridden in heavy traffic, save for the traffic that crawls along W. 10th Ave. between 4:30 - 5:30 pm each day. The thought of riding through traffic, or worse still, trying to cross one of Vancouver’s bridges on my bike kept me from venturing downtown on two (self-powered) wheels. Put me on my scooter and I don’t think twice about it, but on a bike? The best way to describe it would be white-knuckled fear.
Today I decided to face that fear head on. I suited up, inflated my tires, packed my laptop, makeup, a change of clothes shoes, and gathered up every ounce of reserve I had to make it across that bridge, and you know what?
view from the Cambie Street Bridge, Vancouver
It wasn’t that bad. In fact, it was quite good.
Other than a few wrong turns caused by poor signage and construction weirdness, and a pushy woman in an (ugly) yellow Miata who cut me off because she was in such a honking hurry to make a right turn, the ride went smoothly.
Of course, this was at 7:45 am - there’s no telling what I’ll be in for during the ride home at the height of rush hour.
Do you have any bike commuting tips to share with this newbie? Have you had a close call (or confrontation) with an irate motorist? Do tell!
