Desperation

Nobody Left a Yellow Card on this "Locked" Bike

Right now I'm in Ocean Shores, Washington. Thankfully, it is a low theft area and John Romeo Alpha is not lurking around with his little yellow cards. I knew my parents had no real bike pumps so we forked out $10 at the Wallyworld on the way in, but I didn't imagine there'd be no bike locks.

So I took the cheapest bike available and improvised with the bungy cord that looked most like an inadequate bike lock. In my own defense, there's no bike rack at the IGA anyway even though there are lots of people that ride bikes to go there. If I'd been serious I'd have brought the bike in with me or locked it to their "cart corral."

It worked this time.

Securely Locked Beach Cruiser

Down the Slot

This Road Encourages Faster Riding

Monday, I encountered the conditions in the photo above upon departing from a coffee store of a major chain based in Seattle. Up UNTIL Monday, this was an exceptionally pleasant street to cycle on. It has four lanes, traffic isn't particularly heavy, and the pavement is smooth.

Monday, I rode down the right lane, as usual, in "the line of sweetness." However, it just wasn't the same. While I didn't delay any motorists as much as a single second, at THE OTHER END of this stretch, "the slot," so to speak, my heart rate was noticeably higher than when I usually commute. When riding to work, I rarely try to ride full speed, but rather "comfortably fast" in order to get there quickly without saving those last couple of minutes. If more roads were like this, I'd be in better aerobic condition because this road not only makes passing impossible, but there aren't many places to pull over. "The slot," other than the short stretch in the foreground is level to slightly uphill, and in contrast to last summer's construction, I ride this stretch at rush hour on a weekday. It might just be coincidence, but this is the same jurisdiction. Unlike the previous "slot," there are more decent alternate routes, which mainly make this an irritating road condition rather than a serious conflict situation.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I took advantage of the short commute and local knowledge to avoid all this nonsense and ride a quarter mile further. I thought about calling Bedford to complain about the lack of consideration for cyclists this construction lane marking showed. However, I think they simply wouldn't have understood, even if they cared. Even a lower speed limit would have sufficed. If, instead, they'd simply turned the street into two bike lanes and no car lanes, what do you imagine the motorist reaction would have been? They COULD have suggested a lower speed limit while the construction was ongoing. All they would have had to do is turn on the "school zone" flashing lights and advise people to go slow in the construction zone.
 

No Phone Number on the Contractor's Sign for Anyone that Might Think They Could Have Done Better