rachel120

110 was after a high carb, high sugar meal, using a family member's meter to see if I should worry about diabetes. Fasting lab tests have never topped 75.

rachel120

Well, I managed it yesterday. Rode to the bus stop, took the bus halfway, rode the rest of the way. Don't judge, it was 92 degrees....and I'm lazy. There's no shortcut home though, I had to ride the bike the whole way.

And now I'm more convinced than ever that I both want and need a new bike. So time to start saving. Horrible as it sounds to everyone else in my life, I think the bike is a higher priority than a new laptop.

Eds0123

or new accessory for your old bike, or for me servicing the bike, nothing like the nice and very quiet of a well cleaned and well lubed chain and gears that shift perfectly and disc brakes which are balnced and don't squeak

rachel120

With what I figure needs to be done to this bike, the parts alone might cost more than the entire bike did.

rseeker

That's awesome, way to go. Makin' it happen. (92 is hot!)

RubeRad

That is quite often the case. You'll get no judgment here from putting a bike above a laptop! Hopefully you won't get any judgment either about multi-modal with public transportation. Great job!

We're also here to help you spend less on your next bike. Take a look at your local craigslist, and any bikes that look interesting, drop us a link, we'll be happy to give you opinions

NewATBikeComute

If it helps, I remember reading your first posts and being inspired by your willingness to get out there and just do it, despite the challenges you've faced. It helped me to know that not everyone rides 20+ mph, does century rides on weekends.

I have shared only a little about why I ride, but just say it's for mental balance more than anything. I do sympathize with the struggles some days to get back into exercise.


Glad you got out and did it. Was going to try my best to put out some suggestions, but hopefully you are back on the road again, in both senses.


Oh, and I am always 'multi-modal', in that I am too far from work to bike the whole way, so drive part of the way, and bike the rest. As little as 3 miles the first day back after winter, up to 10 miles (hopefully) by the end of this, my 3rd year doing this.

srestrepo

it's funny. i was in a bit of a slump financially, emotionally and professionally for the past few weeks.

after discussing with my wife as to what to do as i hadn't been on any of my group rides this season and intermittently commuting via bike this year she really pressured me to go on this ride. my hesitation was the length of the ride (35 miles) and the heat (90 that day). but i did it anyway.

I have to say, I've been feeling much better since. admittedly, had my wife not pressured me into going, i wouldn't have gone. i know riding to and from work helps me prepare for my day at work and then release my work on my way home to enjoy being there. but sometimes, you get in a slump and cycling has been a big help to me.

Skipjacks

When I need inspiration to ride again I imagine this guy yelling at me, saying "YOU HAD BEST GET BACK ON THAT BIKE AND RIDE!"

(He has a lot more profanity when I imagine him...but I don't know you or your tolerance for that sort of thing)



As for getting a new bike...that's your real motivation. Spend a lot of money on a new bike and you'll be motivated to ride it just so you didn't waste money! After a couple weeks it won't feel like work anymore and you'll be glad you forced yourself to buy the bike and ride it.

rachel120

Yesterday no bus service. I psyched myself up, took the bike out, tried the shiny new bike path, and I think I arrived 5 minutes faster than my previous best time.

I love commuting by bike!

Today I skipped the bus, I'm going to ride in. It's afternoon rush hour and I found the signal button for the shiny new pedestrian crosswalk leading to the shiny new bike path doesn't stop traffic. It doesn't do a thing. I had to navigate through a four way stop. I'd be better off riding, but riding on the road through the stop and making the hard twist to get on the crosswalk as I leave the intersection looks difficult and unsafe. Then along the way the clouds got dark and the wind hit and the humidity felt worse. It's already 85, heat index 95, not like I needed additional weather challenges. At the end of the bike path I have to basically make a left turn out of a parking lot across the four lane divided road, no traffic light. In rush hour. Couldn't do it, had to take the long way. And fighting weather, I'm exhausted and drenched in sweat.

I hate commuting by bike.

no motor?

Hah, I find that bike commuting is always a love hate situation. It doesn't take much to change from one to the other either. Some days it's a blast, and others I can't wait to get home. Fortunately it's more of the first, and the hate parts often involve challenges where there's one detail that changes everything.

CreakingCrank

There you have it. The difference between blissful bike commuting and an ordeal, is how you view it.

rachel120

One detail, yeah. For me the big details are wind and rush hour traffic. I hate having the wind blow in my face hard, because then I really struggle to go forward. And rush hour is okay when I'm part of it, but changing lanes or making left turns makes me want to cry, because I'm slow and I don't have a couple tons protecting me so I can't dart for an opening, I gotta wait for a big opening, which just doesn't happen during rush hour.

I have a question with two parts. A) Is it a good idea? B) Is it legal under Maryland law?
Below is a diagram of the crosswalk that was annoyingly busy today. Gray are sidewalks, the brown oval is dirt, blue is the bike path. I am coming from the left, so I have to pull off onto the dirt in order to get on the crosswalk corner. The only painted crosswalk is the green box. If I stay as part of traffic and go straight through the intersection, making that sharp right for the entrance to the bike path would really require coming to a complete stop in the road as it was designed for pedestrians stepping on and off the road and therefore has a very, very narrow opening.
So can I be part of traffic through most of the intersection, then at the very end veer onto the crosswalk and ride onto the entrance to the bike path? That entrance is wider and it'd be straight onto it, not a 90 degree turn.

rseeker

If there's too much traffic, I don't make left turns. I just make a right then a U-turn then go straight across. If there's a light it might cost me an extra cycle, but OK. To me, it's so much better than trying to keep track of cars coming at me from four directions. And if things feel out of control, I'll just pull the rip cord and say f it, I'm walking this intersection and pick up riding on the other side. Keeps me a happy biker.

Winds always sucks, doesn't it? I was out in some 35mph winds the other day, it was really shoving me around.

Skipjacks

Legal in Maryland? Probably not.

Would anyone care as long as you do it safely? Probably not. But that depends on how busy the crosswalk is. If it's full of people, it's a bad idea. If it's always empty, no one will care. I agree that slowing down is traffic is a bad idea. If you have to veer into the crosswalk to slow down for 10 feet AND NO PEDESTRIANS ARE IN IT, it's probably safe.

I'm in Maryland and I have an almost identical situation on my commute. It's in a populated area, but one that has almost zero foot traffic. I have a right turn to make just like you. And like you I don't want to slow down in traffic to make the right turn into the path. What I do is overshoot the path and make a quick turnaround. At speed on the road going from left to right (per your diagram) I stay at speed and dart off to the right to get on the sidewalk/path area you have marked grey and blue on the lower right of the intersection. But I don't try to make the turn onto the blue. I hit the brakes when I get to the grey and overshoot it a little into the dirt (on my route the dirt is actually a big paved area, but whatever). Then I stop and turn slowly to aim myself back onto the blue.

rachel120

First, if it's not legal then I'm not doing it.

Second, the issue is getting onto that little bit of gray, not transitioning from gray to blue. The two choices for getting onto the little bit of gray is get into the painted crosswalk at the last second and ride straight onto it, or stay on the road and just past the intersection manage to turn right onto the wheelchair dip from the road.

no motor?

My route to work when I first started bike commuting involved either riding in traffic for several more blocks or riding on the sidewalk going against the flow of traffic on the street right in front of the police station for half a block. I never did determine if that was legal or not, but it looked illegal enough to attract attention. I used to take the sidewalk there and worried for a while if the cops would say anything but I don't think they even noticed - or cared if they did.

Ironfish653

I transition in and out of traffic lanes all the time, since there's not always good bike paths to use on my route. As to legal or not, do what you feel is safest. If that means using the cross walk to set up your turn on to the bike path, then do it.

For left turns, where you can't get to the turn lane, or there's no signal, I'll do a 'button-hook' like rseeker; make the right, then make a u-turn and go straight through the intersection. Every intersection is a little different, so you may have to use a different tactic for each one.

I agree with the suggestions that you should get out and ride on days you don't have to get to work. I use my 'townie' for running errands all the time now. Picking up / dropping off notes at the kid's school, going to the library, the Y, that sort of thing. Made a couple of Target runs and found that where it's a 10 minute drive, it takes just a tick under 15 on the bike, so it only adds a few minutes on to the whole trip.
All those 3-5 mile rides where you're not watching the clock, is a good time to practice your traffic skills.