Im Back

So it has been a couple weeks since my last post. Let it be stated for the record: I have not cheated. I have been busy though. My husband came back home from his job on the oil rigs and we hit the ground running. In the past 2 1/2 weeks I have attended 2 weddings and 1 funeral, flown back and forth from Austin a few times and hung out in the Baltimore airport for 12 hours trying to catch a ride back home. So anyway, lots of undocumented commuting has taken place and I'm going to try to make amends.

Let's start with last night. I am in a Rotary Club that meets downtown at 6pm. Seeing that even if I work the opening shift I never get out of work until 6pm; I usually just take Tuesdays off in order to make it to the meetings. Here is my route downtown:


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I attempted Allen Parkway once, unless I am on a mountain bike and plan on using the trial along the bayou...never again. Washington is technically a bike route, it even has a designated strip on the road specifically for bikes. Well for bikes, buses and parked cars. Even with the obstacles, nothing compares to the pot holes and botched road repair jobs which occupy the bike lane. I would say I make it 50% of the way to downtown in the bike lane, the rest of the time I am in the regular car lane dodging objects or poured mounds of asphalt that make my teeth chatter when I ride over them.

Something else I have noticed in the past few weeks, is the increased amount of cars parked on the road as a result of the recent influx of new bars along Washington in both directions. I'm all for the addition of new business, but more and more of the bike lane is being eaten up due to parking and drivers don't always look before pulling out or opening their doors. Ok so that is my deal with Washington. For all my complaining, of all the streets that lead into downtown, I would rather ride this road than any other.

So downtown. I take Washington over to Milam and head south. I am stopped at pretty much every red light from Bagby to Milam. Granted this is only 4 lights but still. It's a pain when you have just started rolling and the light only 100m away is already yellow. Now Milam is fun. It is 11 blocks from Preston to the Wedge Building, I have found if I go fast enough I can hit every light green all the way. Buses tend to complicate matters seeing as I ride in the bus lane and they tend to back up and stop every block or so. I have started riding in the far left hand side of the lane so I can skirt around a stopped bus, usually I am going with the speed of traffic so merging with the next lane isn't too tricky.

When I arrive, at least 3 seasons out of the year, I am a sweaty mess. Rotary is usually made up of business professionals who I don't think would appreciate my soaked through t-shirt and running short attire. I try to get there about 10 min ahead of time to take a quick paper towel bath and change into clothes I cart with me in my panniers. Usually I have enough time to grab a beer on the way in the door.

The ride home is usually in the dark. I take roughly the same route back as I do in. The added bonus is the bread bakery on Washington, if I am lucky I can smell the bread being churned out for the next day.