Riding to work: Part 1

Cara decided that it might be interesting to show you some of her bicycle ride to work. (This was actually the morning before that small misadventure and completely unrelated - really.)

There are actually a few different paths Cara takes to work. These shots are from the most direct which, of course, are also along the busiest route, the 3rd ring road. This is pretty much a 3 mile ride north on the one road.

Here we are near the begining of the ride. Notice the man at the right hand side of the picture. He is riding his bike along the curb and against traffic. As mentioned in previous posts, this is not at all unusual.

Having now passed the gentleman in the yellow shirt (you can see his arm in the bottom right corner of this shot) we are continuing on to the next intersection. These small intersections can be tricky because cars sometimes want to turn onto these side streets which causes the bikes and cars to navigate through the same space. The easiest way to deal with this is for the bikes to actually manuver ourselves leftward, across the right hand car lane and then ride between the two car lanes and therefore not interfereing with right turning cars. The only difficulty arises when the cars do not turn right and then you have to work your way back across the right hand lane of traffic.

Having made it through the interesction, we are now in an area of high bus traffic. You can see one of the buses up ahead. You may also notice how the bus, as well as this other car right in front of us, is completely in the bike lane. This is a commonly occuring occurance and the accepted responce is to take over the right hand car lane so as to be able to go around such obstructions. One of the nice things about this particular location is that the bike lane is so large, there is sometimes enough room for the bikes and the buses - who hoo!
The bus has now pulled away from the curb. It is very important watch buses's turn signals as this will let riders know wheather we should swerve to the inside or outside of said bus. Making the wrong decision will either force you into the middle of many lanes of cars or force you to come to a sudden halt as your way becomes blocked by many pedestrians entering and exiting the bus. One fun thing that sometimes happens, is that the bus signals it is about to pull away just to fake you out. Then, as you slide your bicycle between the bus and the sidewalk, its doors suddenly open and someone jumps from the bus right in front of you. It is a very tricky pattern and clearly designed as a fear tactic by those sneaky bus drivers.