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Riding to work


Bellboy1
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I ride to work everyday if it's not raining. My commute is 30 minutes all freeway or about 45 taking the streets. 40 degrees is about my limit so i can actually feel my fingers to take my helmet off when i get to work. The truck is costing alot more to fill up & the bike eases the stress of the work day before i get home.

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Wow, that's great C-bus. For now, I think I'll build into the daily ride. Ride home was a bit hectic tonight. Experinced my first tailgater as soon as I pulled out of the work lot. Did Roxy's brake flashing thing which helped, but real answer was to switch lanes as soon as I could and pull away. I didn't get a chance to try the wiggling thing tonight. Little by little. I'm impressed at how many people ride all the time.

Another trick I use a lot, and this isn't really a trick as much as an ongoing mental exercise is to see traffic in terms of pockets....when you're riding amongst cars, no matter where you are, try to put yourself in the pocket where you have maneuverability and an escape route. If you get caught where you're boxed or in a blind spot, speed up or slow down right then and there....pick your way through traffic carefully till you're in a big pocket and stay there. It's not only a safe thing to do, but it's a game you play and keeps you alert and aware of your surroundings. Complacency is what will fuck you.

On 3-lanes, I stay out of the middle lane because of this, the pocket can close on you or leave you with no out but your throttle...and that's a failure of your situational awareness if you need it to save your ass. I like the left hand lane because it usually has a more generous berm and if someone closes into my lane I have a natural out....people don't tend to move into the left unless they're moving faster than traffic and that means they'll usually see you, as opposed to the right hand lane where people move out of traffic to exit or slow down, and that's a case where you're generally behind them (blind spot).

Another thing; intersections...when you're coming up on a green light scan left/right 2 seconds before hitting the intersection (that's your safe stopping/avoidance time) and see if someone's coming too fast to stop from another direction. People blow lights, and if you're alert you can avoid 'em. Just go through and you might be legally in the right but dead.

Try to anticipate what could happen as you ride, that's how you'll be prepared should some dickwad live up to it and try to kill you.

Oh, and have fun.

:evil:

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