Riding Clyde, Phase II

The Bike Commute Challenge is over for 2009. The winning team (another department of my employer) accomplished a teamwide average of just over 50% of commutes by bicycle, and my personal rate was 55.6%, so yay me!

So now that I commute to work, what's next? I rode from the office to a BodyTalk appointment, then to a social visit, then to dinner out, then to a lecture, then home. All of this added about about 4.5 miles to my cycling day.

Here are some of the things I learned:

• The extra 4.5 miles made me tired!
• The bike lane on SW 14th next to the freeway suddenly moves from the lefthand side of the street to the right. Whoops. Missed that. Had to get off Clyde, walk him on the sidewalk and use a crosswalk to get back on track. This sort of detail is missing from Bycycle and just has to be experienced and learned.
• Even the funky converted Victorian house filled with alternative healthcare practitioners on NW Kearney has a bike rack.
• Most of the businesses on NE Broadway have bike racks on the sidewalk, but people getting out of parked cars don't seem to care much whether their car doors knock your bike sideways. On the other hand, half the people in the café where I ate dinner were accoutered with helmets and laptops and I felt like one of the Kool Kidz.
• And yes, there IS bike parking at the Doubletree Hotel at Lloyd Center. Well lighted, too.
• My rear brake is making a rubbing noise. Eeek! Mechanical difficulties: must learn to diagnose and solve.

I left Clyde home today because of the being tired and the brake noise, but it's back in the saddle again tomorrow: I have a cycling lunch date with one of my team members and we're going to put in an extra couple of miles along the riverfront, rain or shine.