Commuting

So in the past few weeks I have taken up to commuting to work in the morning and home in the afternoon. Back and forth to Chinatown. Well, to say the least, it has been interesting. Mostly this is because of the interesting people that I always encounter on my way. People on fixies, single speeds, brand new Colnagos, vintage bikes, the works. But most of all it is how unhappy they are on their way to work. No one says "hi" or "good morning" or anything. Even when I say hello to other fellow commuters, they look at me like I am crazy! It's kind of weird, especially when the rest of the bicycle community is so friendly!! But nonetheless, commuting has been interesting.

A normal morning happens like this: I head out of the house with my Cal Cycling Timbuk2 bag over my shoulder and my helmet and gloves on. I make my way down the driveway, out to Monterey, and the breezy ride down to San Jose. Then down Valencia, which is always interesting, considering the double-parked cars in the suicide lane, the people wandering around looking for their first Steel Reserve, and the endless construction always going on. After a right and a left, a little jaunt down Folsom and then Dave drops off to go into work. That leaves me to join the ridiculous amount of commuters, and a five lane change to make a left on 3rd. This is where the bike lane ends, and nearly getting hit by a bus, right-hand turner, or a car who hates bikes beating them to the light. This continues until North Beach where I turn off of Kearny and go up to work. Then all my kids hoot and holler because they love that I ride a bike!

But of the all the ways to get back, I have definitely decided that the part of my commute named so aptly "The Wiggle" is my favorite. It is this certain part of my ride that "wiggles" through a part of the City that normally is up one way and down the other. Instead this ingenious little path, "wiggles" around all of that and instead just is a nice comfortable ride, almost completely flat, takes me from Market St. to the Panhandle with little effort. It is pretty great! All that is left after that is the climb back up to the house.

So to say the least, commuting in this City is nothing but bunch of laughs, dodging a lot of cars and making sure no one tries to run you over because you can dive through traffic and they can't.