I start my day at 6 am and after a breakfast of oatmeal that's thick enough to stand a spoon in and a few bananas I am off to cover the 13 km to work.

I usually ride one of my fixed gear roadies and today I took my '73 Carlton as I had just put on new tires and changed the front ring to something more commuter friendly... I'm running a 40:14 which lets me cruise pretty nicely at 33-35 kmh (20-22 mph).

The first 4 km are a joy as I get to ride on our bicycle highway for 4 km which is only broken in two places by streets where cyclists have a crossing light and the right of way. 99% of the cars stop and yield and one just has to look out for the one percenters who fail to yield and speed throuhg the crossing.

At the halfway point I have to cross a major bridge which has a two lane walkway on both sides and one would think this too was great but it rates as one of the most hazardous and frustrating stretches I have to cover... and it's only a km.

It's a bottleneck for many cyclists and peds so the traffic is expected... I just expect that the traffic knows the rules of the road.

First, there are those damn 3 P's... those pedestrian pod people who wouldn't know you were coming if you had an air horn and then freak out when you go by them and scare the ka ka out of them.

I've taken to yelling at these people since they can't hear my bell due to hearing damage caused to their higher registers by listening to emo music played at high db.

And then there are those people who are somehow confused by the simple "stay on the right" rule... what is so freaking hard to understand here folks? Bikes are coming toward you and they're in your lane... do you think that, perhaps you're on the wrong side of the %$#^%&% yellow line ?

I haver started telling these folks to STAY RIGHT !

These are also the same folks who will leap back into their proper lane as you go around them and it does give one yet another opportunity to test their brakes.

And then there are the cyclists who should have their bikes revoked...

There's the friggin' Lance wannabes who think that they can pass the 3 P's and slower cyclists when there are oncoming bikes... if the cyclist coming towards you has to slam on his brakes you obviously didn't have enough room.

Let's not foget the cyclists and peds who like to ride or walk two (or even three) abreast that refuse to ride/walk single file when being overtaken or in some cases...approached by other cyclists. This is particularly good when you are taking the corner at either end of the bridge because it really lets the folks coming down test their &^#^%$ brakes to avoid a head on.

I swore at two of these cyclists today.

And let's not forget about the little hill at the south side of the bridge... people coming down need to yield to the people coming up which is really a repeat of the keep to the right rule but for some reason the combination of the 6% grade and proximity to the street makes people ride in the middle of the bike path.

Perhaps they are afraid a car will leap off the street and hit them ?

Let me tell you how much the folks coming up like to break their stride and slow down or even stop as you come to the slow realization you're blocking the entire lane.

I don't know if should even go into the amount of broken glass I see on my ride...this either comes from peds smashing bottles or cagers winging them out their windows onto the bike path.

If I ever catch someone doing this I'm going to make them lick up the broken glass.

What am I forgetting....oh yeah.

* On those aforementioned corners...it's a bad f-ing idea to try and pass the peds/cyclists here as you can't see what's coming and yes... I really hated having to slam on my brakes and slam the bridge as I flung my bike to the right to avoid the head on you nearly caused.

Yes...you deserved to be swore at and a beating would not have been out of the question.

Mebbe I'm just cranky cause it's 90 degrees F and it seems to be making the dumb people even dumber than usual.

I like to ride at night and I thik the biggest selling point is that that many of the dumbasses have gone to bed althouhg all they're doing is recharging so they can wreak more havok tomorrow.

So...how was everyone elses commute today?

*This actually happed a few weeks ago.

You live in DC?

It sure sounds like you ride here.

It is not much help but really the only control you have over the MUT madness is your speed. So in the busy summer months leave a little earlier and ride a little slower (and pray for bad weather (just like we do)).

Riding around the lake tonight I almost got pasted by some jackhole on a cruiser bike who was, I kid you not, TEXT MESSAGING while riding his bike.

I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada which is really a mecca for cyclists of all kinds... within a city of nearly a million we have nearly 400 km of trails, bikepaths, and MUTS. I'll be posting some pictures of my nice route fairly soon.

But this is a RANT.

It is not much help but really the only control you have over the MUT madness is your speed. So in the busy summer months leave a little earlier and ride a little slower

My fixies only have one gear and like to travel at one speed (which is usually pretty fast) although I do occasionally take one of the old cruisers which slows me down a little.

Bad weather means I need to ride with raingear and fenders... yech.

Text messaging and talking on your cel phone while riding rates a virtual smack upside the head.

So...who else has a fun commute ?

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No complaints from my commute. A bad day on the bike is usually better than a good day in the car.

A bad day on the bike is usually better than a good day in the car.

Wurd.

Today was good for me. Left earlier to go a little slower so I wouldn't be sweating so much and got a really good flow with cars giving me gaps, lights all green, good sounds on my i pod and low and behold(where did that language come from?) I got to work early and cool. I pulled up onto the foot path once to let a real big crane get past me and the driver gave me a smile and thumbs up. Japanese people don't usually do thumbs up. Karma worked.
my rants I will save cause I want the vibe to last.

This is why bikes belong on the steets. - TF

Reading your rant makes me appreciate the fact that there are virtually no bike paths on my commute route. All I have to worry about is SUVs with huge rear-view mirrors.

I grew up there (Sherwood Park) and always lived/worked in that area. But it is a great town for riding. Sorry it is being overrun with jerks, but they are everywhere.

We are holding a car for a friend who moved to Florida. Our sons were arguing vehemently that they should be allowed to use that car to get to work this morning as I was getting ready to ride off in the rain for a commute 3 times as long as my younger son's. I told my older son to get in the car and drive to the job site 28 miles away because his brother was going to ride his bike 3 miles to the doctor's office where he works and change clothes when he got there.

This idea horrified them enough to first get the younger son to dress quickly and abandon ironing his shirt and then get the older one to wait patiently while he did. They started telling me about sweat at work which gave me an opportunity to remind them that we live in a society where perspiration is a crisis that must be dealt with, but increased pollution, global warming and 50,000 traffic deaths are facts of life that we should accept without question. Nothing more was said about anything.

The morning was warm; the rain was light; and I only had to dab once. They don't know what they're missing. Where did I go wrong?

[It is not much help but really the only control you have over the MUT madness is your speed. So in the busy summer months leave a little earlier and ride a little slower

My fixies only have one gear and like to travel at one speed (which is usually pretty fast) although I do occasionally take one of the old cruisers which slows me down a little.

Bad weather means I need to ride with raingear and fenders... yech.

Text messaging and talking on your cel phone while riding rates a virtual smack upside the head.

So...who else has a fun commute ?
[/FONT][/QUOTE]

I avoid all such places like the plague. My commute is more on roads that are designated bike routes, but I feel your pain. The Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver (which, luckily, I do not have to cross on my commute) sounds like a carbon copy of whichever bridge you need to cross (which one: near the University?). And, part of the route I take to my rowing club is on the Stanley Park Seawall - good lord, you have never seen so many apparently brainless folks riding the wrong way, wobbling along on rental bikes, roller blading all over the place and wandering aimlessly from the [clearly marked] pedestrian side to the [slightly elevated] bike side.

The only solution, as MB1 says, is to ride slowly, as annoying as that can be.

This is my first post, but I have been reading this forum for a while as I have started cycling.

Now for my rant: On my way home I go a little out of my way to avoid the heavily congested streets at rush hour. One street I take for a block has 3 lanes and never any cars on it. A few weeks ago I take this right turn and since I am turning in 1 block I am in the left lane. There is a bus in the right lane picking people up and there is a car in the middle lane. Those are the only cars as far as the eye can see. Behind this car is a jeep who yells at me that "My Bike is not a car". He was just upset that he could not blow by this other car in the middle lane as I was turning left. Just really annoyed me, have some patience people. Thanks, I feel a little better now.

I cross the high level bridge (by the University) about 4 times a day and it's during my commute at 7am and 5pm that it's the scariest.

Today's commute was pretty nice and I was going a little slower than usual as I rode nearly 90 km yesterday, the legs were a little tired, and I was battling some fierce headwinds on the way south.

As for staying on the road... our city has gone out of it''s way to build long stretches of smooth pavement specifically for cyclists and pedestrians that bypass the busier routes... the folks that use them just need a little more road sense.

I was enjoying my commute this morning and since I was running well ahead of schedule was taking things easy and toodling along on my recently re-built 1940 CCM coaster bike.

She's such a cool retro club bike and a wondefrful ride on those 28 inch tires and the lovely Ishiwata fork I installed.

Here's my baby...

http://members.shaw.ca/feynn/biking/ccm1940c.jpg

I was 3 km from work and coming down a narrow sidestreet when a woman in a red Toyota pulled out in front of me from an alley on my left which resulted in me t-boning her car as there just wasn't enough room to stop or manouver to avoid hitting her car.

I didn't even come off the bike but bent the handlebar stem and shifted the positon of my drop bars in the collision with her passenger door.

I was unhurt so after reassuring the woman I was okay and getting some contact info went on my way to work and knew immediately something was amiss with my baby.

I checked the bike over at our shop on the way home will now be looking for another front fork as the Ishiwata is toast... there's a very slight bend and a crack in the paint just below the crown on the righht fork arm.

If I'm lucky I'l be able to find another fork at the shop and get the old girl back on the road as aside from the fork damage, she was unscathed.