Iv been cycling since 1979 and have over 100k miles on the road and I cant believe how bad it getting riding on the road anymore. It seems every time I ride I have at lease one close call. I live in Seattle and maybe it the area but man whats a guy suppose to do carry a gun or a club, not my style. Iv been riding in the woods quite a lot this year on a mtb and thats fun but a different kind of work out.

I was just thinking today how nice it is to have a cross bike, so I can go off road when the cars get to be too much. Of course I live out in the desert, so that's easy to do.

Only problem with a gun is what happens if you pull it out. Have to be prepared to use it, then your life changes forever. But I heard you say it's not your style, anyway. But a man can dream...

stay safe.

Ya I would never do that, pull a gun that is, I don't even react to peoples insanity, I just keep on riding.

A far more potent weapon.

the dangerous weapon is a person's mind...a gun is but a tool.
just a thought.

Have been here in Seattle area (Marysville) for little over 3 years after being born raised Souther CA 30 years and North Carolina for 13 years. I have not had one bad experience riding on the road here except for a dog getting hold of my leg and giving me 3 good puncture wounds. NC and Southern CA in my book were 100 times worst than riding here. My work requires me to travel all of Washington I take my bike everywhere and again not a single incident.
Maybe I'm just lucky or maybe I dont pay attention to potenial incidents.
Anyways love it here in Washington yea rain cold gets old but hey its worth it
Just my 2 cents worth
Ray Still

As they say, location location location.
I've been living in south King County for 25 years, 21 of it in Maple Valley, and have not really seen any change in car-bike issues where I ride. During that time Maple Valley has grown from unincorporated area to a small city at least quadrupling in size. I can ride 60-70 miles and go thru a small handful of traffic lights, all the time riding on very nice country roads. I used to be in the "sticks", now it's the 'burbs, but still love it for the riding.

I've been hit by a car while riding three times in my life. All three times it was a VW Beetle.

I commute through Seattle almost every day on a bike, and do weekend rides as well. I would say, overall, this is a good place to ride, but it is a city and even if 95% of the people are level headed there still is a small percentage of people that don't think you have a right to be on the road.

Glen- sounds to me like you are doing what I used to do- and that is to focus on the bad interactions. From an evolutionary stand point this makes sense, as you will remember where that bobcat likes to drink, and you won't go down to the lake in that spot. However from a modern perspective it can make us angry and skew the equation to the negative. So when I have a negative interaction with a person (car or person), as I am trying to cool down from it, I do a mental calculation. I count all the human interactions for that day and put them into positive, negative or neutral. The ratio is almost always between 5 to 7:1 positive to negative. Then I tend to focus on the smile from the little girl on the bus, or the guy at the stop sign that allowed me to roll through so I wouldn't have to clip out.

Well you get the idea. In the end anger sucks and it ends up hurting you, believe me it feels good to leave it behind...................MTT :idea:

I am so fortunate with my commute from Poulsbo to Bremerton. The busiest sections in the morning have a really wide shoulder and I end up in a 25mph zone with a slight downhill so I just ride in traffic. The afternoon has one road that is a magnet for right turning cars. I have learned to ride on the white line approaching that road and to continously pedal to remove any doubt that I am continuing straight.

I see more commuters each day. It might be the weather and it might be $4 gas.

Looking at 10 day forcast mid to late next week they are calling for temps in the mid to upper 70's with sunshine or Ptly Cloudy.
Lets hope it hold true.

Spending this week in Spokane first time since Oct I have been able to ride in short sleeves nice feeling

Ray Still

Looking at 10 day forcast mid to late next week they are calling for temps in the mid to upper 70's with sunshine or Ptly Cloudy.
Lets hope it hold true.

Spending this week in Spokane first time since Oct I have been able to ride in short sleeves nice feeling

Ray Still

I commuted home in short sleeves on Monday. I was cold. I wore a long sleeve jersey today under my cycling jacket since it was 39 degrees. The high is 55 so a long sleeve jersey should be just right this afternoon.

I was on a wash lake loop ride with a loop around east lake Sammamish on Sun, I was going north on e lake and got to the top of the hill and the road was blocked both ways. They let the bikes go through the road block, as I passed the fire truck they were working on a person in the ditch on the other side of the gaurd rail. about 50ft up the road a car on the bike lane was parked with a yellow Lemond under the front of the oil pan, It was a reminder to me how things can happen in a blink of an eye with no warning. I hope that cyclist is ok.

I don't ride E Lake Samm that often but have read about more accidents and fatalities on it. Tough to figure because it has a huge shoulder ... hopefully when they pave the trail that will eliminate them.

that will be the day, they cant even fix the paved trails that are out their now.