Category Archives: Commute Diaries

I missed the train today. After years of doing the “same old, same old” you think you have it all dialed in. Then something screws up your routine and you react like the grumpy curmudgeons that you roll your eyes at during City Council meetings. Change is good. This change is good. I just need to tweak my routine.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve seen and learned while bicycling for transportation.

It’s day five of freezing temperatures here in sunny California and every day it just seems to keep getting colder. Today’s surprise: a thin sheet of ice spanning the Guadalupe River Trail. A big thank you to the San Jose Parks & Trails work team who set out orange cones as a warning of this unexpected and potentially painful surprise.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve seen and learned while bicycling for transportation.

One day you’re flying high seeing bold green lanes installed on a major east-west bike route. The next you discover a bike lane on a high-speed north-south boulevard is being quietly rubbed out. You ride the green lane and you’re bullied by a bus into the coned-off area before the paint is dry. Where the paint is dry, there’s a car stopped and waiting in the green lane for no obvious reason and you have to merge back with the buses.

One step forward, how many steps back? It’s hard not to get discouraged sometimes.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve learned about bicycling for transportation.

Leather gloves, check. Full-length coat, check. Warm scarf, check. High-powered headlight, check. Backup headlight, check. I’ve made a few adjustments for morning temperatures in the 40s and 5 o’clock sunsets. What about you? Does your work commute change at all with the change in season?

Really, I’d like you to tell me. I’m opening up a “Fall Edition” of the Anything Goes Challenge that focuses on how darkness, snow, ice and rain also affect your commute choices. How to enter is below, but you can read stories from our Spring participants to see how it works. Leah has already started on hers. Who’s next?

To enter the Anything Goes Challenge: Take two or more distinct transportation modes to a specific destination you visit regularly (work, school, store, etc). Take the same mode a least twice in different conditions to give it a fair shake. Collect data, tabulate your scorecard, and assess each mode according to your own value equation. Explain which mode works best for you and why.

Send your summary to [email protected] by November 22. Please include one or more photos that I can include in a post about you, as well as your scorecard data and your personal value equation. Selected stories will be featured on this blog as they come in. If you’re private about things, just let me know and I’ll use your first name only or an alias of your choosing. I can’t wait to hear from you!

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve learned about bicycling for transportation.

Just because my workspace got downsized from a private office to a cubicle doesn’t mean Susie Q lost her climate-controlled, secure parking space. In fact, she’s settled in nicely and even has a name plate on the wall.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve learned about bicycling for transportation.

I never knew my little mixte had such speed. Then again, I can’t recall ever clicking her Nexus hub into eighth gear before, and certainly not for over three miles on the trail. But when your boss keeps you late and the next train is 45 minutes after the one you’re about to miss, your prissy little upright bike knows how to haul ass.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve learned about bicycling for transportation.

Sometimes the right tool for the job is my car. We’re moving offices and my new window cube won’t have wall space for framed art. While I’ve carried some crazy things on my bike, large frames with glass is not on the list.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve learned about bicycling for transportation.

They fly down the path, challenging each other in undeclared races for no reward beyond feeding their egos. As a former racer, I find their little game comical. It’s a bike path, not a velodrome. When they blow past my elbow without so much as an “on your left” I’m no longer smiling. Knock it off, you’re harshing my commute zen.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve learned about bicycling for transportation.

“Nice bike,” he said. “Nice bike,” I said. “Is that special edition Golden Gate Bridge orange? It goes with my dress.” “Yes, and it matches my pants.” “Can I take your picture for Silicon Valley Bike Style?” “Sure.”

The only way to meet people on your commute that’s better than riding transit is riding transit with a bike.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve learned about bicycling for transportation.

I sometimes feel a little lonely on my bike commute, seeing so many men riding along and so few women joining in on the fun. It’s not like my route along the river trail is on treacherous high-speed roads with hostile drivers scaring away female riders, often called the indicator species for a healthy cycling environment.

The answer came to me at lunch when I looked around the sandwich shop. Maybe it’s not about bicycling, it’s about Silicon Valley’s high-tech industry. There aren’t many female commuters here, with or without bikes.

About the Bike Commute Diaries: Launched in May 2012 for National Bike Month, this series explores the unexpected and surprising things I’ve learned about bicycling for transportation.