The True Suicide Bicycle Ride

I'm in India right now, right outside of Delhi, and let me tell you, this is the land of the true Suicide Bicycle Ride. First of all, there are a ton of bikes and bicycle rickshaws. Second, there are a ton of everything else on the road: motorcycles, scooters, pedestrians, cows, cars, camels, donkeys, push-carts, tractors. And, most importantly, everyone drives as fast as they can, and uses both sides of the road. This applies to ALL roads - regular city streets as well as on the highways.

OK

Yeah, this is quite alright with me. 50 degrees, the sun is still up when I leave work at 6pm. Yes, this is OK.

The Winter of My Discontent is Waning

The good thing about today was that it was the LAST extremely cold day of 2007. I believe this with all my heart. Saturday is supposed to be 50 degrees and everday after that will just get warmer. I know it, I am sure of it. It was about 9 degrees on the ride home and once again the tips of my fingers were stinging with the cold when I got home. The picture is Comm Ave in the gloaming.

I Don't Care

It was 10 degrees on the ride to work, and 15 on the ride home. I don't care. That was nothing. At least I wasn't the white car in this picture - broken down and stopped dead on Mass Ave just south of the Boylston St intersection in Wedneday night rush-hour traffic. Cars behind him were laying on their horns, no mercy, cause they couldn't see his flashers. Sad sight. For all the crap that cyclists take, I'd ride a bike any day over a car or public trans. (Temp last year on this day: 35)

Number 9

Jeez, what a day. Ride in was about 10 degrees, ride back was 9. The ride in was good for the first half - rode/raced with a guy from Beacon to Comm to the Mass Ave underpass where he bailed to Mass ave and I took The Plunge.

Then I was on Clarendon and almost got hit by a black BMW guy making a right from Clarendon (and driving RIGHT BESIDE ME) on to St James. He came within about 2.5 inches (I had my nuclear yellow jacket on - can't miss me). I yelled, passed, and looked back to see him giving me the "not my fault" shrug - plus he yelled that he had the right lane. I flipped and went mental - besides unleashing a torrent of vitriol at him, I turned around and raced up St James after him to where he was ultimately stuck at the light.

Friends, my words to this gentleman were not honorable or right, but sometimes the fear that a near-injury experience produces makes me act in injudicious ways.

The ride home was, as I mentioned, in 9 degrees of frigid pain (wind chill = -14). When I got home I could not feel the tips of my right-hand middle and ring fingers.

I took a similar route home as I did last night. The picture is at the whole Christian Science complex. The trees look the way my fingers felt taking the picture (I had to take off my gloves), spindly, brittle branches.

Monday, March 5, 2007 Batten Down The Hatches

Great ride into work (nice weather, sunny), but a crazy ride home. There's an arctic front coming down on us like a hammer, and it's causing quite a bit of wind. I rode up from the South End via Fromaggio's Kitchen and biked around the Christian Science center. The wind was really bad here, but I'm sure it was worse at Copley. I was almost stopped dead in my tracks a couple of times from the icy gusts. Tomorrow morning is supposed to feel like -13, with the whole wind/arctic-front thing reaching a crescendo.

Friday, March 2, 2007 Downpour Hell

All right, enough of this stuff. This day made it in to the top 10 of worst days riding. It sucked, pure and simple. Rain and sleet, with the sleet pinging and stinging my face. Drenching downpour, but still the colossal ice caps at the side of the road. Pain. Suffering. I took a different route today - down Mass Ave to Harrison. The picture is Mass Ave right before Harrison at Boston City Hospital.

Also, I got to work and had a conversation about riding that went like this: "Oh, you rode today? Wow. Musta been wet. I really don't like cyclists, they're always running red lights." He says this so casually, so offhand. HE WILL SUFFER for his blasphemy. I'll make sure of it.