Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Bus With My Name On It...

The status of my regular commute route is such that I made it through the road construction at the intersection of Ina and La Canada--that's a major intersection up where I live, and sure saves me some time. Except for right at the inter-sec, the road is re-paved and pretty nice. It appears that the bike lane is about a foot wider.

At 6:30 a.m. there's not a lot of traffic, so tonight we'll see how I do, and if people let up on the gas to give me a few seconds to get through, I'll be okay.

I have enjoyed the alternative ride on River Ave, but what that road lacks in climbing, Ina--which changes names to Sunrise, and then Skyline--makes up for it with miles of hills--felt like I was out of shape slogging up the road, Gentle Readers of this Blog.

I took Monday off and drove into the San--I just needed that few extra hours of sleep in the morning, and an evening where I wasn't packing up stuff for the morning ride come first light.

It will be a hot ride home but hey I'll be fine!

Now I'm happy to report that the ride home was good. It was 105, so I didn't waste any time getting out of the San and the city so I could start the climb up in the foothills.

The only thing that happened to me was that a city bus drove right on the white line of the bike lane while I was heading West on Ina--and I don't know why Tucson Sun-Tran Drivers do it, but the guy got as close to me as possible--there was like two feet or less between me and the side of the bus.

The bus rolled to a stop, and I came down the bike lane to the red light as well. I put out my hand to touch and gently glide my fingers on it's body; I was surprised how close the guy had actually passed me.

Even the big heavy trash trucks and cement trucks rolling up Ina in the mornings always give me some extra room. I don't know why the bus drivers won't. The other thing is that you can hear the big semi trucks coming as they strain and groan up the road, so you can get over to the far right in the bike lane. You can't hear the San Tran bus--at all.

But hey, I made it back to moi voiture. That's what counts, right?

Cheers! Bruce

1 comment:

starstuff said...

Watch out for their mirrors. They are right at head height I discovered with my little relationship with a bus. Ironically I don't think bus drivers have as strict a bar to measure up to, but I could be wrong, just seems like they aren't as safe as the drivers of the big rigs.