I got to ride with another commuter!!

[Iris616]

Does this happen often?
I've been commuting for over a month now. Sometimes I see other commuters, but usually going in the opposite direction than me (or riding on the sidewalks:(). Today on my way home, I ran into another commuter at the second intersection I came to. We ended up going most of my route together. We'd catch up with each other at each intersection and chat while we waited. It was a nice sense of comraderie.
I'm just savoring the pleasant surprise of the day:)

[Tri Girl]

It's never happened to me, but how very nice!! Hopefully you'll meet up again often. :)

[pardes]

I was at a stop light today and a motorcycle pulled up even with me. We nodded to each other. He was about 20 and I clearly look my age of 62. He admired my bike and I admired his super duper motorcycle, the kind that is monstrous and that you have to practically lay down on to drive.

As the light changed, I said, "Wanna race?" He turned left and I went straight.

He laughed non-stop for the next hundred yards as he left me in the dust. Thankfully he had the VERY QUIET kind of motorcycle, a low soft rumble like frogs with pneumonia on a hot summer night and I could hear him laughing as he disappeared over the hill.

[7rider]

Does this happen often?

Occasionally.

I've hooked up with folks at lights and ridden with them for anywhere from a block or two to a few miles.

I used to commute with a co-worker....but he was in a bad accident, and it's doubtful if he'll ride again (perhaps he'll recover physically enough to ride, but his wife may not ever let him near a bike again).

It's nice to occasionally have company and someone to chat with for a bit. I've used the opportunities to show them routes and to learn new routes....so it usually works out well.

[Grog]

There are lots of bike commuters around here, but not very often do I get to chat.

Recently though I was nicely drafted by an older-than-me roadie on my commute home, which made a long flat stretch quite a bit faster. It was definitely friendly, although no words (save for the final 'See ya' when he turned left) were exchanged.

[rhyme]

I can't get home without running into, at a minimum, 4 other bikers. That said, no one ever says anything to me.

[shootingstar]

Especially comin' home, there are alot of bike commuters in same direction or opposite.

But alot of them seem to be like me..fixated to get home/go somewhere after work/school. It's their sense of cycling urgency..:o

But over 50% time in the afternoon, my partner willingly bikes from home to my bike locker pick-up point. I've become part of his daily excuse to add more cycling mileage. It's been like this since we've move to Vancouver and have biked between home and work.

He genuinely loves cycling..and will "commute" with me. With previous employers where I worked, he did sometimes commute with me to work also.

I guess instead of the hubby dropping me off from the car, he drops me off or picks me up by bike. :rolleyes:

[tulip]

When I lived in DC, I saw hundreds of bike commuters every day in the warmer months. Being DC, there was very little interaction (DC's like that). But in the winter, only the hardcore commuters continued to ride, and we would acknowledge each other. But come springtime when the commuter crowds came out of their winter hibernation, it was back to being anonymous.

[Geonz]

I do a fair amount of waving at the ones comin' the other direction and sometimes I feel like a veritable celebrity (beginning of the year a guy I didn't recognize who I guess reads my blog calls out "Congratulations on the ten thousand!"). Once I was having fun sprinting from one point to the other and I missed every possible light and the same fellow caught up to me four times and on the second time we chatted about our routes, the lights, etc.

However, I am not sure whether I'd want to have to use social skills that much in the a.m. I've often pondered how much I *love* the "quick recognition" and how it feeds my psyche and adds to my bliss... and wondered if it would be the same if I had to have actual *conversations* :D (Um, that tendency may have something to do with me being single, too ;) )

[Grog]

But in the winter, only the hardcore commuters continued to ride, and we would acknowledge each other. But come springtime when the commuter crowds came out of their winter hibernation, it was back to being anonymous.

Around here I've found that people who seem to be on a commute smile more on a rainy day. :)

[alpinerabbit]

If your post had been "I ran into another commuter" then that woulda been me. Actually the other way round.

Literally - there's a pretty big dangerous 3-lane roundabout that I have to round about, and some cars (most actually) leave it where I still go round (merrily, I say) I always signal my intent on holding my lane - and some girl was still asleep one morming, slammed on her brakes, I realized her in the corner of my eyes - slammed on mine and the other cyclist behind me ran into me.

Nothing happened to anyone.
Gave the asleep-in-her-can driver a good scare and a lesson I hope.

[Iris616]

If your post had been "I ran into another commuter" then that woulda been me. Actually the other way round.

Literally - there's a pretty big dangerous 3-lane roundabout that I have to round about, and some cars (most actually) leave it where I still go round (merrily, I say) I always signal my intent on holding my lane - and some girl was still asleep one morming, slammed on her brakes, I realized her in the corner of my eyes - slammed on mine and the other cyclist behind me ran into me.

Nothing happened to anyone.
Gave the asleep-in-her-can driver a good scare and a lesson I hope.

I'm glad no one was hurt.
Do you mean that you go round a few times before exiting the circle? I have a small round about on my commute. Early in the morning I do that sometimes, just because it makes me laugh:D

[GLC1968]

I constantly run into other commuters. I've been held up by 'bike traffic' before... There are TONS of people on bikes here and because of that, most don't bother talking to each other outside of the occasional "good morning". It would be too hard to talk to everyone - you'd never make it to work on time!

I do notice that people are more chatty/friendly when the weather is bad. I guess they figure if you are also out in it, you are 'hard core' and worth a few words! ;)


When I lived in NC - I'd be lucking if I'd see another commuter to wave at, never mind talk to. It rarely happened.

[gnat23]

I commute south-to-north, sometimes with a group. Nearly every day, I see a group going north-to-south. We'd all smile, wave, say good morning as we crossed.

Then at a Velodrome race where I was spectating, some guy came up to me and said "Hey, you're the one leading on the Bay Trail every morning!" and we officially introduced ourselves.

He was pretty cute too! Pity he has to work the other direction from me. ;)

-- gnat!

[Trek420]

I'm opposite most commuters. Seems my fellow cyclists live elsewhere, leave the station and are heading to work while I and some "invisible cyclists" arrive at the station.

Now I do see more weekend warriors popping up where before we were an oddity in the 'hood. :cool:

I helped a woman commuter this morning by showing how I manage BART with a bike.

Monday I had a very pleasant chat with an older gent on the train. I'm guessing 60's. He rescued a folder that a friend was throwing out and did a great job of painting and fixing it.

It's his first week of riding to work and his grin was ear to ear. :D He asked for some tips, info, I talked about the how and why of riding with traffic. He got off the train with "I'm going to go right downstairs and get a bright yellow vest!" Nice gent, hope I see him again.

[kfergos]

I almost always see just a few people going opposite of me in the summer, maybe four or five routinely. We all wave at each other, and one guy and I say "good morning." I think it's because so far out from the city, anybody else on a bike -- commuting or not -- is something of a rarity.

I've had once or twice when some guy an I ended up together going the same direction. It's nice to have company, but this one guy on a Cervelo (He told me faux-modestly: "I've been commuting a few months now, and the direct route is 10 miles each way, but on nice days I like to go longer," like he's super macho:rolleyes:) made me ride faster than I intended to. I stayed ahead of him, though! :D But mostly no, I ride alone 99% of the time.

I never see anybody else in the winter. Not one, for five months or more of the year. If I saw somebody else on a bike in February, I'd probably just fall off my bike in shock. (On a side note, I was in the bike shop in the winter getting something done -- it seems like things always need fixing in the winter -- and I heard this guy talking about how he loved riding on ice. He was all talking about how great it was with his studded tires and all. I have studded tires for the winter, and I spent that whole time thinking "He likes riding on ice? I'd go a mile out of my way to avoid riding on it!" But even so I didn't see him out there in the "wintry mix" weather, either.)

[jsdilks]

I ride on the back of a tandem for our commute to work about 3 days/week. It's a short ride (about 4 miles each way) and on a path most of the time. We run into folks - a few of the same faces - and wave. We also generate a few comments "she's not pedaling" or surprised looks when we pass people. I've been off a bike for 25 years and the last time I rode was on the back of a tandem when we were undergrads and had a baby that we put in a bike seat. So this is all pretty new to me. The paths make a huge difference for me, because I'm very nervous on the streets - I don't trust drivers in general, and drivers in DC especially. But I chat up people when we're stopped and leave them smiling. And I always wave at the kids.
Shelly

[Trek420]

and a hearty welcome to TE!!

[Serendipity]

Iris, almost the same thing happened to me on the ride home last night. About halfway home I met up with another commuter - on a road bike, no less. Almost all of the commuters I see are on moutain bikes and going the opposite direction.

Anyway, she was a bit faster than me but we caught up at intersections. Thought we had parted ways at one point but then she caught up with me at the last intersection. Seems she went a different route to avoid a big hill.....:)

And then another person caught up with us while we were waiting at the intersection....so cool!