I Did It!

[carpaltunnel]

After driving the route, riding it during off hours, planning on a map, etc. for a month, I finally gave up on trying to navigate the dangerous part of my planned Omaha NE commute. I threw the bike in the back of the pickup and drove to the other side of the evil stretch, parked in a drug store parking lot, and rode the rest of the way to work. Thursday a.m was my first day. It felt so good I did it again Friday, and plan to keep it up. Someone has another thread that lists all the benefits, and I sure felt them. I felt so alert, focused, and cheerful all day!

(Re the parking lot, I worried about getting towed until I got there and realized it seems to be used by people who park and ride the city bus.)

It's 3 miles, up & down hills, partly on city side walks next to a busy and fast major street. The rest of the way is through a bike trail that follows a pretty creek -birds singing -to within three blocks of work. Then three blocks of relatively ok uphill street cycling. On this stretch people aren't driving like maniacs.

I will turn 60 next year and hope I can celebrate it by finding a way to safely go the whole distance, but this 3 miles is 1/2 the total distance, and very rewarding.
MomOnBike, if you see this, thanks for the encouragement!

[michelem]

Congrats! You are braver than I. Riding during rush hour traffic without the safety of a group scares me. Keep it up!

[mimitabby]

hey congratulations! you're smart to eliminate the scary part.

keep it up and happy birthday (when it happens)

[uforgot]

Doesn't it feel great? I'm 52 and started running this year. Can you imagine our parents doing stuff like this at our age? Mine certainly didn't, and neither did my friends' parents!

Congrats and stay alert! Sounds like it can get pretty scary there.

[Tri Girl]

Good for you!!!! I like that you just drove past the dangerous part and rode the rest of the way into work! Way to go!!!
What's so dangerous about the 3 miles between your house and the drug store? Is it the road/cars, or is it through a scary/dangerous section of town?

I used to commute, but have gotten VERY lazy over the winter. Now that spring is here, I'm determined to get back out there and ride to work (it's a measly 4 miles- I'm embarrassed to admit- so I just need to do it again).
You've re-inspired me to ride to work tomorrow. I have no excuses now that spring is in full bloom! Thanks for the push!

Oh, and my mother is in her early 60's (I'm in my mid 30's) and I am soooo glad that 60 is still young. My mom acts like her parents did- she thinks she's such an old woman sometimes. I need to send her these posts so she'll get out there and do things like the young woman she still is. 60 is soooo different now than it used to be (and that's such a great thing). Does that mean 70 will be the 60 now when I get that age?? I sure hope so!! I want to still be riding and running into my 70's (if I'm so blessed to live that long).

[carpaltunnel]

Thanks girls for the great feedback. I really appreciate it!

I've gotten mostly great feedback from coworkers too. One or two don't get it but that's ok.

About the route: Total distance is about 6.5 miles. The first two are great - there's a new extra wide sidewalk all the way to a major crossing where five streets come together and it's a crazy crossing. That's complicated by the fact that Omaha NE drivers don't get bicycles at all. We have nice crossing lights, but the law in NE is a driver can make a right turn on a red light after stopping. (I think the legislature meant they should look both ways first.)

Drivers In My Metropolis, herinafter referred to as DIMM, interpret this to mean right turn on red without stopping, without looking, while talking on the phone, combing hair, and eating breakfast. Thus my reluctance to cross this intersection. It is the beginning of the Death Zone, a stretch of about a mile and a half with no trails and minimal sidewalks, peppered on both sides with busy driveways into fast food, grocery store, auto parts store, and dry cleaner parking lots.

Now, I can understand the morning traffic in & out of most of those establishments: coffee, donuts, drop off the cleaning; but driving along Auto Parts Row every morning, I marvel at the number of people who have to stop on the way to work for a distributor cap. Or something.

The DIMMs turning in & coming out of all these entrances create a gauntlet run for a cyclist. I hardly ever see anyone cycling to work anyway, and I NEVER see a cycle in the Death Zone.

I tried to find a way around this stretch, but it's a bottleneck street between a major creek on one side, industrial area, and commercial on the other. There simply is no way around it.
Once I get stronger I may be able to bike "upstream" a mile to cross at a light next to a police station. The DIMMs behave a little better at that intersection - could it be the police station? Does that mean they actually know what the law is but they just don't bother unless they think they might get caught?? I have actually seen a guy cross it in a motorized wheelchair it's that safe. (The "upstream" crossing, that is.) Anyway that has some potential but I'd still have to cut across a huge lumberyard industrial area with more minimal sidewalks.

So that middle part ruins what could be a nice 6 + mile ride. If anyone knows Omaha, it's Q Street from Millard Avenue to - oh, probably Deauville Drive.

Anyway, about your mom: Does she read health related literature? The Nutrition Action Newsletter (Center for Science in the Public Interest) periodically prints a nice article about why exercise is soooo important to aging people. I'll find the last two articles and post the dates here tomorrow for you. Tufts University also publishes a nice health newsletter. And there's a great health site and weekly e-letter you can sign up for on drmirkin.com - he and his wife are bikers, by the way. He's a sports physician in the Washington DC area and a medical commentator on a CBS radio station out there.

Maybe she'll begin to understand if she's more informed. You're a great daughter to be concerned about her. Don't give up on her!

Sorry to go on at such length - I'm so happy to have someone to share my little triumph with!

[TrekJeni]

Good for you. Glad you like commuting.

Have a couple of questions for you though - is it legal for you to ride on the sidewalk where you live? Here in the state of Ohio, it is illegal for anyone over the age of 16 to ride on the sidewalk.

I was recently certified as a League of American Bicyclists trainer and can help you with those confusing intersections. We too have the ability to turn right on red, and Cincinnati is not known as a bike friendly town. The way to cut your chances at a right hook encounter to to position yourself farther towards the center of that lane.

Again I want to say how proud I am that you started commuting. It's a wonderful feeling to be free of the car isn't it?!

Jeni

[carpaltunnel]

It does sound like we do it differently than your city. Cincinatti may be more advanced and bicycle friendly than you think.

Yes, we can ride on the sidewalks; in fact I think it's expected. The city trail system sometimes uses the sidewalks, but makes them double wide or more where it's designated "trail". We have buttons on the corners to trigger a crossing light, but that still allows the drivers to turn right into us. Our crossing lane and light is the same as for the people who would be on the sidewalk, if anyone walked. So someone turning right on a red would come around the corner first, then hit us in the crossing lane. It's nearly happened to me several times, on non-commute rides, but I was watching for them and saw it coming.

I couldn't get out with the cars on the major streets. Of the very few bike commuters I see, I don't see anyone else doing it either on those streets. The traffic is too fast and densely packed - they would just as soon kill me as look at me. In fact they wouldn't even see me before they did the deed.
But thanks anyway! I can see if the drivers were aware of bike safety that would be the thing to do.

[carpaltunnel]

I scanned a couple of the articles listed above, and tried to upload them here, but they exceed the max allowable file size.

So here is the link to the Nutrition Action site. Lots of articles can be read from the site. Others seem to require purchase of a subscripton. (Worth it in my opinion.)
http://www.cspinet.org/nah/index.htm

And the Tufts U. Nutrition & Health newsletter. Also worth the subscription price.
http://www.healthletter.tufts.edu/

The articles are not just about nutrition. They cover a wide range of health related topics.

Thanks to all for the encouragement. I'st been rainy and windy Tue-Wed and will be again tomorrow, so I hope by Friday I can get back to it!