OK, as I'm sure some of you have noticed, I've posted about a number of near misses over the past few months. My commute is only 1.5 miles each way (I do it 4 times/day as I ride home for lunch) and yet here I was having all these close calls. It made for a stressful ride and frankly, I was getting tired of it.

Today I woke up and discovered that we have no milk. I also only got about 3 hours of sleep last night, so I HAD to have some coffee (I need milk in my coffee). I debated between stopping at Panera or Starbucks, and opted for Starbucks because it was more 'on the way' to work.

To get to Starbucks, I needed to ride down a busy street that I normally avoid. It is parallel to the one I usually ride, so going that route does not increase my distance/travel time at all. There is a bike lane, and about 6 or 7 traffic lights in the 1 mile stretch (no kidding!). I rarely drive this route by car because it takes so long because of the traffic lights.

Today, I was amazed at how relaxing it was to bike down this street. Every intersection had a traffic light. The bike lanes were clearly marked. There was a lot of cars, but very few had to cross my path for any reason and if they did, it was where there were lighted intersections. Contrast this to my other route that while it had less cars, it had 3 substantial intersections with no lights - therefore more chances for bike/car confusion. All of my 'near miss' situations were in or because of one of these intersections.

I never would have guessed it, but biking on the busier road is actually more stress/worry free than biking on the 'quieter' road. Live and learn!

The moral of the story? Quiter roads are not always 'safer' roads.