Commuting in Seattle: Late hours

[khg]

Recently I rode home at 3:30 AM from seeing a friend (very good friend I hadn't seen for months, was in town for 12 hours, spent most of those 12 with her!) from just north of the U-district to Queen Anne. It was actually amazingly fun, as I was passed by maybe 3-4 cars the entire trip. Most of the time I was the only one on the road. Closest thing I had to a dangerous encounter was two giant raccoons who glared at me while crossing the street.

By 5AM, that's probably starting to change, but at 4 it's probably similar. Which is to say, unless the Burke is insanely convenient for you, you might find that the roads through the u-district are unusually friendly. I agree with others above that you're likely to be just fine on the BG (weighing the stress the traffic causes you in the car against the possibility of a sketch encounter on the trail, I think you come out ahead on the trail)--but if you're leaving work early enough, roads that would be awful to ride on during the day might be a breeze.

[VeganBikeChick]

Thanks khg, taking surface roads may not be so terrible either I'll actually be commuting home from work at 5 am (work nights) from children's to queen anne. I also work some 3p-3a shifts and thought commuting by bike at those hours would be totally unsafe, but your experience makes me think otherwise. Food for thought

[Eden]

Hey - I work at Children's too, but I live on the back side of Capitol Hill and I only work days (and not full time at that), so we probably rarely even pass in the halls. I find riding late at night around here soothing - so quiet and hardly anyone else out.

[Jolt]

Keep in mind too that even if you did encounter a creep, they would probably be either on foot or in a car. On a bike, you can move faster than a person on foot and are much more nimble than a car, so you will have an advantage either way in getting out of the situation. Pepper spray, as already mentioned, is never a bad idea (you can get some kind of holster for it, and zip-tie or velcro that around the stack of headset spacers under your handlebars). And, I agree with the person who said you're overall better off bike commuting, despite the odd hours and fewer people around, if your other choice is taking an HOUR to drive 5 miles!! I know what my choice would be...

[VeganBikeChick]

Hey - I work at Children's too, but I live on the back side of Capitol Hill and I only work days (and not full time at that), so we probably rarely even pass in the halls. I find riding late at night around here soothing - so quiet and hardly anyone else out.

That's awesome, Eden! I'm in the ED, thus the "weird hours". I love Childrens, and the commute bonus doesn't hurt