Ghosts of Joe Slovo

I ride my bike to work three or four days a week. It's not far, about five miles, and takes 25-30 minutes.

Over the 1.5 years I've been doing this I've developed a rhythm keyed to my body's fluctuating fitness level (I don't recommend taking three months off of riding like I did from November - January) and the timing of the traffic lights. I get this good speed going, my legs are pumping, I'm getting a good cardio workout and I'm going for blocks and blocks without hitting red lights.

This is great because the biggest pain in the ass as an urban cylcing commuter is accelerating after decelerating. You've got to push hard on the pedals, your stroke isn't smooth so the bike wobbles, and the cars and busses are accelerating next to you. It's not fun, it screws with your breathing cycle and  it totally breaks your rhythm.

So for the past 1.5 years the path I chose was pretty great for me. I could go great stretches without having to worry about stoplights and the lines of cars they create and I could work all that to minimize getting passed by busses.

But two weeks ago the traffic engineers did something to the timing of all the stoplights through downtown on Grand and Figeroua streets. They subtly adjusted the timinig of the lights, just by a few seconds each, but man, that has really screwed my rhythm up!

There was this one stretch on Grand from Bunker Hill by the Library all the way to 13th Street where, if you hit the 6th street light right you could go the whole way at high speed without stopping once. Today I hit the 6th street light correctly, but had to stop at 3 different lights on the way, including one I've never had to stop at before.

This is really pissing me off. Changing the rhythm of a bicycle commuter is dangerous. It increases the number of things we have to pay attention to and throws us surprises where it used to be smooth sailing. I know this is your basic self-centered whining, but I think it is things like this that really affect the tenor of my day. Starting the day out with such frustration spills over into everything else I'm going to do. I suspect this is the case with car commuters who have to fight traffic every morning as well. We get to work cranky and stressed out.

But I'm not trying to make a larger point here. I just want the traffic signals to allow for what I used to have: long stretches of uninterrupted bike riding.

Kick ass and put air in the tires.