Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Insights From the Road: The Road

On this trip I have been on Washington roads, Oregon roads and California roads. Wahington roads were, for the most part, good. Oregon roads were terrific! California? Well, let's just say, Ahhnold needs to direct some funds to the coastal roads. I have had to redefine my definition of a shoulder on the CA roads. I used to consider 18" to 3 feet a good shoulder. Now it is anything that allows me to ride to the right of the white line! Sometimes there isn't even a white line! Then there are the times when there is a white line, but just to the right is a cliff. In Oregon there some spots where there was not much shoulder. The key difference is that they were SPOTS, not miles! In all fairness, there are some very courteous drivers who slow down and wait until it is safe to pass. But, there are more who just roar past.
Today's ride seemed to have more moments of shoulder. Maybe it's Marin County. Today I also had a nice bike path that went straight to the park (about 3 miles). Tomorrow I go through San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm going to get up at 5:30 as it supposedly takes the whole day with all the traffic lights.

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