A plea...

Please pay attention to cyclists. We don't really "belong" anywhere, and it's difficult for us to avoid all of the hazards we are faced with when riding. Remember, your vehicle weighs at least 500 times as much as my "vehicle." Obviously, I'm yielding to you, as my bike would do very little damage to your car, and you car would do a whole lot of damage to my body (and bike). But just be aware. And bike lanes are not for parking. They are for people to bike in. Here's a great link someone sent me that makes a really good point about paying attention to cyclists:
http://video.bicycling.com/item/PDTY62LZ7LXFMLBJ

So, this all stemmed from a ride last night. I decided to bike from my house, through campus, down 2nd Avenue, to hang out with some people last night. This seemed more reasonable than driving. It was light when I left, but I brought my lights with me in case it was dark when I came back (which, at 11 PM, it definitely was). So I was riding over and doing just fine until I got by the O'Dome, when there were a line of cars parked in the bike lane. I was able to find a break in traffic and cut out into the regular lane. One cool thing about campus is that the speed limit is only 20 mph, and I have an odometer on my bike, so I was doing 20 and keeping up with the cars around me. That's a good feeling. I made it through campus and most of the way down 2nd without incident when a pedestrian decided to walk out in front of me. Like, directly in front of me. There is no bike lane on 2nd, but there is a very wide sidewalk that works for bikes and pedestrians. This man was clearly not paying attention to anything around him, walked directly in front of me, and stopped. I very narrowly avoided him, and he laughed hysterically as I rode away. That was nice. Then, as I was crossing 34th, someone was turning right on red and not paying attention (again) and almost drove into me. (I had the little man in the crosswalk light telling me to go, so I definitely had the right of way.) This time, I got the "I'm really sorry" wave and continued on. I finally made it the 2.3 miles alive and whole. Luckily, on the way back, even though it was dark and late, there was actually much less going on and there were no major incidents to report. So, I did 4.6 miles on the bike yesterday. Not much, but at least I didn't drive there and back.

I'll be doing some fundraising type stuff tonight, fundraising tomorrow, and training on Sunday. Updates to come probably on Monday!