Jesse the K (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jesse_the_k) wrote2021-05-04 06:32 pm
jesse_the_k) wrote2021-05-04 06:32 pm
Entry tags:
Back to the pool
It’s been fifty-nine weeks and a day since I last swam. My pool has created elaborate routines to minimize infection: one-person per lane in 45 minutes blocks; entry at staggered 10-minutes intervals to minimize shared time in locker room. The pool is part of a cardiac rehab clinic, so they've been open to patients but not exercisers.
It’s delicious to be in the water, and I do remember my routines and my strokes.
Last March I’d achieved a 27-minute swim thrice weekly. I’m too impatient to limit myself as much as I should. I did 16 minutes today and then spent four hours just staring straight ahead. More, again on Thursday and Sunday!
How has your body program changed? Any recent signs of improving access?
I'm glad to be all wet
At least in our town, last year the auto traffic was way down, making cycling easier and less stressful. That happy change is no longer.
Are you a commuter cyclist?
Re: I'm glad to be all wet
I've had a few jobs that were within 5 to 8 miles, where I customarily rode unless I needed to drive somewhere after work. A couple in the 13-15 mile range where I would stick my bike in the trunk, and ride home one day and back the next if I was able to wrap up the day soon enough. That would spread the load and reduce time pressure. One startup effort where the ride was a couple of miles at the home end to a commuter train, and then a fairly steep few miles to the founders' apartment in San Francisco. That end transitioned to a half-mile jaunt after funding.
Local traffic is starting to increase a bit. My training rides have bike lanes on the streets that have more than residential traffic, so it isn't at all nasty.
Re: I'm glad to be all wet
Ahhhhh!
Bike commuting can be such a joy -- on roads that are correctly designed, it's a mindfulness activity. (On the rest of the roads it can feel like one is the prey in a big game hunt.)
I spent a couple years working with our city's new engineer, who is a cyclist and is bringing some SF style to our streets as well.
Re: I'm glad to be all wet
After one of those swerve-into-traffic incidents, instigated when a driver disregarded a not-very-visible DO NOT ENTER sign on a parking-lot entrance just past a place where one road split into two, I contacted the police department's non-emergency number to note how the traffic law violation there was a bike hazard. Within a week or so, the sign had been repositioned to be more visible, a no-left-turn arrow was added, and the right side of the entrance was striped off to signal it was not to be driven on. Haven't had any problems since.
Good to hear about your city's engineer. Will they be looking at how to provide safe, encouraging bicycle options that will get more people to ride? My city has a Bicycle Advisory Committee, which is made up of volunteer bicycling residents who provide input to city government on what works, what doesn't, and what might help. And the city apparently listens. New bike lanes and better markings are going in almost all the time, and pretty much all the current loops at stoplights are marked with where to put one's bike to get the light.
Re: I'm glad to be all wet
invisible and paranoid is a very wise way to interact with Car World. I've been hit three times by slow-moving cars, and I'm grateful my reading list helped me design a safety get-up so loud it screams.
Huzzah! for making the effort to complain, and huzzah^2 for SF taking action.
I've had the good fortune to serve on many transportation-related committees. Things happen when folks like you speak up!
Re: I'm glad to be all wet
But the point is well taken, and the kudos is welcome. Thanks.