Your daily commute - please share.

[Lily Valley]

Haul the bike out the front door at whenever I finish my coffee 0'clock, chat with Mr. Daryl across the street for a minute, go back in to grab my computer and the grading I was going to do the night before, but didn't actually finish.

Then I get on my bike and head to the seventh ward, I pass several people drinking coffee or beer on their porches. We wave and say good morning or afternoon accordingly. Then I hit the first bike path to the freeway overpass and try not to get killed navigating the intersection. I cut into a second residential neighborhood here and avoid chickens running in the road. Every three months a stray dog has pups and chases me for a block or two before she gives up or I lose a patch of pants.

I cross two major streets and leave the pothole ridden nightmare behind me. A smooth wealthy street takes me to Esplanade Avenue. From there to city park my internal monologue goes like this:

"Unlike cars which kill cyclists out of ignorance and thoughtlessness, the City Bus is the natural enemy of the biker. The Bus and the Cyclist both compete for that scarce resource: the far left lane. While the cyclists toils to maintain the steady momentum to reach her destination, the Bus will maliciously veer too close to the cyclist and block the only safe path through the wilderness. In order to combat this insane disregard of safety, the cyclist retaliates by maneuvering into traffic to circumvent the bus an leave it in the dust."

Repeat every two blocks until I reach the beautiful City Park.

If it's early enough when I leave, I reverse the trip stopping here to pick up groceries.

[all swedes are racist]

"Unlike cars which kill cyclists out of ignorance and thoughtlessness, the City Bus is the natural enemy of the biker. The Bus and the Cyclist both compete for that scarce resource: the far left lane. While the cyclists toils to maintain the steady momentum to reach her destination, the Bus will maliciously veer too close to the cyclist and block the only safe path through the wilderness. In order to combat this insane disregard of safety, the cyclist retaliates by maneuvering into traffic to circumvent the bus an leave it in the dust."

Hahahhaha I love this. I'm going to have this -- as read by Sir David Attenborough -- going through my mind next time I'm on two wheels...

...in between the curses, snarls, and frothy-mouthed insults, of course.

[kairparavel]

My commute is 30ish miles from the northwest suburbs above DC to the suburbish area south of Baltimore. When I first started working at Company X, my commute included the Beltway around DC and it sucked the will to live from me most days. A toll road, conveniently called the Inter County Connector allows me to bypass that and spits me out onto I-95 two exits north of the Beltway and a few exits south of where I head off to work.

My drive starts off with driving out of our neighbourhood, across a major street and just past the metro station MC uses to and from work. I then have another five minute drive past mixed residential and industrial park before turning off onto another major roadway for 30 seconds then turning onto the toll road. I then mindlessly drive along the toll road with views of soundwalls to my left and right, a cell tower camouflaged as a pine tree and MTA cops parked here and there looking for speeders. The limit is 60, I drive 70. After about eleven minutes of this scintillating drive, I exit over, then onto I-95N where I battle 18-wheelers, delivery trucks and minivans to get out of the on/off ramp and into a proper lane. I then mindlessly drive up the interstate, hating every second of it, for about 10 minutes. I pass by a rest station at one point. Usually once a month there's an accident at my exit that backs traffic up for miles. I turn off on a state route where I then get caught in all the spook traffic heading to Fort Meade and the NSA. I drive some more, exit and head to my little industrial park office building.

Fun Fact: I work not too far from the prison facility that housed our friends Avon, D'Angelo, Cutty and Wee-bey..

[sologdin]

my drive to work is 15 minutes door to door, inclusive of elevators. it's basically the opposite of LV's trip, as i begin at city park and head down esplanade to end up downtown. she may in fact be one of the cyclists whom i almost hit each morning because most cyclists in town have a cavalier attitude about stop signs and one-way streets. antisocial nihilist lumpenproles need to be run down to be taught a lesson in civic responsibility.

[all swedes are racist]

my drive to work is 15 minutes door to door, inclusive of elevators. it's basically the opposite of LV's trip, as i begin at city park and head down esplanade to end up downtown. she may in fact be one of the cyclists whom i almost hit each morning because most cyclists in town have a cavalier attitude about stop signs and one-way streets. antisocial nihilist lumpenproles need to be run down to be taught a lesson in civic responsibility.

Almost? Pfft.

My wife, the driver, has ceremonial headdress she wears to special events; made from helmets, reflectors and strips of Lycra and bungee cords melding milk crates to velocipeds. I myself sport a necklace of fetishes comprised of side-view mirrors, left hand finger bones, and the occasional little rat dog skull, all collected by means of high velocity U-lock.