People always get concerned about my riding in the rain. I like riding in the rain. I stay dry and warm (thanks to my heated vest), and cars don’t perform nearly the same level of stupid shit maneuvers as they do on sunny days. Rain = relaxed riding, at least in the Pacific Northwet.
Sunny days on the other hand are generally an exercise of insanity, particularly in the spring when the sun hasn’t been seen in months. Today was a prime example. I was stopped at an intersection with two left turn lanes (I was in the furthest lefthand lane), turning on to a two-lane highway onramp. The onramp also had one lane for traffic exiting the highway.
The car in front of me turned left when the light changed….into the wrong lane of the onramp – the one for cars exiting the highway. The three cars in the left turn lane on my right turned left….into MY lane. I was left dodging three cars trying to occupy my lane instead of the right hand lane of the onramp and one car attempting to screech its way out of the oncoming traffic lane. A handful of quick maneuvers kept me safe, and an epic eye roll made me feel slightly better, though I couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow I had stumbled into a parallel universe of crazy. And this was after an epic slow ride to brunch (thanks to the slowpoke who insisted on driving 10+ under the posted speed).
Sunny day riding in Portland is not for the faint-hearted.