Commute Loop – 2023.10.05

When did executing a u-turn against a red light become a thing? I’ve noticed this more and more lately, and this morning was crazy. I was sitting at the corner of Rainbow and Warm Springs and watched three vehicles on west bound Warm Springs do a u-turn against a red left turn arrow. Not to be outdone, a fourth driver slowly rolled into the intersection “carefully” running the red light altogether to turn onto south bound Rainbow from the outer lane of the double left. I was laughing so much while shaking my head in disbelief. With my morning laugh out of the way I pushed on to work. Thankfully there wasn’t as much excitement on the rest of the ride in.

The ride home was surprisingly fast. I’m fairly certain the winds out of the north helped make it happen. I changed things up by turning left onto Sunset Way to go east over to Valle Verde. This helps to avoid the sketchy section of Sunset where the lane narrows due to an island on the right, avoiding the need to cross a merging lane of traffic, and a final narrow lane immediately before turning right onto Valle Verde. There was a slight hassle to get over to the left turn lane, but I think that minor hassle outweighs the issues from continuing on Sunset.

Riding along Valle Verde was a pleasure. Again I attribute that to the nice tailwind pushing me along. At some point I received a notification on my Garmin there was a Moose about, and I spotted him at the corner of Horizon Ridge. Made sure to give him a ring of the bell, a big shout out, and a wave before starting up Horizon Ridge.

Overall great rides today. I was surprised how good I felt when I got home. Lately by the time I make my way through Anthem Hills Park the legs start to get tired and the rest of the ride starts to become a grind. I’m not sure if today was different because of the tailwind or increased fitness. Either way I certainly want to continue with the 50-mile commutes.

New bike fund: $29.40 (+$0.00)
499 vehicles @ 10 per mile, 3.0 per minute, Speeds: 37.1 mph (avg), 58.0 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Clear-Sunny, 67°F-86°F, Feels like 65°F-85°F, Humidity 34%-14%, Wind WNW 4mph-NE 4mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: -2.4%
Headwind: 37% @ 2.4-13.9mph
Longest Headwind: 09h 54m 6s
Air Speed: 18mph
Temp: 58.6-86.6°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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