Commute Loop – 2024.01.31

I firmly believe in the idea that most automobile accidents happen close to home. Some of my closest calls with cars have happened within a few miles of the house, and today was another example.

I was riding along Via Contessa just west of Via Firenze when I spotted a white Tacoma adorned with landscape company badges traveling west. My first thought while behind them was they were lost but going to make a left onto Donatello Manor. As I came along their right to pass while remaining in the clearly marked bike lane, they started to drift my direction. I all but stopped while yelling out “woah woah woah what are you doing?”. When they then jerk back to the left I go around them on the left super slow because now I have no clue what they’re doing. The driver rolls down the window and apologizes profusely as I go by. Super frustrating to say the least.

After taking a couple deep breaths I was able to mentally reset and return to savoring the ride into work. As I traveled north along Las Vegas Blvd I was thrilled to catch a green at Volunteer. I was thanking the Cycling Gods as I caught each green up until Silverado Ranch. I like to think they were approving of my decision to ride into the office after seriously considering driving in.

Around LVB and Sunset road construction had the right lanes closed off with construction barrels. The construction guys were pulling barrels as I was coming through. Now I’ve come across this crew a few times and have had some fun interactions with them for sure. This time I saw one of them, who I recognized from earlier interactions, driving their truck and pushing one of the barrels on the front. I was grinning from ear to ear watching this. He came to a stop and jumped out right as I was about to pass by. I made sure to holler “Nice!” at the guy as I pointed and rode by. This got a huge smile out of him and got me laughing out loud. Great way to start the day.

The ride home was pretty chill. I was pretty amazed to watch a pickup change lanes to go around someone on south Pecos to run the red light in order to clear the 215 intersection. Seriously sketchy. It got me thinking about how the City of Henderson is proposing to make the westbound 215 exit to southbound Pecos a triple left in the future. Each commute home I watch in amazement the drivers who have difficulty executing the double left. I can’t imagine how terrible a triple left is going to go.

New bike fund: $52.36 (+$0.22)
424 vehicles @ 10.9 per mile, 3 per minute, Speeds: 35.2 mph (avg), 67.2 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Sunny-Cloudy, 47°F-63°F, Feels like 48°F-63°F, Humidity 60%-34%, Wind WSW 2mph-ESE 5mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: 5.5%
Headwind: 54% @ 4.1-7.6mph
Longest Headwind: 09h 9m 10s
Air Speed: 17.6mph
Temp: 45.3-63.8°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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