I used to go through 9 sets of traffic lights to and from work when we were living at the apartment. Since I went home for lunch each day, that was a total of 36 sets of lights I had to put up with each day…… Not a lot of fun. Because I was on the bike, the commute was barley tolerable.
Now that we are at the house, I now go through 11 sets of lights, two more than before……..that’s 44 sets a day, 5 days a week means 220 traffic lights……
Ok, so, how then, does 9 sets, plus the extra two sets I now get on the new route come out to be 7 sets?
Well, in fact, it feels more like 6 sets………
I have a YouTube video in the works of my ride to and from work, but until then you will just have to…… heh…… trust me….. It feels like only 7.
The trip to work goes a bit like this; The first set I hit change real quick. The bike has no problem triggering the sensors in the road and if I go slow, you almost dont have to put your foot down. It’s nice to have such responsive lights.
The second set is a little slower as its more of a major road. But, because of the extra traffic, I normally am behind a car or two, so they have already triggered the lights.
The third set is for a very few houses and a fire station. I have never got a red light at this one, and wonder if I ever will, so you just sail right through this set.
The forth set, I turn right at. So, even if they are red, I can just sail right through these as well.
The fifth set is hit and miss. Its a ‘T’ intersection and while a little busy, its just chance if you get stuck at them.
The sixth set is a park, so 99.9% of the time you can sail through these as well.
The seventh set is a big one. I have yet to catch these.
The eighth set is the freeway on ramp, so its hit and miss.
The ninth set is the freeway off ramp, they are hit and miss as well.
The tenth set is a biggish one. Its hit and miss, but mostly hit.
The last set is a left turn, so I have to wait for a green arrow. I mostly always get caught on these. I don’t like this wait as you are out on your own on a busy road. I feel pretty exposed. There is no easy way around this set. I could go a lot out of my way and add another two sets of lights. I might try going the long way again (I tried it when I first got here) and see how it goes.
So, there you have it, more lights, but it feels less. In fact, it’s now a pretty easy commute. To the apartment, it was 2 miles (3.2km), so you had 9 sets of lights in not very far. Constant stop start with no chance to get into top gear most of the time. To the house its 4.3 miles (7km), so its over double the distance, but it only takes me 2-3 minutes longer to ride it…… AND as you will see in the video, at this time of year, for an Auzi, its a really nice ride for a good whack of it.
So, in my little messed up world 9 + 2 = 7!
