Despite making little or no inroads into encouraging cycling — to the best of my knowledge — Richmond has proven herself rather amenable to a bicycle based commute. Many of the streets in The Fan are quite pleasantly wide enough to allow a cyclist ample space apart from traffic. Speed limits, tempered by abundant stop signs, are low. A great majority of the drivers on the road are mindful of cyclist’s rights.

I have, however, experienced a number of close calls. Many of these were squarely my fault and I accept all responsibility for them. A few were solely the fault of selfish drivers to whom I have angrily displayed my middle finger. While surely not the best tactic to foster good will towards the operators of two-ton crushing machines, this act did provide some solace.

I have been yelled at once, by an older fellow as I squeezed past a line of cars awaiting a left-turner. I was in the parking lane quite content to maintain momentum through a green light when this asshat decided he needed to move directly into my path to skirt around the turning automobile. Despite inconveniencing him for no more than a second or two he felt the need to shout something at me. I only caught the word “idiot” as the rest was utter gibberish.

A jerkwad towing a trailer forced me off the road in a turn. Unmindful of the swath of space his trailer occupied he whipped about the curve at full speed. I narrowly avoided being sideswiped into the dirt.

Just the other day a woman at a stop sign decided I mattered less than any oncoming motorized vehicle and turned directly into me. Or would have, had I not come to a screeching halt in the center of the intersection. I would point out that I had no such stop sign to contend with.

Yet, apart from these few incidents my commute has been pleasant. I catch more admiring glances than angry glares, or so it seems to me. Were the heat not so oppressive of late I would have nothing to complain about.

You may notice a few awkward changes around here. I’m in the midst of a redesign with very little inspiration to guide me. I decided to go ahead and cut clean my script.aculo.us usage that I might use the lighter mootools instead. Not knowing what to do with the content that once got served as JavaScript menus I set them free along the side. I’m none too pleased with the outcome, but will make efforts to repair it shortly.