{"id":1078,"date":"2016-03-16T12:53:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T12:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/?p=1078"},"modified":"2016-03-29T13:31:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T13:31:46","slug":"no-love-for-bicycles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2016\/03\/16\/no-love-for-bicycles\/","title":{"rendered":"No love for bicycles?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since we are in southern Florida I decided to spend a week with a client I have in the area. \u00a0And let me pause to say that I am INCREDIBLY blessed to have\u00a02.5 clients who have been very supportive of my reduced hours, crazy work schedule and remote office. \u00a0To them I say, thank you thank you thank you!! \u00a0We found an RV park only 3 miles from the office which means I can easily commute by bike AND the family still has the truck to use. \u00a0Its a win-win!! \u00a0I&#8217;m usually not a big fan of business trips: \u00a0being away from your home, living in a hotel, eating out for every meal, being apart from your family, driving an unfamiliar car and not getting to commute by bike. \u00a0But this business trip has none of those and its awesome!!<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"The lake at TY park\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/136797225@N05\/25894175305\/in\/datetaken-public\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1717\/25894175305_5785abbc73_n.jpg\" alt=\"The lake at TY park\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><a title=\"TY park\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/136797225@N05\/25894175275\/in\/datetaken-public\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1622\/25894175275_aeacf6ed17_n.jpg\" alt=\"TY park\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The RV park is in a county park called Topeekeegee Yugnee Park, or T.Y. Park for short. \u00a0The only negative reviews of the campground were about the noise of\u00a0the commuter train that goes RIGHT next to the park. \u00a0Compared to the blaring train horns in Longmont these are pretty quiet. \u00a0The park is right in the city and\u00a0has a lake, big trees and a great bike path to start out my ride. \u00a0I go through some residential areas before the last little stretch on a busy 4 lane road but with a healthy bike lane.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Residential area\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/136797225@N05\/25265447183\/in\/datetaken-public\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1693\/25265447183_c5e2672777_n.jpg\" alt=\"Residential area\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><a title=\"Bike lane, with cars!\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/136797225@N05\/25894174915\/in\/datetaken-public\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1587\/25894174915_b8c8b0e469_n.jpg\" alt=\"Bike lane, with cars!\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>People seem to be friendly and give me plenty of room. \u00a0I did get honked at a couple of times but then I realized that there is a lot more honking here compared to CO. \u00a0In Colorado, honking translates (usually) to anger, frustration, etc. \u00a0In my travels to other countries I&#8217;ve noticed that often honking is just a form of communication between drivers like turn signals and flashing your lights. \u00a0In Greece and Nepal there was almost a honking language. \u00a0Things like the &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to stop at this stop sign because I won&#8217;t be able to get started again up this steep hill with\u00a0this heavy load&#8221; honk. \u00a0Or the &#8220;you&#8217;ve still got room over here&#8221; honk when two overly\u00a0decorated Tata buses are passing on a narrow mountain road. \u00a0As I road a motor scooter around the island of Santorini almost everyone gave a short little &#8220;toot toot&#8221; to let me know they were behind me and about to pass. \u00a0And so, whether I&#8217;m interpreting the honks correctly or not (probably not), I&#8217;m going to assume the drivers are simply communicating kindly with me rather than yelling at me.<\/p>\n<p>I had contacted my client before hand to ask if there was a bike rack or if bikes were allowed in the building. \u00a0They said it was no problem, just bring my bike up to the office. \u00a0So on day one I did just that and it was fine. \u00a0There were zero other bikes outside the building and I&#8217;m pretty certain mine was the only one inside the building which surprised me a little. \u00a0The weather here is perfect, there are no hills, and traffic is pretty bad if you are in a car&#8230;the perfect recipe for bicycling!<\/p>\n<p>Day two starts out with a great ride and as I walk into the building there are two security officers who are bee lining to meet me at the door, &#8220;No no no!! \u00a0There are NO bikes allowed in the building, especially not in the elevator.&#8221; \u00a0I inquired where the bike racks were outside the building (which I knew did not exist) and they said they did not know. \u00a0To which I responded &#8220;which is why I am bringing it inside the building&#8230;you do not provide appropriate parking for bicycles&#8221;. \u00a0They told me I&#8217;d have to lock it up to a railing. \u00a0I just about had steam coming out my ears!! \u00a0I left quietly and did not make a scene&#8230;.but boy was I miffed. \u00a0I&#8217;m admittedly biased but why so much hate for the bicycle?? \u00a0I did NOT have a bike lock with me because I was counting on bringing it in the office so my client let me store my bike in his car for the day.<\/p>\n<p>Day 3 rolls around, I bring my lock and lock my bike to a railing outside (which will get you a fine\u00a0in some locations!) and head into the building. \u00a0There are many other offices inside the building and on my way to my clients&#8217; office guess what I see? \u00a0A lady walking some big ugly, drooling dog down the hallway!! \u00a0Are you kidding me??!! \u00a0How can that be ok but a bike not be ok? \u00a0 Day four\u00a0 I see the same lady and the same dog. \u00a0I also see a lady with a stroller\u00a0and\u00a0in the stroller is&#8230;.you gotta be kidding me&#8230;A DOG. \u00a0This simply does not compute inside my head&#8230;on so many levels. \u00a0Turns out that one of the offices in the building is for an online pet supply company.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Poor thing chained up outside\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/136797225@N05\/25265447023\/in\/datetaken-public\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1666\/25265447023_c6ff27d56e_n.jpg\" alt=\"Poor thing chained up outside\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Its a minor thing really so I won&#8217;t let it bother me. \u00a0It definitely makes me appreciate how bike friendly Boulder county is back home. \u00a0I felt like I made good progress during the week with my client and I had 5 solid days of bike commuting (even if it was only a 3 mile ride each way).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since we are in southern Florida I decided to spend a week with a client I have in the area. \u00a0And let me pause to say that I am INCREDIBLY blessed to have\u00a02.5 clients who have been very supportive of my reduced hours, crazy work schedule and remote office. \u00a0To them I say, thank you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[13,30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1164,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions\/1164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}