The Raleigh

I'm to the point of a love-hate relationship with the Raleigh.  It’s great to be riding a bike and getting the exercise, but my legs feel like they wont last much longer after commuting.  This week marks the one-month anniversary with the Raleigh.  It’s been a good month and we’re going strong, although I don’t feel that I’m getting any stronger.  To date, I've ridden about 260 miles.  In those miles with the Raleigh, I've thought about a few different things.

1. The mornings are cold – I’ve commuted to work and home several times now.  At 6:30am, it is dark and cold.
2. Salt Lake City streets are not very biker friendly – I’ve not spent a ton of time riding in SL downtown area, but the time I have, I've noticed that we don’t have many bike lanes.  On most streets, we don’t have any shoulder at all.  I found this pretty surprising as I thought we lived in a pretty biker friendly city.  Is that not the case?
3. Some people are just not real courteous – I personally am always nervous to drive too closely to a cyclist when in my car.  However, there are many drivers that just don’t seem to care.  They will hug the white line as much as they can as they drive right by me.  That can be a little scary as the cyclist.  Please be considerate of cyclists while driving on the road.  They have just as much of a right to be on the road as a driver does. 
4. Likewise, cyclists need to be considerate of drivers while on the road.  Cars are much bigger and need just as much respect as a cyclist demands from them.  I’ve seen too many cyclists yell or get mad at drivers because they’ve been cut off or a door has been open that causes them to swerve.  Remember, you don’t have any more rights than a driver.  Obey the rules of the road.