It's a pretty straight route from point A to point B with rolling hills and a lot of stop and goes. Except for climbing up the hill I live on to get home, the trip is 1/3 up, 1/3 down, and 1/3 flat. I ride a couple of different bikes depending on my mood. My recent favorite is my Canandale mt. bike I just installed a 1000 Watt hub motor on.
I am an environmental scientist and I wish to leave soft foot prints where I go, and have some fun too.
A couple years ago my presence while commuting on my bike resulted in multi-vehicle accident. I was riding home from work (evening rush hour) in the slow lane and with traffic approaching a traffic light, I was actually moving a little faster than the traffic as the cars slowed down for a red light. Well the driver behind me either badly wanted to be in front of me, or misjudged how fast I was going vs. how slow the car in front of me was going and veered into the left - obviously without looking. There was a big bang, actually more of a "wap, thud, thud" as that driver hit the car travelling in the left lane, and because the both stopped short when they hit, the thud-thud where those two cars being rear-ended by traffic behind them - 4 cars damaged, 1-bike commuter rolled on! Looking back I can vividly remember the dumbfounded look on the face of the driver who badly didn't want to be stuck behind a bike commuter. I stopped ,everyone was OK, this happened 1-block from a Police Headquarters, so I smoothly got back on my bike and rolled on.
While bike commuting always be on the look-out for other people doing stupid things, always get eye contact with drivers, always have an escape route, watch the direction car tires are being turned, watch for car doors.