Urbana-Champaign Bicycle Commute

And here's the Confident COmmuter's route all the way across town:

Green St. Route To Parkland, self-talk included…
W. on Washington to four-way at Vine
Straight through to Race ;
R. on Race
L. on Green (in front of hotel)
Wave at the Parkland students at the bus stop as you go by, knowing you’ll beat the bus!
Careful around the parked cars & side streets.
Stop light at Lincoln; the right lane goes straight or right and there’s no turn on red. Most cars use it for a right turn, so place yourself accordingly.

Cruise to Wright Street. There’s a bike path but it only goes to Green Street and generally has pedestrians and/or slow riders on it.

Wright/Green intersection has “walk only” part of cycle before the Green light turns Green. There’s a 17 second countdown that triggers the yellow at the “0” second. If you go right away you can usually make it through the next intersection (same cycle) on the same green (and no problem if there’s traffic enough to extend the time).

Drive through campus; most people are not going all the way through. Watch for debris, wallets and money around the bars. Charge up to Neil; lots of right turners here.

Watch at Randolph – it’s one way and the *other* side of the street has a left turn arrow, so don’t anticipate your green; it might not be there!

Careful going by the school; that’s got a LONG walk light so you’ll probably make it.

Watch for rough pavement along the right until Prospect. North and Southbound each have their own Greens; it’s North, South, and then east-west (which aren’t separated), and the green is not very long east-west. However, you *do* get another 5+ seconds *after* the countdown numbers go to zero.

FUN little upgrades!!! Work up a lather between here and Mattis.
OR: Find a chance to turn left so’s you can take John Street and have a traffic light through Mattis and go all the way through COUNTRY FAIR, and skip the next paragraph:
Mattis… caution! when traffic’s clear to the left, turn right and scoot over to the left turn lane to get on Round Barn. Make sure you’re not confusing a driver also coming off of Green (who may also be turning left at Round Barn, or not). Watch out for southbound (from the right) cars who may be turning left on green and wanting that same lefthand turn lane.

Turn Left on Round Barn (it’s the first street possible)

Charge! past the goat to Country Fair.

COUNTRY FAIR.

Country Fair goes through to Springfield; Go straight (usually if I coast slowly, the queue can get around me before I hit the other side, which is kinda narrow). This is a "take the lane" situation sometimes. Dodge the debris on the right, and get around the dumpster. Cars are generally NICE, honest. Busses will be turning around that bend (near the TV station); I make sure it's really obvious what *I'm* doing.
After that 100 yards things get nicer. The crosswalks have a long cycle - unless the walk thingy doesn't go on at all. The blinking "don't walk" goes for at least 15 times, and then it's solid for another 15 full seconds, for both lights. (I usually make the first one but not the second.)
Get over those RailRoad tracks (it's pretty perpendicular), and CHARGE towards the stop light. At the intersection, I generally grab the left side of the "right or straight" lane, because there is no straight, except for me because I go straight across and, unless it's recently snowed or there's traffic there, I take the sidewalk for that block and a half to the college. I'm turning right at the college anyway. If I time it right I get to the driveway right before the right turn in between the light cycles, and turn right.
If I'm feeling brazen I take my lane and take the left; otherwise I go forward and don't take a left until later, and wind around the parking lots. It's pretty much the same all around. I end up in the C parking lot at the bike rack which of course would be a whole lot nicer if it were sheltered.