I've driven the car to work both days this week, which happens to be Ride Your Bike To Work Week, at least in Seattle. Starting Wednesday, I'll have to get right on that (bike seat). The guy over at Defective Yeti - who recently posted on the bike-commuting trifecta (adrenaline, endorphins, and self-righteousness) - seems to have hit a pothole on his ride, posting today that
if the route to your workplace involves riding in traffic for any length of time, I would doubly recommend you make the effort--especially if, like me, you are a middle-class, heterosexual, thirtysomething, healthy white American male. It breeds humility, spending an hour each day at the absolute bottom of a social hierarchy.
This is right on, though I wouldn't say "social" hierarchy, exactly: I think most drivers think of bikers less like fellow humans than as deer or raccoons - annoying hindrances that should, nonetheless, be avoided. I'll have to strap my helmet on extra-tight tomorrow morning.