The accidental commute

It is 22 miles from home to the office, or vice-versa. The normal commute day is ride to the train station, CalTrain to San Mateo, ride to the office, then the reverse to get home. Once in a while I do the full 22 miles on the homeward end. I had not done the morning commute the full distance, mostly due to the fact that there are no shower facilities at the office and I have compassion for my co-workers. Since today was forecast to be cool and foggy I decided to do the front-end commute to the office this morning, taking it a bit easy so that in combination with the cool air I would not be too funky when I arrived for the work day. Things went more or less as planned, though the headwinds from Menlo Park north had me working a bit harder than scripted.

So I am ready for that easy commute home, using CalTrain for most of the garbage miles. The office is halfway between Hillsdale station and San Mateo, and which way I head is usually dependent on when I can get out relative to Baby Bullets on the schedule. If I can get out on time it is south to Hillsdale for the 5:38 bullet to Mountain View; later and it is north to San Mateo for the 5:57 bullet to Sunnyvale (we live more or less between the MV and Sunnyvale stations, so either works). Tonight I got out on time for the earlier train and did a fast ride over to Delaware, south across 25th and through the Bay Meadows parking lot to Hillsdale station. I crossed over to the west side of the station to wait the 8 minutes or so for the train. A couple of minutes before it was due I could hear its horn when the signals at the station started ringing, a sign that the northbound bullet is coming through. As the northbound train came through the station I could see the southbound train coming across 25th Ave … then both trains came to a halt just south of 25th. Not a good sign I thought to myself. Then I see someone moving along the east side of the northbound train, hear its horn blowing and it starts up and rolls north across 25th then comes to a stop again. Shyte! Then the sirens start blaring, from every direction it seems. Police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, all seen racing north towards the crossing. I knew it was bad, and that train traffic would be halted for a while. And the fact that the northbound train had moved told me that the southbound train was the one involved, so southbound trains would be held up much longer; much, much longer.

This is where as a cycle commuter I have an advantage. I felt sorry for those who had no other form of transport at hand and were to be left to wait until police allowed CalTrain to start moving the trains again. I put my helmet on and started for the ramp down on the east side of the station when a young lady approached and asked if I was riding home. Affirmative, I say. She asked which way I was going and I point south, which she took as a wise-ass response. A few more questions and it was obvious she too wanted to ride home rather than wait for what could be hours for the train. But she has lived in the area for less than a year and is not all that familiar or comfortable with the route to Mountain View where she lives. So I invite her to join me and we had a nice pleasant ride south. It turns out she did join the club to which The Wife belongs shortly after moving to the area, used to be an MTB racer but has converted to being a roadie, and is in the same job field as the wife. I had not planned on riding home tonight, but given the circumstances it worked out for the better. Glad I had my own ‘wheels’. Tomorrow I will commiserate with my co-worker Kurt who catches the 6:07 train from Hayward Park, has no other form of tranport, and has no family in the area. I suspect he had to sit at the train station for hours before he could get home tonight.

Update:  Yikes, my co-worker Kurt took a taxi home … from San Mateo to Sunnyvale.  Hate to think what that cost!  So glad I had the bike.