the first week

Noone will believe me when I tell you the weather in Hawaii was terrible this week. Those of you who live in temperate climates have to understand that our temperature hovers around 75-85 fahrenheit year round and the rain in my neighborhood usually falls at night.
However, it was not a good week for me to begin racing around the neighborhood. The streets were wet a lot and at times, there was lightning and thunder. (rare in Hawaii) I stayed mostly on our street (a cul-de-sac) and played around with the gears on the bike. Tried to install the small mirror I purchased but found it too large for the handlebar.
I had lots of time to read THE MANUAL---and frankly found some of the warnings a little scary.
It was good to find out more though, and on Sunday have a date with my friend David for some pointers and a chance to ride in a more wide open area where I can feel fairly safe.
Having this experience has made me more aware of the huge increase in traffic we have had here in Mililani, and made me acutely aware of every person I see riding a bike.
Last evening while turning into a main street near my home from the freeway exit, a boy on a bike was narrowly missed by another car. He was riding across a crosswalk against the light and talking on a cell phone with one hand on the handlebars. I wonder if our cell phone law applies to bikes? I think not.
There is a bike shop here in Mililani, (not a specialized shop) and I am going over there to see if they have the right kind of mirror. There are some bike racks I have discovered in the Town Center, but they are far from where I usually want to shop. My bike would be a tempting prize for someone so don't want to leave it too far out of sight.
One good thing here is that buses have a bike rack on the front, so if I wanted to ride in town, I could leave the car at home and put the bike on the bus. It seems to be used frequently.