The only thing I would add to all the sound advice offered thus far would be that if you choose to use the HOV lane during rush hour, either find someone you can follow closely enough to run interference for you (not too close, of course), or hug the median, cover your front brake, and scan the left front wheels of the vehicles of the next lane over for sudden movement left - if they don't see you, and cross the double stripe in front of you, they will be going about 50 mph slower than you.
At times like that, I usually invoke the biker's prayer, which I borrowed from my sailing days: "O God, thy road is so great, and my bike is so small."
Then I invoke a couple other things I learned to say in the Navy.
Welcome to the DFWM!
