Rode my bike to work this morning, even though it was cold and dark when I woke up. It’s going to be about 50* F today so the ride home will be excellent. But it’s still hard to want to wake up at 5:30am to hit the road by 6:30am.
I’m just not a morning person.
+5 points for Gryffindor: I wore my winter cycling shoes, thermal liners, and thermal insoles. Toes were chilly but definitely not cold or worse, frozen. Conversation was great. Re-acclimating to Lady Rainicorn was smooth. SPD pedals made me very happy (no more toe clips here!).
-100 points: forgot my lock.
*facepalm*
(at least I didn’t forget my pants. or underwear. That would be awkward.)
Fortunately my commuter friend keeps a lock on the rack at his office, which is across the street from my office. And the day is saved.
I like commuting to and from work by bike. It’s refreshing, lets me go for a lunchtime ride to de-stress, and, paradoxically, saves me time. It takes twice as long to get to work, but about the same amount of time to get home, compared to driving; mostly uphill going to work, and there’s bad traffic in the evenings. But I feel compelled to get some exercise, and if I don’t commute by bike (it isn’t always practical in Seattle), I need to go for an evening ride, or to the gym. On the other hand, if I’ve commuted, when I get home the rest of the evening is mine, to do with as I please.
I love bike commuting! Clears my mind for the day, get a little exercise in, and it’s built-in time with friends. My commute is 15-16miles each way – downhill to work, uphill home – so it triples my train commute time (and decreases how much time I have for the 8 million other things I do). I’ve found it to be totally worth it though and try to get out as much as possible.
Cheers!
That’s a really good distance, not too far, yet far enough. Hopefully on nice quality roads too.
I’m missing my long commute, but I tend to go a bit extra on the way home finding little hills to tire me out.
It’s great – but sometimes I wish I was less than 10 miles by bike because then I wouldn’t need to get up so early.🙂
Thanks for commenting!
You must start really early?
When I did commute 22 miles it was a 9AM start, which actually meant getting up later than you do🙂
10 miles is the perfect distance, far enough to be worth bothering with, but not too tiring. Mine is 4 miles at the moment, barely worth bothering, yet too far to go in my work clothing, which is frustrating.
How far is it?
How far is what? My commute?
Yes, your daily commute in miles as my brain doesn’t compute in KM🙂
I have done the forgetting the lock thing on too many occasions. You get all the way there and bam, no lock! I’ve been lucky on those occasions, there is a good hiding spot for my bike where I work🙂
Up by 5:30 and out by 6:30 is a killer, way to go on that!
What I need to do is buy a second U-lock/cable combo and keep it on the rack at work. That will reduce my backpack weight by (however many pounds my lock weighs).
Lady Rainicorn doesn’t currently have a rack for panniers yet – she doesn’t have rack eyelets on the rear triangle. But I’m taking her to the local shop that specializes in tinkering and older bikes – hoping they have a way to rig her up safely!🙂
I LOVE that you are giving yourself + points and – points for things…I believe I do have to start that for myself. Woooo woooo, I can add to my spreadsheet yet another column. (Damn I am too feckin geeky!)
Ha ha … I feel like it adds a touch of levity to my bicycle insanity.🙂
Wooohooo … and now you have a new top tube bag…..way to go!
+1 for Avoidance of Dorktitude! ha ha!