Tuesday, May 17, 2011

First Morning Bike Commute Complete





Here's hoping the ride home goes as smoothly!

6 comments:

notagain said...

Great! I'm jealous you can do that! I live 25 mi. from work. I could lug my bike along on the train and bus but it wouldn't get much use.

Elizabeth H. said...

I'm lucky, for sure. Especially the lack of road contact, though the one big crossing is a doozy: four lanes of traffic (stop and go at this time of day) and no crosswalk very nearby. The path just suddenly terminates at the road and starts again on the other, and you can either walk a long way out of the way to the nearest crosswalk, or jaywalk. Or jaybike, as the case may be.

Ride home was pretty awesome. Only two real issues:

1. The trail is very busy in spots...lots of people to get around or trying to get around me. It can get a little harrying, but the only people who REALLY annoy me are the CLUELESS ones who walk right in the middle of the path with HEADPHONES on, meaning that they don't hear any amount of "on your lefts" and bell rings. And inevitably, when you do finally manage to delicately sneak past them, they give you a dirty look.

2. My mind clearly remembers how I used to do things back when I was doing this regularly, whereas my body is still in "What the...???" mode. It's a little frustrating.

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'm officially jealous that you have all those white birch trees on the path. It's one of my favorite trees and the wood is wonderful to work and carve with hand tools.

Don't be discouraged by the aches and pains. In a week you'll be past that "what hit me" feel.

Jeff the Bear

J.A. said...

I am not a coffee drinker, so I cannot vouch for this method, but you might want to try making your coffee the night before using like this: http://www.foodinjars.com/2010/04/keeping-those-jars-cozy-cold-brew-coffee/

Elizabeth H. said...

Hm...that might could work! The coffee shop I like serves cold brewed coffee as one of their options, so I could even try some made right to see how I like that type of coffee.

On the other hand, I may not need to do anything special. Although it doesn't fit snugly, this morning I experimented with riding to work with the new mug in the most upright of my bottle cages. The weight of the coffee kept it in place even over the bumpiest section. And thanks to the awesomeness of the new cup, even after the ride in the cold, my coffee was still almost too hot to drink when I got to work.

Anonymous said...

@notagain I have a similar commute and I use a Montague folding bike to take on the train with me. Makes the process a whole lot easier than carrying around a full size bike. But Montagues use full size wheels, standard parts and are really solid (unlike other folders I've tried). Excellent investment if you want to try adding some biking to your commute.