Thursday, August 20, 2009

I Bike to Work



After 11.5 months of taking care of Sofia and "working" from home, I've returned to working in an office. I have to admit that working from home can be really great but the next best thing is being able to BIKE COMMUTE to work! I've always wanted to ride my bike to work but with my old job, I needed a car during the day to run errands. But now that I'm in a different business, I'm able to ride to the office.

I was a bit nervous because I really don't like riding on the roads with all the traffic and reckless drivers. But I was able to search the internet and map out a route that took me along bike paths for 90% of the way.

The first day, Greg dropped me and my bike off at work in the morning. I wanted to ride home first because I wasn't sure about the route and I wasn't sure how long it would take me to ride it. I had to check the map quite a few times. Transferring from path to path can be tricky because you have to cross some streets and search for the bike path entrances. So I took a couple of wrong turns and had to back track. That first ride was 18 miles and it took me 1 hour and 26 minutes.

Since then I've ridden a few more times and I've been able to find a couple of short cuts. The route is now 15 miles and takes me about 1 hour and 5 minutes.

I was also lucky enough to find a place to shower right across the street from my office. The building across the way has a bike rack so I can lock up my bike. They also have a shower and lockers in the ladies room on the first floor. Of course the signs read that the lockers and shower are for the tenants in that office building only. But come on,,,,I haven't seen any other ladies showering in there before work. Anyhow, I just hope no one notices that I don't "belong" to that building.

However, there can be a couple of drawbacks to riding. For instance: Don't forget anything! I forgot my lunch one day and I remembered when I was 10 minutes into my ride. Had to make the decision whether or not to ride bike home and get it. Forgot my brush one day, forgot my music today. I anticipate forgetting my bra or my shoes one day,,,or worse...my deoderant! Hope not! :)

Anyhow, the ride is great for now but I'm not quite sure what I will do when the time changes. Ride in the dark? Leave work earlier? Hmmm? Stay tuned...