Never mind that I haven't commuted by bike since November--I wasn't going to miss the ride this morning. I would have felt like a real idiot driving to work when, for once, I have no obligations that require me to be off campus today, no activities after work that require me to be home by 5:30, and the weather couldn't be any more perfect. I left early so I could have time to stop by the Howard County rally (conveniently held at the mall, which I pass on my way to work) and get my bag of goodies--a bunch of stuff from Howard Transit (ruler, pencil, pad of paper, stress ball--not sure what they have to do with cycling), another free t-shirt, and the best goodie: a Choose Cycling bumper magnet. I love these magnets--they are designed to look like the irritating Choose Civility magnets that are all over Howard County (part of the irritating Professor Forni's Civility Project--the guy makes me want to tear my hair out) and it takes you a minute to figure out what these ones say. The bag all this stuff came in is also nice. Last year they had tote bags and I think they figured out pretty quickly that people on bikes would have a hard time carrying a tote bag. This year it's a lime green drawstring backpack. Much better. I'm wishing now I had also picked up a bagel--I grabbed an apple because I wasn't hungry and was feeling virtuous, but now I'm wishing I had something more substantial.
So 14 miles down this morning, another 13.5 this afternoon and I'll have gotten a great workout without having to really think about it.
(Lime green text to match my bag and t-shirt.)
3 comments:
You certainly had a gorgeous day for it! This is one of those days where if we were in school still we would try to talk the teacher into having class outside!
I hate that civility jerk! His commentaries on WYPR were so offensive! Did he not realize that his judgemental attitude (and incorrect perception of situations in many cases) were as uncivilized (OR MORE!) than what he was accusing people of doing. I hated him!
Yay for you to bike to work AND exercise all at once!
I wish the though of biking didn't terrify me. After Peter's brother in law was hurt so bad last summer when he was hit by a car (he is a very experienced rider and totally not at fault) I'm gun shy on the whole biking thing.
Lucky you! Our weather started out nice but was borderline iffy by the end of the day -- it would have been a good day for Daniel to bike to work if he hadn't had to be wearing a suit and making a presentation to some uppity types from ORNL. I even sent him the link on the free pastries and coffee they were offering downtown, but he wasn't sold.
Biking to work would be a bit more trouble than it's worth, in my case. And today was an awful day for carbon footprint for me -- we always have piano on Fridays, which is not readily accessible by bike (7 miles, the last 2 of which are on a narrow 2-lane highway with no shoulder, not exactly kid-friendly), plus I made TWO round trips to Radford for a birthday party -- once to get there, and then to bring the two younger kids back to piano, and then again to get Mary and bring her to piano. So I think this is my most unsuccessful bike-to-work day ever.
I'm trying to figure out how to turn this into another mostly-bicycle summer, though. Cecilia is outgrowing the trailer but can't go more than 10 feet on her bike with training wheels, and I don't really want to invest in a tandem attachment for my bike. She may just have to squeeze into the trailer after all, until I can convince her to work a little harder at the riding!
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