Saturday, June 07, 2008

First Bike Commute

Rode my bike to work and back home for the first time yesterday. It was a really good experience and actually somewhat surprising. The morning ride started off, as expected, down a fairly flat and long stretch of road. I made it well over half way to work with no more than moderate effort. Then I hit the last stretch, which happens to have significantly more changes in elevation than I noticed in a car. Needless to say, the last few miles into work were rough. It also didn't help that once I got within a mile of work there was a substantial headwind which didn't make things any easier. But I made it and actually completed the ride at a respectable time of ~1hr 10mins. (Don't have a cyclometer on my bike yet so total trip times are close but not exact.)

So then came the dreaded commute home, which was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. The first few miles were a lot of up and down which made for a slow start, but once I got past that part it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home. The long, flat stretch of road actually turned out to be much flatter than I expected it to be. I expected it to be slightly uphill going home. All in all, The ride home was actually quite pleasant. The only downside of my evening commute was the increased amount of traffic compared to the morning. Total evening commute time ~55mins.

So the first bike commute was a good experience and a nice precursor for more to come. For my reader out there, I will try to keep up on posting my progress as I continue towards my goal of riding to work on a regular basis.

3 comments:

Zaltana said...

I'm so proud of you babe! Can't wait to follow in your footsteps - by riding more and trail riding with you...not so much commuting since I pretty much work at home!
Love ya! :)
~W~

Melanie said...

Sounds awesome! How long did it take you in the car? Next time we see you your calves will be rock solid! Yowza! Watch out, Lance Armstrong ...

Rabble-rouser said...

Takes approx 30mins to get to work in my car.