Hi Ho Hi Ho, It's Off To Work I Go!

I have so much to say, I don't know where to start.  Today was my first ever commute to work on my bike!  My workplace is not right around the corner, but it is also not across town.  For my first commute, I decided to take the safest, most predictable route.  I drove my bike about 4 miles from my home to the park and rode from there.  It saved about 30 minutes to an almost 1 hour for the ride each way.  Riding through the park, it felt earlier than it really was.  It was very quiet and the shadows were longer than what I am used to, since I typically get out to ride in the evening.  It was also a cooler day than it has been recently, and that was a blessing.  

I rode about 9.5 miles to work.  I am very thankful that there are showers in the basement of the building I work in.  I tried to remember everything to get ready for work. The only things I forgot were shampoo, earrings, and sunscreen for the ride home (good thing it was a cloudy day).  I thought that was pretty good on my part, for this being my first commute. 

The worst part of the journey was that my bike had to spend all day in the office with me.  Poor bike, both of us would have rather been outside.

The ride home was actually a little quicker since I could go down some of the more intense hills I went up in the morning.  It was decent ride as well, only about half of what I am used to in the evenings so I still have most of the night to relax and do other things.

Overall Stats:

Mileage: 19.1 miles round trip.

Time Out: approx. 50 minutes

Time Back: 45 minutes

I learned quite a bit today.  I am sure that I can find a quicker route if I enter and exit at different parts of the park.  Or maybe not even take that route at all.  And there are other logistical things that would probably make my trip easier, considering my back pack was quite heavy.  Perhaps a rear bike rack is in my near future? I am sure there are other efficiencies I could adopt as well.  Because of my work, after work schedules, and the time and distance between everything, I don't know if bike commuting is something that I could practically do every day, but I will definitely do it again. I want to thanks the LGRAB Summer Games for giving me the little extra motivation to get out there and commute to work! -A