Bike Commuting. Those Were The Days

One of the highlights of National Bike Month, was Bike to Work day.  Many communities, especially in cities, made this quite an event. There were pit stops that offered coffee and snacks to bike commuters.  Many also offered swag (stuff we all get, or souvenirs, wearables and gifts.)

The one thing I miss most about my working days, was the daily bike commute to the office.  Home was a little over thirty miles from work.  I can remember the stress of planning my first bike commute.  My research of finding a place to park was pretty extensive.  I settled on the local high school nine miles from the office, and set a date for the first commute.

I was apprehensive as I drove that first day to the high school lot. Like the times leading up to my bike tours, all I could think of was things going askew.  All the bad things that could happen.  Nine miles is nothing, I kept telling myself.  Finally, the first bike commute began.  I’m thinking back now that it took a couple dozen pedal strokes when I realized, “this is pretty cool.”   Over time, I settled on three different spots for my bi-modal commute.  Fifteen, ten and fives miles options that were dependent on the time of year and if I left home on time.

I have talked about those days a few times over the past two weeks on friends blogs. Yesterday I had the epiphany.  Back then, it was 10 miles in the morning, then 10 miles again in the late afternoon.  This morning I rode 10 miles, and as soon as I finish posting this to my site, I’m going to do the afternoon 10 miles.  Just like I did for many of those best times at work. Tomorrow I’ll do it again. The conclusion?  I’m back to daily bike commuting.