Bike to Work Day

Yesterday was "Bike to Work" day in Colorado, so I played along and did my commute via bicycle yesterday. Boulder is a very bicycle friendly city, with lots of bike lanes and multiuse paths that help aid you in getting across the city safely. I've got a pretty good route established these days.

Bike to Work sponsors have breakfast places setup all over the city. There were probably at least 30 different places that you could stop and enjoy free breakfast on your bike commute. I expected I'd wait till I hit Boulder then stop somewhere along Pearl St. and sample the cuisine.

So backpack stuffed with clothes, I headed out. Pretty typical commute for me except there were a lot more cyclist on the road. I was pleased to see so many people joining in. I cruised along making great time on my way to Boulder. On the NE edge of Boulder I hit my first breakfast station. Scanning over their contents I decided the bagel & OJ weren't for me so I kept on moving. After that I hit Pearl St but didn't really feel like stopping, so I just motored on into the office where a shower awaited.

I skipped out a little early from work and headed back home to avoid potential T-Storms that were brewing up on the Divide. Luckily for me I made it home without any precip falling. Upon arrival, I realized I had done door to door commute via bike in under an hour, a first time for me. My typical driving commute is about 35 minutes, so I managed to commute via bike and do it in 57 minutes. Not too shabby...

So yesterday I ended up riding just under 40 miles roundtrip, in 1:59, so about a 19mph average for the day. The bike commute bit is pretty nice, gets in a good amount of excercise, saves me at least $6 day in gas and helps me destress. I'd do it more often but to be honest, I'm still not crazy about riding the roads with all the idiots on their cell phones yelling at their kids while taking a drink of their coffee and smoking a cigarette.

I'll just keep spinning the cranks and be try to be as safe as possible out there.