First Day Riding to Work! 5.14.16

I was pretty sure it was going to rain... the forecast all week was calling for it.

I woke up this morning, and the sun was beginning to come up.  I decided to check the weather, and it looked like the rain was forecasted to hold off until way later in the day... so, it was a bike day!

My new padded bicycle shorts came in yesterday, and man, are they great.  Made a huge difference!

The morning ride was simply glorious.  Just beautiful out.  I saw a big bunny on the bike path at one point.  I love seeing the wildlife!

The ride from my house into the city is pretty easy and simply beautiful.  It's when I leave the bike path that the challenging part comes.  This hill... this hill is my nemesis.  Little 3-speed bikes don't like steep hills.  I walked up half of this hill today.

I made it to work in just about an hour, which is pretty normal for me.

Bonus, trillium!

After work, it was starting to get windy and the clouds started to roll in, but I still made it home without rain.  It took about an hour coming home, as well.  A lot of that is actually from waiting for traffic - obviously, before 7-8 AM, the traffic is light, and at 3-4 PM, that's not the case.  I get off the main road as quickly as I can so that I can get back to what I like best - just me, Penelope, and a couple of cars that seem to know how to handle a bicyclist - and then the bike path ASAP.

I hope this is the first of many many commutes this summer!

A new season, some new rides

So... It's been a long time since I've posted.  Last summer, I injured my knee doing something entirely separate from biking, and was not able to bike after the last post here.  It was so sad.  The summer was glorious and practically begging for biking.  I felt hobbled.  I know that biking can be good for your knees, but I really needed to rest it.  It was hard, but I'm glad I did... Now I am back on Penelope, with no pain at all, and raring to go!

The first bike ride of the season was last Tuesday.  It was a beautiful afternoon, and I decided to go out for a jaunt after work.  It was a quick 6.5 mile ride, down to the bike path and back.  Penelope wanted to go further, but I knew it was probably a good idea to not go full force on my first ride.

Besides, I needed new padded bike shorts.  Yes, they are a thing, and YES, they are a great idea.

Bonus - wildflowers next to the bike path!

That first ride whet my whistle and I went out on Wedenesday after work, too - this was about a 5 mile ride, though I forgot to start logging, so I'm not entirely sure.  I had to hurry home for sometime with the kiddos, but I needed to get a little ride in.

I liked the silhouette here. 

Thursday was totally glorious weather, and I had the day off, but again, sans padded bike shorts, I decided to keep the ride short and sweet - about 4.5 miles, to look at the beach, and then back.

Yesterday, my padded bike shorts came in.

Today, I am not working until 8.

I woke up nice and early.

It isn't supposed to start raining until way after I am done work...

I am going to get on Penelope and just keep going!  Welcome, Spring!  Let's make this season a great one.

All repaired - and an amazing meandering morning ride

Repairing Penelope, curious cat at hand

Last night, my husband helped me replace my bike tire, so that I wouldn't be grounded anymore.

Ready to head out for a ride, new tire all ready and raring to go!

Today is my day off, and I had to drop something off at my daughter's school, so I decided to take my Penelope to do it.  From there, I continued where the path led me, though I had not been on the path before.  I had seen the bike path behind the school before, but didn't really know where it led.

Follow the bike route

I simply followed where the path took us.  It was a very nice ride, and the path was pleasant. 

Pretty path

This "map" will not help find anyone's way.  Weathered beyond belief.

A lovely little bridge

I ended up heading to the library to pick up a book, and then back home by another route.  I would have kept going on the path, but I neglected to pack any food.

Home again. 

I might go out on another ride this afternoon.  We'll see.  In all, though, it was fantastic to simply go out exploring.  This was a 16 1/2 mile ride, which is the longest one yet for me this year.  I was still slow (8.2 mph average), but I wasn't hurrying.  This is faster than I was before inflating my tires to the proper amount.  We'll see how much faster I can be after I get my tune up next week!

Beautiful Sunday Ride - and a Problem

The kids decided that today would be Parents' Day Off.  They encouraged us to stay in bed all day.  They planned all of the meals for the day.  They promised to wait on us hand and foot.

I told our daughter that what I really wanted to do was to take a bike ride out on the causeway over the lake with a couple of friends.  She at first just wanted me to stay in bed, but I finally convinced her that a good bike ride WAS relaxation to me.

She even came with us.

My friends came to our house and we rode from there.  My daughter wanted to stop constantly, but I managed to convince her to only stop a couple of times and keep going until we reached the end.  One of my friends said that she would bike back more slowly with her, so that she could take some stops and build some cairns on the rocky path.

The ride was beautiful.  The causeway bike path is a couple miles from our house, and it goes out on an old railroad fill over the lake.

We actually rode to my hometown, technically.

There is even a bike ferry that runs on weekends in the summer, bringing riders to the other side of the causeway, to my hometown, where my mother still lives. 

Only 231 miles to Boston?  Let's go!

We will be sure to take a ride out to her house this summer..  it's only a couple more miles.

Wishing the bike ferry was running..

On the way back, my friend stayed back with The Girl, who insisted on stopping every 30 feet (if that) to build her cairns.  My friend's boyfriend and I rode back and forth a few times, trying to encourage The Girl to keep going.  I think she was getting tired.

Can you spot the hole?  Poor Penelope.

Then, when we were almost to the end of the causeway on the way back, my tire felt weird.  Our friend had a little pump and pumped me up, but I only went flat again in short order... we discovered a hole in Penelope's tire!  (We also discovered that my front tire was underinflated - which may have contributed to my really slow speeds, as well as the flat tire.  The hole looks like it could have been caused by rubbing from underinflation.  Oops.  I have a portable bike pump on order).

My husband came to our rescue, and picked us up at the end of the causeway after we had walked the remainder of the way.  Now, poor Penelope needs a new tire.

Thank goodness she had the grace not to pop a tire when I was trying to get to work.  That's a good, considerate bike for you.

Overall, this bike trip was 12.4 miles, and we were biking for 1 hr, 41 minutes.  (It would not have been as many miles had we not had to backtrack so many times.. and it would have been more miles had we been able to bike the whole way home!).

Hoping that I can get Penelope a new tire pretty quickly.  I don't want to be grounded for long!  I'm itching to get back pedaling already.

First Bike Ride to Work

The day came, and I was so excited I skipped out of the house at 6 AM, with a couple of cups of coffee in me, and my bags all packed with my work clothes, dry shampoo, sunblock (for the ride home!), and my bike lock.

The weather was absolutely perfect.  I listened to a couple of Swedish podcasts on the way to work, and there was barely anyone on the bike path (or the roads!) that early.

The ride to work was 9.7 miles, with a gain of elevation of 334 feet.  Because Penelope is not a fast or strong bicycle, and I am not a particularly fast or strong biker at this point, and because she has a meager 3 speeds, I had to walk many of the hills on the way to work.  The part of the ride that is on the bike path is pretty much flat, but work is way up on top of the hill.

Still, I was on time for work, and even had plenty of time to change into my work clothes and freshen up.  The dry shampoo was not needed, even.  It took me 1 hr 17 minutes.

I was so happy all day at work (I mean, I'm always happy at work, but it gave me a little extra bounce in my step), and when the time came to ride home, I was excited.  The day had only gotten more glorious.

Seriously... this as my commute?  Yes, please!

I took a slightly longer route home, but less hilly.  It was 10.6 miles, and only 113 ft elevation gain.  It took me 1 hr 22 minutes.  This makes me think that I should time the nicer route to work (since it is much prettier, putting me on the bike path for pretty much the whole trip).

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

I was not even that tired when I got home.  I stayed up and watched a movie with my sweet husband, and didn't fall asleep unceremoniously in the middle of it like I often do.

Though it meant leaving much earlier than I normally would, I would love to bike to work more.  I also want to experiment with biking up to the road and catching the bus, to see how reliable and fast that is.  There is no bus near my house, so I still have to bike about 3-4 miles to get there.  But, I could take the bus to work (when I am in a hurry), and then bike home (when I'm not as much).

The only problem was that I normally pick up groceries before coming home from work, and there was a limit to the amount and kind of things I could bring on my bike.  Space was at a premium, but I also could not bring anything frozen or really even refrigerated.  I was able to fit a bottle of wine, though.  Bonus.

Overall, I cannot wait to do more bike commuting.  It's a long trip, but worth it!