A New Commute

Will · August 21, 2008

A new commute

Up until we moved, I had the perfect commute. I’d get up in the morning (to be honest, sometimes in the afternoon) and wander next door to see if my business partners had anything to discuss.

Now that I live two miles away from them, it’s a bit harder. We only have to be in the same room twice a week for status meetings, so I’ve been working exclusively from home most days. On the other days, I’ve been exploring different ways to get to and from work. Eventually, I’ll bike, but I want to make sure that I don’t miss anything along the way until I have my route picked. I also needed a helmet that wasn’t a decade old, but I got that today.

So far, I’ve walked to and fro three times, once for each main route. The part closest to work doesn’t change, because there’s only one road nearby. In the order I walked them, here they are.

The scenic route follows a former railway turned into a small path (that mostly parallels the main rail-to-trail that the city is currently working on). It’s a small path, but very pleasant. Unfortunately, I have to go past the house and then back along a road, so it takes about 45 minutes to walk.

The short route is similar to the scenic route except that it exists along parallel roads. This avoids the switchback required by the scenic route. Although most of the walk is through pleasant neighborhoods, there are some places that aren’t as nice. It’s only slightly faster too, at 40 minutes.

The shopping route is the longest and least pleasant of all. Almost all of it is along the busiest street around so there’s no shade. It also goes even further past the house than the scenic route. It took almost an hour for me to walk this one. The advantage of this route is that there are shops all along it. They’re mostly restaurants and car dealerships, but there are other things as well.

Starting next week, I’ll try biking the scenic route. Once winter gets here, snow and ice will probably make it hard going, so I’ll switch to the short route. If even that gets too much, I’ll walk the long way around and stop someplace warm for lunch.

In a car everything disappears too fast for me to get a handle on it. Now that I have a real bicycle commute, I’m looking forward to exploring it!

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1 Response so far »

  1. 1

    Andy said,

    August 21, 2008 @ 9:59 pm

    Definitely bike it! I now commute 7.2 miles round trip each day, with 620 feet of climbing. It wakes me up, it gets me enjoying being outside, and I get plenty of exercise in a day now to keep me happy.

    Riding in winter isn’t as bad as everyone makes it sound. I wear long underwear and shorts, smartwool socks, and a long sleeve shirt in 40F temps and it works just fine. Much less sweat too. If you have any long hills, a windbreaker and gloves are essential. Below freezing, or with snow on the road and I would use my mountain bike (my regular commute is on a road racing bike) and another shirt.

    The last few Sundays I rode 87 and 95 miles, and I’m planning on ~110 next weekend. Biking is just too fun :)

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