Friday, April 17, 2009

Bike commuting

Yesterday I bike commuted to work; the trip is just short of 10 miles each way. It takes me about 40 minutes of pedaling and about an hour overall with stop lights, etc. As I was thinking about this I realized that there is little logical reason to do this. It doesn't save me time (2 hours total vs ~60 minutes total to drive) and it doesn't truly save me money (even at $4 a gallon for gas I'd need 200 commutes to equal the value of my commuter bike). So, what it comes down to for me is how it makes me feel. I love to bike and I need to get to work anyway, so this is a win-win sort of thing. As far as my general fitness and my bike fitness it's also a win. There's also the fact that I arrive at work in a more positive (and alert) state of mind when I ride. My mood remains positive, even after I've been annoyed by cars that insist on honking at me. (For the life of me I can't understand why they feel a need to do this. Are they actually in a rush to get to work? They actually feel that they really own the road and have exclusive use of it?) I also feel like I'm doing something positive for the environment; last year I replaced 500 miles of driving with bike commuting. So, while this may not make logical sense it still makes lots of sense to me. Bike on!

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