Bike To Work Day
May. 15th, 2009 11:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI am exactly the type of person who should be riding my bike to work. I actually own a bike. And a helmet. I'm basically in shape and know how to ride a bike. I'm opposed to wasting gas to get somewhere when there's another good way. I work only 3.5 miles from my house. There are routes that aren't that dangerous. I already don't drive to work and the bus system drives me nutso sometimes. I could use more exercise.
However, I never do ride my bike to work. Why is that? I'm not totally sure, but one reason is weather. It's usually too cold or too hot. Or too rainy. And there are no showers (or at least you have to be a member of Rec Sports to be allowed access to the gyms which is where the showers are, and I don't want to blow $308 a year just for that). Another reason is that it's hard to get my bike out of the garage. Another reason is that I like to read on the way to and from work, which I could not do while riding a bike.
Those are some pretty sad excuses. Yet somehow strangely effective.
Bike-to-work day happens every May and was designed just for people like me. Various places are setting up breakfast stations, including my employer. And it's certainly possible to take a sponge bath at work and to change right there in the roomy bathroom stall designed for handicapped folks. So I've often told myself I should at least TRY riding my bike to work on bike-to-work day. For several years now.
I was telling someone this and they informed me that my employer now offers commuter showers even if you aren't a Rec Sports member. That takes care of my biggest excuse (except maybe for the one about not being able to read during the commute).
So, I picked out a specific route: neighborhood streets to a four-lane street to an unused bridge over the freeway (with a no-pedestrian sign but without a no-bicyclist sign) to a street with a good sidewalk to a long street with a good bike lane to some scary narrow streets on campus where at least people do realize they sometimes have to go very slowly to deal with bicyclists and pedestrians.
I decided to scout out the commuter shower and bike rack situation in person. I found where the showers were in the building and practiced getting there from different entrances. Then I created a strategy for getting to the building. The building is currently surrounded on two sides by continuous construction with no bike entrance and only one pedestrian entrance along a time-consuming maze-like path. It's surrounded on the other two sides by connecting buildings with only a single bike entrance off a busy road. Once you get in, there is only one tiny bike rack, hidden behind a row of bushes. I decided to park at a very long bike rack sort of near the entrance to the pedestrian construction entrance, which is between the shower and my office. I'll have a nice cool-down on the way to the shower and a short hike up the hill to my office afterwards. I resolved to get up very dang early in the morning to make sure I'd have time for all this.
**
I did get up somewhat early. Robin got my bike out and made sure the tires were aired. I had no trouble finding my helmet and lock. I remembered to bring clothes and shower stuff and a towel and a hair brush. And I actually rode my bike to work today.
I haven't ridden in years and was a little rickety but not bad. My route was just about how I expected--a little scary but not that bad. Two drivers turning right at corners where I was stopped were unbelievably polite. Several cyclists passed me. The route is basically flat, but being as out of shape for biking as I am, every tiny incline made me pant, even if I'd been able to get up to a pretty good speed before hand. Being a chicken, I didn't go very fast and even braked down some of the hills that didn't have stop signs or red lights at the end of them.
I tried to remember that bike riding is fun. It's not quite because it's too dangerous, but it's wonderfully faster than walking, and even I do feel a pretty nice breeze.
When I got to the guard shed = breakfast station I had planned to visit, no one was there.
Turning down the last road, the one with the bike rack, I got injured. I was holding my gear-changing lever wrong and pinched my finger while changing gears. I didn't break the skin, but now have a blood blister the size and shape (and almost the color) of a doodle bug (aka pill bug aka roly poly). I was typing funny at first, but feel better now.
I parked my bike as planned, 30 minutes after leaving the house. On the way to the gym, I saw another guard station and asked if they really did have goodies for people riding their bikes to work. They did. There was a paper bag containing an information sheet on biking at UT and an apple. Written on the bag was the message, "Please wash apple." There was also an entry form for prizes. Okay, that was a little disappointing.
I got to the gym and the first two showers I tried had no shower head. The third one had a shower head, but none of them had water. That was more than a little disappointing. Fortunately, I was no more sweaty than I usually am when I get to work in the summer, so I just changed my clothes. On my way out of the gym, I heard running water. The lights in the gym are controlled by a motion sensor, so I walked over to the other part of the gym with lights on and found that the showers in that section did have water. Yeesh.
**
Overall, I estimate that on a normal day, I would have to leave the house one hour before I wanted to be at work, so riding a bike currently takes more time than taking a bus, even on the worst days when I have to leave the house 50 minutes before I want to be at work. I would get faster with practice and once the construction is finished, though.
My pedometer, which claims it doesn't work for bike riding, still recorded that I had done some work, which was a good surprise. It was definitely some exercise with several bouts of panting, and my quads did need a nice stretch afterwards.
I was hoping that I would see that riding my bike to work was much better than I feared, but even taking into account that if I ride more often, I will build my muscles and confidence and speed (and learn how to shift gears without smashing my finger), I'm still not thrilled with the idea. So sad.
Now I still have to get my bike back home, or actually to the mall where I am meeting friends. Bleh. Maybe I will ride it home next week.
However, I never do ride my bike to work. Why is that? I'm not totally sure, but one reason is weather. It's usually too cold or too hot. Or too rainy. And there are no showers (or at least you have to be a member of Rec Sports to be allowed access to the gyms which is where the showers are, and I don't want to blow $308 a year just for that). Another reason is that it's hard to get my bike out of the garage. Another reason is that I like to read on the way to and from work, which I could not do while riding a bike.
Those are some pretty sad excuses. Yet somehow strangely effective.
Bike-to-work day happens every May and was designed just for people like me. Various places are setting up breakfast stations, including my employer. And it's certainly possible to take a sponge bath at work and to change right there in the roomy bathroom stall designed for handicapped folks. So I've often told myself I should at least TRY riding my bike to work on bike-to-work day. For several years now.
I was telling someone this and they informed me that my employer now offers commuter showers even if you aren't a Rec Sports member. That takes care of my biggest excuse (except maybe for the one about not being able to read during the commute).
So, I picked out a specific route: neighborhood streets to a four-lane street to an unused bridge over the freeway (with a no-pedestrian sign but without a no-bicyclist sign) to a street with a good sidewalk to a long street with a good bike lane to some scary narrow streets on campus where at least people do realize they sometimes have to go very slowly to deal with bicyclists and pedestrians.
I decided to scout out the commuter shower and bike rack situation in person. I found where the showers were in the building and practiced getting there from different entrances. Then I created a strategy for getting to the building. The building is currently surrounded on two sides by continuous construction with no bike entrance and only one pedestrian entrance along a time-consuming maze-like path. It's surrounded on the other two sides by connecting buildings with only a single bike entrance off a busy road. Once you get in, there is only one tiny bike rack, hidden behind a row of bushes. I decided to park at a very long bike rack sort of near the entrance to the pedestrian construction entrance, which is between the shower and my office. I'll have a nice cool-down on the way to the shower and a short hike up the hill to my office afterwards. I resolved to get up very dang early in the morning to make sure I'd have time for all this.
**
I did get up somewhat early. Robin got my bike out and made sure the tires were aired. I had no trouble finding my helmet and lock. I remembered to bring clothes and shower stuff and a towel and a hair brush. And I actually rode my bike to work today.
I haven't ridden in years and was a little rickety but not bad. My route was just about how I expected--a little scary but not that bad. Two drivers turning right at corners where I was stopped were unbelievably polite. Several cyclists passed me. The route is basically flat, but being as out of shape for biking as I am, every tiny incline made me pant, even if I'd been able to get up to a pretty good speed before hand. Being a chicken, I didn't go very fast and even braked down some of the hills that didn't have stop signs or red lights at the end of them.
I tried to remember that bike riding is fun. It's not quite because it's too dangerous, but it's wonderfully faster than walking, and even I do feel a pretty nice breeze.
When I got to the guard shed = breakfast station I had planned to visit, no one was there.
Turning down the last road, the one with the bike rack, I got injured. I was holding my gear-changing lever wrong and pinched my finger while changing gears. I didn't break the skin, but now have a blood blister the size and shape (and almost the color) of a doodle bug (aka pill bug aka roly poly). I was typing funny at first, but feel better now.
I parked my bike as planned, 30 minutes after leaving the house. On the way to the gym, I saw another guard station and asked if they really did have goodies for people riding their bikes to work. They did. There was a paper bag containing an information sheet on biking at UT and an apple. Written on the bag was the message, "Please wash apple." There was also an entry form for prizes. Okay, that was a little disappointing.
I got to the gym and the first two showers I tried had no shower head. The third one had a shower head, but none of them had water. That was more than a little disappointing. Fortunately, I was no more sweaty than I usually am when I get to work in the summer, so I just changed my clothes. On my way out of the gym, I heard running water. The lights in the gym are controlled by a motion sensor, so I walked over to the other part of the gym with lights on and found that the showers in that section did have water. Yeesh.
**
Overall, I estimate that on a normal day, I would have to leave the house one hour before I wanted to be at work, so riding a bike currently takes more time than taking a bus, even on the worst days when I have to leave the house 50 minutes before I want to be at work. I would get faster with practice and once the construction is finished, though.
My pedometer, which claims it doesn't work for bike riding, still recorded that I had done some work, which was a good surprise. It was definitely some exercise with several bouts of panting, and my quads did need a nice stretch afterwards.
I was hoping that I would see that riding my bike to work was much better than I feared, but even taking into account that if I ride more often, I will build my muscles and confidence and speed (and learn how to shift gears without smashing my finger), I'm still not thrilled with the idea. So sad.
Now I still have to get my bike back home, or actually to the mall where I am meeting friends. Bleh. Maybe I will ride it home next week.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2009-05-17 03:23 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-05-18 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-05-18 04:05 pm (UTC)I actually haven't ever tried bicycling anywhere in Austin (except for pleasure riding in a neighborhood) but it always strikes me as a not particularly easy-to-bike town. I hope that Winston-Salem will be good for biking, since I would love to commute to campus that way.
-sally
no subject
on 2009-05-18 11:37 pm (UTC)