Calgary Commuting Culture

Bicycle - Day One...

OK, first day of blogging my commuting experience on the bicycle. Here are the details of today's ride to and from work...

Weather, Route and Time
Morning: Got out the door at 7:02am, arrived at my desk at 7:28 -- 26 minutes, 6.5km. Weather this morning was pretty cold (-12C) but not as cold as the previous week. Went down 5th St. SW, through Stanley Park/Rideau to Mission, then ran my "gauntlet" through downtown.

After-work: Went home via the Stampede Grounds/Talisman Centre -- 32 minutes, 7.5km. Nice ride home, sunny, relatively warm (-1C). All good. All good.

Physical
Morning: My feet were starting to really hurt by the time I arrived at work -- next time need to wear my super-geeky, winter 'booties'! Took my legs a few minutes longer to feel warm, but by the time I hit the bikepath by Stanley Park, the legs were ticking over nicely. Commuter Olympian passed me (like he always does) on the flats but once we hit the two roller hills just before the bikepath turns to bikeroute in Rideau, I overtook him and dropped him -- guess I'm the Olympian!

After-work: Feeling better than the morning primarily due to warm feet! Easy spin home. No need to hammer so I didn't push too hard.

Mental
Morning: Felt good to be back on the bike after carpooling with the wife and toddler for the past week. The bicycle is like meditation for me, until I hit downtown and need to be more aware of the cars... so many cars.

After-work: Even better than this morning, I had a chance to unwind after work. My route home is really mellow, lots of bikepath which means less stress and worrying about cars trying to kill me ;)

Cost
Today it cost me $0 to get to and from work

Labels: Bicycle