For those of you who recall (and who does?) back in late fall/early winter, I began -again- the quest for a way to try to -again- make my work-week commute a little less likely to kill me, and a little more likely to be agreeable. Seeing how I spend a quite measurable percentage of my waking hours driving back and forth to work, -in some of the worst sprawl traffic in this new world- I figured I needed some kinda break. The idea that I could do at least half of my commute by HPV (human powered vehicle) seemed to fit the bill.
Well, it's been a few hundred miles so far since this spring, and it's working out pretty well.
Most days it adds about 45 minutes to 'bike' (I ride a trike) the last 10 miles vs what it takes to drive. However, when the traffic is particularly abysmal and noxious, I don't know that it takes me any more time at all. Guess why I don't know. I don't know because I am not stuck in it! I have no earthly idea what is going on out there on the roads. As these pics show, this is how I spend that + or - hour that makes up the last leg of my commute.Yes, I get lots of grief from folks at work, and yes I have to navigate a few blocks of normal traffic roads in an industrial area populated with aea piloted suvs and whatever the generic term for bmw/benz/audi/jetta/jap-equivalents but that's really okay, it's just a mad dash, and it's over.
Out on the trail, most folks I encounter are also just pounding out the miles, paying attention to nothing in particular and are pleasant enough. The roadies, well, we all know about that. They are the same folks mentioned earlier except on the bicycle equivalent. And they act accordingly. Fortunately for me, I am so slow, I barely notice them. So, yeah, so far it's working. Funny bit is, I haven't lost a single pound. Strange that.
In closing, let us consider this quote from the current issue of Adventure Cycling Association newsletter "Bike Bits":
-- U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)
Nicely put.
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