Bike commute

[magid]

I biked to work today for the first time, and it went well. Either the roads were better cleared in Watertown and Waltham than in Arlington and Lexington, or things dried out enough overnight, or something: the pavement was mostly dry, which meant not nearly the amount of crud on me/the bike. I should have worn a whole layer over my legs; I only wore the silk long johns on the way home, and it was noticeably warmer. (Really, though, I need to acquire winter biking pants, socks, and gloves. My toes got cold after a while, and that would have taken longer had I been wearing socks made out of something more appropriate than cotton, and the fingerless mesh gloves from the summer are not going to keep my hands warm at all (though they were fine once I'd warmed up on the way home (I never quite got to that point on the way in.)).)

Surface-wise, the trickiest parts were crossing the railroad tracks near work (which are rather raised, plus not perpendicular to the road) and getting by the construction on Mount Auburn St. (which was narrow and potholeriffic). The route's fairly straightforward, one or two bits of hills, but mostly flat. Well, generally slightly up to Waltham, and down to Cambridge. Or at least, I think that has something to do with how much faster I got home, despite having to stop to switch over to a head light (the bike-based one ran out of juice almost at the beginning; it's recharging now): about an hour there, closer to 45 minutes back, over essentially the same route. Interestingly, until I factor in a shower at work, it's faster to bike than it is to walk to the commuter rail and catch the train. If the train's running at all late, they end up about equal.

Biking in meant using the gym facilities in the basement at work, and that turned out to be pretty nice, with two showers (one actually higher than I am tall) and lots of lockers (I'm not sure why there are so many, given how empty it was, and people aren't allowed to leave things there overnight. I suppose it's not a bad use of wallspace...). Plus the gym itself is nicer than I'd thought, with an open area for yoga / stretching / little free weights / medicine ball exercises, also magazines and a TV for distraction while on the cardio machines. There's a sign limiting people to 30 minutes (20 if it's crowded), but if no one else is there, that's easy to ignore. Perhaps this will inspire me to leave my desk during my nominal lunch hour. The only odd part about this was wearing bike clothes in the office first/last thing (and walking into the building in bike shoes; I just couldn't fit a spare pair of shoes into the Camelbak along with breakfast, lunch, and work clothes); it felt just a bit inappropriate, even though it was clear I wasn't wearing that for work itself.

I was passed by one of my coworkers, and a couple of others commented on my biking in. I suspect I have now become the office biking nut.

The contrast with yesterday's riding was noticeable. Yesterday, the breezes were warm, with the cold air happening mostly as I passed huge snowbanks. Today, the wind was more towards the biting end of the spectrum, and it was clear that "cold" is the season we're in.

Alas, the forecast is for snow, and I'm not prepared to biked through it. I'm more likely to stop at Russo's when not on the bike, though.

PS Gmap pedometer's new functionality allowing bikers and runners to use the site more quickly, while continuing to have manual entry, is definitely a win. So much faster to map my route when it assumes I'm following the (rules of) the road, without having to approximate every curve by little line segments.

Comments

[majes.livejournal.com]

Gratz on all the physicalness in this cold time!

[magid.livejournal.com]

:-)

I'm more of a cold weather person. Even though there can be huge mental barriers to just getting out of the house, once I'm out, it's usually good.

I didn't bike today, given the wind, but at least I finally explored the gym at work, and it's decent (especially since it's free!).

Hopefully I'll manage exercise a lot more of the time when it's an option for commuting, or right there without any extra travel cost built in.

[twostepsfwd.livejournal.com]

can you tell me how to find out online how many miles i'm walking when i take a walk around my neighborhood? i've been wanting to do this but can't figure out how. google maps?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Go to Gmap-pedometer and map it out. There are options to go only by streets, or to map it manually over Gmaps, and to show elevation change, if that's worth doing in your neighborhood. It's pretty easy to use; let me know if there's anything unclear.

And happy walking :-)