Company on the AM Commute

I've been bicycle commuting to work three to four times a week this year. Since I have to pick up Chase and Thera from their daycare in the evenings, I drive to a Home Depot where a lot of car pool riders park. From there it's a 15 mile ride to get into work, and about the same to get back (I take a slightly different route on the return leg). (From my house to work is 23 miles.) The route is on pretty decent roads and there are a lot of rolling hills, so it's not an easy ride by any means - I keep a pretty high pace since I am riding against the clock. I have it dialed in so the 15 miles takes almost exactly 40 minutes to ride, which gives me time to get a quick shower and be on my desk by 8:00am. It's a great way to start the day off, saves on gas, and can actually save me time in getting to work. During the summer the roads are pretty clear, but when school is in session my drive can be as long a 1 1/2 hours with all of the traffic congestion. The drive / ride takes me 55 minutes, and during the bike portion of the trip I am moving faster than traffic. Some of the backups have cars moving at 10mph or less for miles in stop and go conditions, and I'm passing them doing 20-25mph. There is just something very gratifying about that! There are very few people who ride bikes to work, so most drivers are not aware of cyclists. I have to stay attentive, but I very seldom have any trouble. The bike I ride is a Cyclocross bike, which is much like a traditional road bike but with slightly larger tires and can be taken off-road. I have tire liners which are pretty much flat proof, so if someone is not paying attention - or being a deliberate jerk - and is crowding the shoulder, I can just veer off the side of the road and pass them in the grass. I actually wind up doing that a lot since there is one section of road which has practically no shoulder at all. I've gotten so that does not slow me down at all, though. I do have a bit of a New York City Bike Messenger attitude and don't hesitate to ride very close to cars and take advantage of drafting dump trucks and buses. It's fun to get in the draft of a big truck and find yourself going down the road at 45+mph. That may not sound too safe, but by riding that way it keeps me right in the traffic flow and sometimes gets me moving just as fast as cars at the speed limit.

My friend and teammate, Kirby Newman is in Atlanta right now with his wife and two girls visiting family. We've been trying to no avail to hook up and train together since he got here, so he decided to wake up early this morning and meet me on the road for my trek into work. Despite being so short, it was nice to have some company on what is usually a pretty solitary ride. Kirby and I rode together a great deal when we were both still active racers in the 90's, and we both rode for the USPro Team Richbrau. He's coming off an unfortunate injury, but looks to be doing really well. Too bad we could not have gotten out for longer distance, but hopefully that will work out later this year. Besides, I have to avenge myself for a ride we did last year. I was comparatively out of shape, and tired from three days of hard training, so Kirby kicked my butt on a long ride we did out to Lake Lanier. That's not a big deal, but then he had to go back to Virginia and brag all on his bad self... Don't worry, Kirby - I'll remember that!

Year to Date - 64 days commuting to work @ 30.4 miles per day = 1,945.6 miles. Thats about 1,200 lbs of carbon for my 2.3litre 4 cylinder engine that's NOT going into the already polluted Atlanta air. Doin' my part!