5.16.2008

 

Ride Your Bike to Work the Levee Day

Last week Erica and I heard that today was ride your bike to work day in our community. Erica got me a bike for my birthday a year and a half ago and I haven't been good about riding it, but when I got it one of the things I thought was that eventually I would try riding to work along the road that is on top of the levee that protects us from the Mississippi River. With a lot of encouragement from Erica, I decided to go ahead and try riding to work today, especially since it was the day after my exam.

One of the reasons I never actually got around to biking along the levee before is because it is around a mile away, and getting to it requires riding on some surface streets. I've never felt comfortable riding my bike where cars are driving, even when I was a kid. For that matter, part of the reason I felt like trying to ride along the levee, which is necessarily a longer more meandering route from our house to downtown Baton Rouge than most streets, is that there's a road on top and no motorized traffic. But this morning I put some work clothes in by bookbag, strapped on my helmet, and rode to the levee without any problems.

What I should have realized is how out of shape I am. Getting to the levee was fine, but once I got up on the dirt road that runs along the crest I quickly got worn out. I had to stop. And then I had to stop again. And again. The fact that we'd had heavy rain the last two days and the dirt was soft didn't help; my tires kept sinking in and I kept getting bogged down. After a mere two tenths of a mile (there are markers along the top of the levee) I decided that I was never going to make it to work before quitting time, and I was tired of my experiment. So I walked down the side of the levee and rode home.

I'm pretty sure ride your bike to work day is an annual event. Now that I've made it down to the levee once maybe I'll go ride more often, without such lofty goals. Maybe next year I'll be ready to go three tenths of a mile...

—Jack

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Comments:

I think with a rigorous training schedule of occasionally going outside and looking at your bike once a week, coupled with some Kent presses, you'll be able to conquer those three tenths of a mile like a champ!

# posted by Blogger tedspeed : 5/18/2008 12:42 PM  

so wow I didn't realize you had a blog until Erica posted your pie chart on her blog. Yeah I tried to ride my bike to school once, without having any previous training. I couldn't move for a whole day after. I feel your pain!

# posted by Blogger Alice : 5/18/2008 3:41 PM  

So in our community- you had a choice, rideshare if you were taking the car, bicylce, or walk. I didn't go to work on Friday, but I did drive the car. But earlier in the month I did rideshare with another Radford employee 6 days. Does that count? And nobody said anything about motorcycles. Does rideshare on a motocycle count? Mom A

# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 5/18/2008 5:46 PM  

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