Monday, April 7, 2008

My Engine Runs on Shredded Wheat Now

Frosted Mini-Wheats to be exact. And not the mainstream kind, the Hannaford kind. Today marked the beginning of my commuting season and I am posting about it here in an effort to hold myself accountable and ride my bike in to work more days than I did last year. Last year various factors contributed to why I didn't commute as much...sketchy shower accommodations at work, got into more group rides, and probably general laziness.

But this year I am going to man up and try my best to ride 4 days a week (I teach class on Wed evening until early May when the semester is out then I can try and ride all week) Not sure if the shower situation will improve this year or not, right now its fine because the HUB is open early while the students are here. But I reminded myself this year that I don't care and I will get really sketchy if needed....sink showers here I come. Weather is also no excuse this year, I have gear for rain/cold and I'm going to use it.

I also have a new route for this year. In the past I have ridden Rt. 3 because it is the most direct route, but I have never liked the condition of the road/shoulder and the types of traffic that use that road. This year I am riding N. Ashland Rd. up to Rt.175 and then down into Plymouth. For some reason I thought that route would add a lot of time and distance as opposed to Rt.3 but its only .7 more miles and maybe takes me a few more minutes. and traffic is pretty much non-existent and the road is in much better shape. Long story short, I am an idiot for riding Rt. 3 for as long as I did.

I created a new channel on the right to track the season and the number of days I actually ride in to work and eventually I will post my gas savings, miles ridden, etc.

6 comments:

  1. sweet, i should start tracking my miles too

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm also gonna track how much money I save a week/month/year as the summer progresses and then spend that money on something awesome.

    http://www.thebikegeek.com/tools/

    quick gas savings calc at that site

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had to see if I could put a comment up on your blog. Also wanted to see if you were still alive. Glad you found a safer route.If you go 5 mo x 5 days thats 100 round trips this season. Make it that far and I get you some more bike tools.

    ReplyDelete
  4. you're on daddy-o!

    100 will be tough, but I'll give it the old 'college try'.

    I am going to also extend this challenge to the other commuters...shaun/adam first one to 100 wins

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sweet I am in... I got 3 days this week.

    I can handle the cold, but I usually poon out when the rain comes in. Considering I need the miles for the B2B this year; I might be making more wet rides...

    ReplyDelete