Biking

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Breaking my foot left me with few outlets for physical activity. Running was out. Climbing? Out. Hiking? Probably not a good idea. Ultimate? See running. Football? See running.

But I figured out a loophole: biking.

With a little bit of pushing, I got my little brother to package and send my bike over. A few trips to the bike shop later, I was good to go. And it was awesome.

If you haven't biked recently, steal someone's bike and go. Its the most fun you can have on 2 (or more) wheels without getting a motorcycle license. It's like flying, without the falling. Like driving quickly, but without the metal skeleton.

And then I got a crazy idea: I should bike to work. So I did. Well, in actuality, I biked from work one evening and biked to work the next day (I still haven't gotten Maryland plates so I can't park on the street at my current residence). Needless to say, I got lost. In both directions. It probably took me 2 hours to make it home (I missed a turn off), and over 2 and half hours to make it to work (I took a wrong turned, and refused to believe it was the wrong turn since the houses looked familiar).

Now, without getting lost, my ride is either 17.48 or 16.64 miles (depending on which route I take) and takes between 58:30 (my record biking to work) and 1:13:00, depending on whether I'm biking to or from work. Note that those times are bike computer times which don't include time spent stopped (at red lights). Realistically, my rides generally take ~1:10:00 (+/- three or four minutes).

To be honest, I don't ride too frequently. I biked for the first time this month yesterday, and I only biked twice in September. My initial thrill at riding to/from work quickly wore off: its tough investing 2 hours, 20 minutes, each day riding to/from work: and this doesn't include the pre-ride preparation and post-ride shower. Throw in an 8 hour working day, you don't have much daylight for anything. Oh, and you just biked 34 miles, so you might be a little gassed. I noticed that I didn't do much in the evenings on the days I biked.

It's unfortunate. Despite--when I really gunned it--being exhausted when I made it to work, I always felt more focused once I got there. Struggling to remember how bad morning traffic, only to realize that you didn't encounter any, was my highlight of several morning conversations. Feeling more energized on our (infrequent) Sunday afternoon rides was awesome.

I realized, near the end of June, that my post-ride foot pain probably wasn't helping the healing process. I didn't ride all of July and only got a few days in at the end of August. In early September, I sprained my neck (it's almost fully ok now), so I didn't ride much then. It's amazing how quickly time flies: it's now halfway through October, and I've rode once.

I keep making excuses for why I don't ride. I don't want to ride in the rain, but I've rode out a thunderstorm. I don't want to ride when I'm working late, but I'd probably be better served if I took that morning and evening hour off. I don't want ride when it's dark out, but a couple times, I haven't had a choice.

For me, it comes to my thoughts this morning. After stumbling out of bed, watching Broncos game highlights, and having breakfast, I debated whether I should hop on my bike or not. I quickly came up with a list of reasons not to. But before grabbing my bag and getting in my car, I realized that I was just being lazy. I didn't have a single reason not to bike to work. And with that, I grabbed my gear, hopped on my bike, and rode off into the morning.