Sunday in Pictures & Bike to Work Day

Because I am determined to document this process fully, I took pictures of our bike ride on Sunday. Well, I took pictures before we left and then at the halfway point when we stopped and I complained about the wind. Sadly, I wasn't able to snag a picture of the little girls flying past me in the grass, but I'm sure there will be other humiliating moments I can capture for posterity.

Oh! First, let me just say this: I have transitioned back to the tiny seat. About a year ago, Alyssa got me a fat girl seat because she thought it would encourage me to ride more, but that clearly didn't happen. Then Alyssa told me the tiny seat would be more comfortable on a long ride than my fat girl seat and last week she changed it out for me. I took a picture.





I thought about going seatless, but then thought better of it.




Sunday ride time! Notice how Alyssa looks happy as she walks out of the house with her bike. Sadly, this is not a facial expression that came naturally to me before our ride.




My default expression was more like this.




Or this.




Honestly, what is she smiling about?




In other news, I rode my bike to work today as a participant of Bike to Work Day. Alyssa has been encouraging me to ride to work for years now, but I was very apprehensive about this because I am afraid of weekday car traffic. However, with all of this cycling I'm supposed to be doing, I figured this would be the day to start. I began the day by riding to the downtown train station with Alyssa to pick up our swag: a t-shirt, water bottle and a flashing light. We hadn't been there 3 minutes when Alyssa found out she had won something in the raffle! I, of course, never win anything, so I took off back home to pack up my bag to get going to work while Alyssa headed off to the bus station on her bike like she does every day.

After I got loaded up, I took off on my bike and, I have to say, it was pretty enjoyable. I was blessed with lighter than usual car and bus traffic today because the public schools were on a two hour delay, so I was able to ride on the road with minimal worry about being run over. I got to work in a little less than 20 minutes, only a little longer than it takes me to drive. I was sweaty and had helmet head by the time I walked into the office, but, honestly, I don't look so stylin' on my best days, so it's kind of a wash. I remembered to put deodorant in my bag and I liberally reapplied that, but I didn't remember a brush, so my hair kept its "brushed with a wagon wheel" look all day long. In a strange way, it actually made my hair look a bit nicer.

Like my friend Jenn who rode her bike to work for the first time today, I, too, was struck by the realization that Bike to Work Day actually meant I had to ride from work. Complicating matters was the fact that I needed to run by the paint store before they closed at 5pm. I ended up leaving work about 10 minutes early to make sure I'd have plenty of time and it worked out perfectly. I walked into the paint store at 4:40, got another can of stain for our doors, and was on my merry way. The employees asked me if I had biked to work today and I told them, yes, I had. They praised me for it, which was unexpected, but nice.

Not a bad first bike commute! Due to the sweat factor in the warmer months, I don't know that I really want to make it an everyday thing, but I would definitely be open to doing it more regularly.