Friday, April 22, 2016

Bike commuting update, April 2016

I often say I ride to work and back two days a week and take the subway three days a week, but I probably really average riding fewer than two days a week. I hope to increase the average, maybe to three, maybe more.

Today, I reached my short term goal, though I've done four rides between work and home over the course of three days. Monday, I rode home on the bike I had left at work last week, my Bianchi Volpe. Wednesday, I rode to work on my Viscount fixed gear bike and rode home on my Raleigh Super Course which had been sitting in my office for months. I left the Viscount at the office because I like to keep a spare bike there. So on four rides, I rode four separate bikes.

This morning (Friday), I rode my Lemond, which I hadn't ridden in months. I've been thinking I ought to sell this bike because I don't ride it often and it's a bit too small for me. This morning's ride changed that thinking. I had a lot of fun and not a whole lot of discomfort. I like to think that the weight of a bike isn't a big factor in the speed at which you travel, but this bike proves that to be wrong. Besides being more energy efficient, some bikes position me in such a way that encourages me to pedal harder. I made it to work in record time, less than an hour. The distance was 13.8 miles, and my average speed was 15.6, which is much higher than normal for me. It helped that there is virtually no wind today. I normally face a stiff headwind in the morning. The wind was so light that I thought I had a tail wind, but actually, there really isn't any wind, which is pretty unusual for the Hudson River.

If you want to see the path I took and an excess of statistics my smartphone app took, see them here.

Anyway, I had a blast. Here are pictures I shot along the way. You can click on them for the full size images.




5 comments:

  1. That's really cool, Tom, and how wonderful that bike riding is a commuting option for you.

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    1. Yes, I'm very lucky. I loved commuting by bike when I lived in NYC (originally) and Boston. I lived in NJ and tried to make it work, but it was really hard. NYC is a great place for bike commuting and getting better every year. The Hudson River Greenway is the most heavily used route for bike commuting in the US!

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  2. Nice!
    I wish I could do the whole commute by bike, but it's too long to be practical. However, I almost always do the GCT-Office portion with citibike.. Short ride, but it added up to 700 miles over my first year of doing so :-)

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  4. I used to ride 12.5 miles to work one way on my Raleigh 440. Loved that bike. I always felt so good and alive when I got to work. Then riding home I always felt so relaxed. Now I am retired and have great memories of those rides. So not only are you enjoying your rides now, you can enjoy them years later too.

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