Photo: Southwest Boulevard, leaving Kansas City.
No bus today. I mean, the bus was probably running. I probably could have taken it, but I did not. After talking to Eric from KCBike.Info and Jeff from Greased Melon, I decided to go for it. Props to them, as I probably wouldn't have had the courage to blindly hop on the road and go here without doing a reality check with fellow cyclists first. I took Broadway to Southwest Boulevard, which turns into Merriam lane, which lands me awfully close to the Trek store that hosts my usual Monday night group ride.
I'm here. I made it; by the time I get home, I'll have ridden all the way home from work without any help other than my lunch and my trusty steel steed.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Well, I did it (half way so far)
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5 comments:
Did you relive (fond?) memories as you passed Net Standard?
Actually, I missed NetStandard. I was just pushing the pedals and noticed AirParts and the little road (foxridge? Lamar?) that goes over I-35. Then I realized I was past NetStandard. I shrugged. No, really. Look, ma! No hands!
How far is home from work?
The post makes it sound like your first time doing it, but it also insinuates that it was easy.
Whatever the cause....reason... good for you. I'm thining milestone. Yes?
Technically, I kind of cheated.
This is my homeward route if I were going to go straight home from my office:
http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=528
I ended up going to where my wife works instead, which cut a few miles off of my trip. We had some things to do after she got off work, and they were on the way between where she works and where we live. No sense in her coming home, then going back out.
The Trek store (Where I posted this from) is pretty much halfway home, located DIRECTLY along the above route in the middle of the little eastbound jaunt away from the highway. It's a little more than 9 miles to the college, or about 14 miles to home.
I've ridden from the Trek store to both the college and home several times now. It's a pretty easy trip. I've just never left downtown under my own power.
I worked downtown back in 2000-2001 (11 months) and now I've been downtown again for 9 months. Of all those trips to and from downtown, I've always been in my car or a bus when I'm arriving or departing.
That said, this is a milestone - a psychological barrier has been broken. *I CAN DO THIS*
Will I make a regular habit of commuting only by bike? Not work-bound unless I find a solution to the showering problem. I may, however, make the return trip on occasion.
Was it hard? Kinda. I made it sound easy; partially because there was a time not long ago that I actually said I wouldn't do it. It seemed impossible. Now I know that it's not. Round trip, though, I'd be looking at probably four hours on the road, if not more. I'm not sure I'm ready to sacrifice all of my daily free time in the name of just getting to work on a bike every day.
Actually, I've discovered showering is not that critical depending on the weather. If your temps are under 70 and you shower the night before you probably can get away with not showering at work. At least once I even didn't bother with changing out of my cycling gear. I just pulled my work clothes on over the top of them. Of course, a sponge bath is another option if you get to work and feel like you absolutely need a cleaning..
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