My Bike Commute Week Adventure

2009 Bike Commute Week Breakfast

It's National Bike-to-Work week,which is also known around here as Bike Commute Week. It's a great time to promote bicycle usage and safety and for me personally to get back in the habit of riding my bike to work, now that it's May and the weather is supposed to be nicer.

To push myself back in the habit, I marked this week on my mental calendar and told myself that I'd be riding to work all this week. Then, even though I had the whole weekend to prepare, on Monday, I had to abandon my plans because I couldn't find my pannier, my gloves, or other necessary gear. On Tuesday I didn't ride in because I'd run at the Y in the morning, and I was just too tired.

But Wednesday, which was also the day of the annual Bike Commuter Breakfast on the courthouse lawn in Northampton, I was committed to riding to work on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, I made sure that I everything ready to go. Work clothes? Check. Riding clothes, gloves, helmet? Check. Pannier? Check.

And then I woke up later than I wanted to on Wednesday morning and oh, did I mention that it was 36 degrees outside? However, I didn't let those potential setbacks get in my way: I packed my bag, hopped on my bike, and made it to the breakfast, where I ate some banana bread, grabbed an area trail map, and even picked up a bar of soap that was made from a process that involves pedaling a bike.

When I left the breakfast, I knew I was running a little late for work, but I was so full of do-gooder endorphins that I didn't think that much about it--after all, what's more important, getting to work on time or helping to save the planet?

As I rode to work, I had time to think about the day ahead of me. I also had time to go over yet again the checklist of everything I needed to bring with me. I did this because I had a nagging feeling that I'd forgotten something. I had shoes. I had pants. I had my tie, belt, socks, and shirt. And then it hit me: I'd forgotten my t-shirt.

Normally this might not be a big deal, but I'm more comfortable wearing a t-shirt and, frankly, I was counting on having the t-shirt to absorb some of the lingering sweat from my ride. For the ride, I wore a short-sleeved t-shirt, but it was dark green and wouldn't work under my white work shirt. I also wore a long-sleeved t-shirt, and the thought of two long-sleeved shirts all day long didn't appeal to me. So, once I got to work, I did the only thing I could think of: I cut the sleeves off of the long-sleeved t-shirt. And then I set about changing into my work clothes.

By this time, I'm more than 20 minutes late, but that's okay; no one is looking over my shoulder. But then, as I'm getting dressed, I hear my boss's voice outside my door. He's asking my colleague whose desk sits outside my office where I am. I hear her say, "he's here, he's just getting ready."

I think it's worth mentioning that my boss works in a different building, and in the last six months, he has been over to my office maybe three times.

So now, I have to speed up the process and figure out how "dressed" I have to be before I can open my office door and talk to the boss. Can I talk to him without shoes on? Probably not. Without a tie? Yes, that's probably okay.

I get as dressed as I can, as quickly as I can, open the door and greet my boss. We talk about a rather inconsequential matter, and then he leaves. That's when I notice that the large Give Blood logo on my t-shirt is clearly visible through my dress shirt. And I haven't really stopped sweating. So, it' back to the office to take off my shirts so that I can put on my faux undershirt inside-out and backwards, to hide the logo as best I can.

I love riding my bike and I try to do it as often as I can, and I had a pretty good record last year of riding my bike to work, but too many things got in the way, most notably my marathon training which often called for workouts that left me with no time and no energy to ride to work. I'll keep on trying (today I didn't because the forecast calls for rain, and I have to be home right after work to get ready for some Cal Ripken baseball), but I don't think that biking to work should be so hard. Or, to put it more accurately, that I'd be so wimpy about it.

Happy Bike to Work Week everyone!