Bike your drive

sure on the day I drive in (mid-morning dentist apt for the kids kinda of necessitate it, or at least make it far more efficient time wise to drive) i open up with an REI page that I came across over at Bike Providence.
http://www.rei.com/bikeyourdrive

Biking Facts: Did You Know?

5 reasons to bike your drive
The average person loses 13 pounds their first year of commuting by bike.
40% of all car trips in the U.S. are made within 2 miles of home.
60% of the pollution created by autos happens in the first few minutes of operation, before pollution control devices can work effectively.
Just 3 hours of biking per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gas a year by boosting bicycle trips just half a percentage point: from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.
Information courtesy of Trek Bicycle Corporation.

Yeah from the great Trek Bicycle Corporation... But all true. All important. Esp this time of year when it just might be cold enough to get you to "want" to jump in the car. But with not much more than you'd need to stay warm in the car till it warms up (during which time it is spewing toxic crap out the tail pipe if it is a gasoline car... you know of course that emissions aren't tested or regulated until the car reaches operating temperatures which happen a bit after the car starts making enough heat to thaw your fingers out).

Sure, it is a pretty obvious ploy to boost sales of bike stuff at REI, but that's okay IMHO. I've been a member for close to 20 years? Maybe longer. Family's been a member for much longer.

It is a good site for the beginner. Not so much maybe for me. I probably could sit down and pull 90% of the advice and info out of my head w/o much work. Sometimes i do to those who inquire about cycling as a transportation alternative.

It sucks that there isn't a better way to get to the school via bike with the kids. 103 backs up and half a mile of stopped two lane traffic w/o shoulder and with no good ridable sidewalk path there (the one that is there is full of telephone poles, garbage cans, cars zipping in and out of Dunkin Donuts... not as mellow as it could be.

These last couple weeks i've traded the evening trainer workout sessions for commuting. And usually I work in a bit of specificity on the ride in or the ride home. I still find it far easier to push beyond and into the pain cave on the trainer than out in the open. Too distracted by the beauty around me, or the cars or the road, the birds, the razor sharp shells.

Another side note tangent. I'm constantly being reminded of how nice it is to be free from the pressure of needing to know when I will have my next cup of coffee. No constant "I need a cup of coffee" no rushing into the office and changing and hurrying up to get the coffee started. No morning routine stared by cleaning the coffee maker and scooping up some beans and making some. Simplification.

It is nice. Almost December and I've been Caffeine free since mid-August.

Falling asleep instantly when I lay down in bed is incredible. Waking up and being awake and not groggy or fuzzy is pretty damn cool too. I'm still getting tired but I'm not craving a coffee, and now when I get a headache I can pin it down more easily, the two that i've gotten have been #1 lack of sleep #2 dehydration... Pretty simple and easy to fix...

I don't miss it. I miss the ritual. I miss the getting a coffee and hanging out at a coffee shop or seven stars. Drinking hot herbal tea just isn't the same. And decaf still has the same caffeine as a Coke so that's not an option.

If you aren't driving to the ends of the earth on Sunday for a CX race, maybe ya wanna join the RI crew for a hilly throw down. drop me an email if you are interested gewilli at gmail. I've decided Easthampton and Cheshire are too far to drive right now... and honestly a nice long ride on the cross bike with some slicks sounds like more fun than waking up way early and driving a long way in the car, esp at this point of the season... 13 races in, 2-4 races to go.

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