First a little housekeeping... “My Life on Two Wheels” seems to be quite popular, but it fits me so I will go with this until I get a cease and desist J. I am open to a re-naming contest. Winner will get a 6 pack of fine Denton brewed craft beer made by Audacity Brewing.
Week 2.5 of bike commuting. So far I am on pace to average a least two days of riding per week, but once I work out the hiccups and streamline a few things, perhaps three days rain or shine?
First, although I like and need the added security of the big shackle lock with my cable, it is becoming a huge PITA. It is heavy, it rattles, it has a key, its big, its heavy, and it always finds its way to the bottom of the pannier. My bike is parked directly below my office window and this has me wondering if I can go with just the small cable?
 |
| View from the office window |
Another logistics issue is that I am struggling with; is better to go straight to the office and unload the bike and panniers, then walk to the showers? Or, continue to ride to the showers, unload, shower, reload, and walk the bike back to my office? The .2 mile walk is only about an added 5 or six minutes and would not really cause me to leave early since some of the walk time would be mitigated by not repeatedly unloading and loading the bike. I will try dropping the bike off tomorrow and walking to the showers. Perhaps the short walk will be a nice cool down.
Finally, from a fitness perspective I wonder about the benefits or non-benefits of riding two separate 10.5-12 mile rides on a heavily loaded bike in one day versus a 25-28 mile single ride on my light road bike? On a heavy day, the load alone carried on the commuter comes close to the 21 pound total weight of the road bike. Add the 30+ pound weight of the Trek, and I am peddling 45-50 plus pounds of bike each way.
I have effectively replaced 2-3 long rides per week with 4-6 shorter rides. Actually, this may not be 100 percent accurate as I will likely skip a spinning session or two for my commute and still engage in at least one long ride per week. I will watch my Strava feed for an overall change in my weekly average. I have averaged about 116 miles per week of riding over the last year or so, so this should be easy to verify. Last week was 110 miles, but I took an extra rest day after a bad ride in the heat. By the time I get home Wednesday I will be at about 65 miles of commuting/riding with 4 days (-1 rest day) of training riding to finish the week.
Cheers, Glenn
