Bike commute test
I finally got a chance to test out the bike ride from home to my current workplace.
Map here.
It's a bit long for an everyday commute, though it took me about the same time as my bus commute on the way there--an hour and a half. Coming back took longer because of hills, confusion on the best route, and a bit of fatigue. That's not counting the extra 15 minutes to fix a chain that jumped into my small chain ring when I tried to ride up Broad from Western, or the 10 minutes I took to stop at the taco truck near the new location for Bothell Ski & Bike.
Aside: the taco truck near Bothell Ski & Bike just west of 80th is worth the stop. They were out of asada but I had two chicken tacos and HFCS-free Mexican Coca-Cola (because my bike bottle was empty.)
I need to do more work to figure out the best way from Eastlake to Western and vice-versa. The Thomas/9th/Bell route heading out worked OK but there were some lights that did not respond to my bike even though I had my tire and a shoe on the sensor. But Bell and Western are one-way the wrong way coming back and my attempts to find a similar route back were marked by adventure. I'm also a bit worried about the parked cars on Eastlake but as long as I pay attention I should be able to avoid getting doored.
I think I'll look into workplace locker rental for the next month and try occasional one-way bike commutes every other day or so.
New miles (through November 27, 2010)38.6Previous miles 24848.9 Total miles24887.52010 miles2629.8 Miles on the current set of tires (replace at 5K)3026.6Miles on the current rings and cassette--next service 3850 miles)2952.2
Total miles on the new chain so far: 459.8
Note. the circumference of the Earth at the equator is about 24901.55 miles. I am currently 14 miles short of that distance.
Map here.
It's a bit long for an everyday commute, though it took me about the same time as my bus commute on the way there--an hour and a half. Coming back took longer because of hills, confusion on the best route, and a bit of fatigue. That's not counting the extra 15 minutes to fix a chain that jumped into my small chain ring when I tried to ride up Broad from Western, or the 10 minutes I took to stop at the taco truck near the new location for Bothell Ski & Bike.
Aside: the taco truck near Bothell Ski & Bike just west of 80th is worth the stop. They were out of asada but I had two chicken tacos and HFCS-free Mexican Coca-Cola (because my bike bottle was empty.)
I need to do more work to figure out the best way from Eastlake to Western and vice-versa. The Thomas/9th/Bell route heading out worked OK but there were some lights that did not respond to my bike even though I had my tire and a shoe on the sensor. But Bell and Western are one-way the wrong way coming back and my attempts to find a similar route back were marked by adventure. I'm also a bit worried about the parked cars on Eastlake but as long as I pay attention I should be able to avoid getting doored.
I think I'll look into workplace locker rental for the next month and try occasional one-way bike commutes every other day or so.
New miles (through November 27, 2010)38.6Previous miles 24848.9 Total miles24887.52010 miles2629.8 Miles on the current set of tires (replace at 5K)3026.6Miles on the current rings and cassette--next service 3850 miles)2952.2
Total miles on the new chain so far: 459.8
Note. the circumference of the Earth at the equator is about 24901.55 miles. I am currently 14 miles short of that distance.