Fastest Time So Far... and I'm Bushed!

Just finished my best commuting time of about 52 minutes! (while biking into a south east wind) I rode over the weekend on the valley trail that runs through Sagamore Hills to Valley View. I'm estimating this is about a 25 mile round trip ride from home. It seems to have helped my leg strength for longer endurance.

I credit much of the motivation to watching the Olympics over the past two weeks. It's inspiring to see people giving it there all for the USA.

Google Maps of Bike Routes

Found a very cool site called Bikely that lets you search and post bike routes from all over the world. Enjoy! I've been looking for a site like this one for a while.

Governor Granholm Riding Bike to Work

Michigan's governor Granholm is making alternative transportation a priority for the state. A lot of the move is to save money for Michigan residents.

More Electric Bikes

Found this interesting company that builds electric bikes. Although they are a bit pricey, they look very cool and fun to ride. Below is a peek at their promotional video. A bit cheesy!

Biking Update

Even though I have skipped a few days of logging my travels, I'm still going about once a week. I hope to bike tomorrow, which will meet my two day a week goal. I have noticed some fatigue in my knees, but I have helped tackle this by taking it slow and using my gears more. I've got my timing down to avoid traffic, but the daylight is starting to shift on me. It's darker when I leave in the AM and getting darker when leave in the PM. I'm hoping to continue this until it drops below 50 degrees in the morning. This should give me at least a few more weeks of travel.

My Route

As you can see, my bike route covers a good portion of north east ohio. Made great progress on this week's ride Thursday. My best time yet of about 55 minutes. My goal is to get to 45 min in the morning. A normal car commute on route 271 is around 35 minutes.

Electric Bike from Yamaha

A colleague sent me this link to an electric bike from Yamaha. Cool bike! Another example of a bike with a helper motor, this one being more eco-friendly than the gas bike from a previous post.

Little Engine that Could

Found something interesting today for bikes that need a little extra power for getting up steep hills. This small gas powered bike motor is a really cool idea for those who need the extra power. The only drawbacks would be noise, and perhaps the tendency to rely on this motor for smaller hills. Not a 0 emission solution, but may be worth the extra cash for those with a long commute.

Feeling Sick

Planning to ride today, but decided to stay home due to sickness. After four trips on my route, my body is holding up pretty well. So far I've logged about 120 miles on my bike. At this rate, I will average around 240 miles per month.

Drivers Turn to Alternative Transportation

An interesting article on CNN about people ditching their cars for biking to work and other modes of transportation. Great news to learn I'm not the only one.

Biking to Work: Day 3

Today started out a little harsh. I peddled as fast as I could while the weather was dry to get to work in time. Minutes later, the dark clouds moved in and started to pour. One bright spot that I would have missed in the car was a female deer with her two baby deer. I also missed some rain on the way back too. Lucky! Still need to find a better route for the way back to avoid a large hill.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention from last week was a Ford Excursion that drove past me and the passenger shouted a profanity something to the effect of "... get your F@#! bike off the road ... ". I'm not surprised, but didn't think it would happen on the second day of my ride.

Still no bike helmet mirror

Getting ready for day three of my bike ride and still have not found a good mirror to attach to my helmet. Walmart and Target both have a generic attach-to-the-handle model that is too bulky for my liking. Ordered this helmet mirror online.

After two days of riding to work and running a 4 mile race over the weekend, my body seems to be holding up. This week will be the test. I will be riding tomorrow and hopefully Thursday if the weather is decent. The heat seems to be subsiding, so it should make for a comfortable ride. I only wish more people would see the enjoyment of biking to work. This sure beats traffic on route 271 north every morning.

Biking: Day Two

Decided to leave a half hour earlier, which was a good decision. The traffic was much lighter, the air a little crisper. I had a little more energy this time. Made it through the first half of my ride in great time. I think I've figured out how to shift my new bike. Took a little practice.

I started to feel my knee cramp up a bit about 2/3 of the way on the route on the metro parks bike trail. Hopefully this is not chronic. It looks like two 30 mile trips a week will be my max for a little while.

Ok, so I'm thinking of a different route for the way home. I hit a hill on the way back that just kills my knees. Hopefully this little detour will work out.

Not today

Ok, so after eating wings the night before, my body was in no shape to take on the ride. There's always tomorrow.

Day After

Today I feel a little soar, but everything is in check. My left knee is not up to par, but I am hoping with some Advil and rest everything will be ready to go by my next bike ride... tomorrow?!

First Day

Well, the first day of biking to work was a little rough. The morning commute was actually really nice. The sun was out and the birds were singing. A little chilly, but not too bad. Not much traffic on the road at 6:30 in the AM. My commute is about 14 miles each way, so the first half was fairly easy. I reached my midway point and had a quick drink of water at the top of a hill. I continued down a hill and reached the bike path portion of my commute. This is the safest part of the journey with about 5 miles of smooth bike paths and metro parks trails. After making it through the metro parks, I reached the 3 mile city portion of my ride. Still not much traffic in the AM, so I coasted by to my destination at a local fitness center. Got ready for work and I was on my way.

The trip back was a little crazy. I left around 4:00 PM thinking I could beat traffic, I was wrong. The traffic started to pick up around 4:45 and didn't let up until I got 3/4 of the way through my trip. I definitely need to think of an alternate route or leave at a different time of day. In all, it was a good first day. I'm planning out my next trip, which will likely be Wednesday, if my knees hold up.