The weather and my schedule cooperated today to allow me to ride to work. However, I changed the route a little, and changed my attitude as well.
My recent rides in Madison have helped me better appreciate bike paths, so I tried the new one along part of State Street. It’s only about a quarter mile long, but it does a good job of separating autos, pedestrians, and bikes. (There is still the problem of cars not expecting bikes to cross at every side street and driveway, so I had to at least slow down if not stop at each – a little bothersome.) After leaving the trail, I took Intramural Drive south to Harrison St. This leads to Grant street and the office. This route is slightly longer (not a problem) and much calmer. All of the traffic is on State Street, and I can usually feel the glaring eyes of the motorist ‘trapped’ behind me. In my mind, I’m having the argument about how bikers have the right to use the road and that sidewalks are for kids. I can get pretty worked up sometimes.
Sure, taking the path and longer route may be giving in, but I’ll bet it helps my blood pressure.
Some of my change in attitude came from reading a series of essays on commuting and errand riding found on the Bicycling Life. I agreed with the Vehicular Cycling article, plus I liked the commuting stories. Give them a read sometime.
For the ride home I took the South Work Route – even though I had to be home by 6:00. I decided that the extra 10 minutes would be worth the possible scolding at home. Turns out I made it within the deadline.
Miles Ridden: 10.7