An explanation of my current commute

Hello again,
Today I'm going to share the details of my current commute. Above is a picture from Google maps, their elevation tool is great for planning a ride. It's 15.6 miles to work, with nearly half of it dedicated bicycle/running path. I am very grateful to the Rails to Trails program in the Seattle area! It makes my commute look like this:

My commute back home I ride the bus until I get into better shape then I plan to ride the whole way. So for now it's .9 miles to bus stop, riding the bus then 3.8 miles to home going back up that hill you see in the first picture.

Total 20.3 miles per day (for now).




For about 2 months I rode down and up the hill to the bus stop to get into shape to ride the commute to work. I rode the route to work once on a day off to see how feasible it was to make the trip and then work. Even with that the first day I rode into work I got turned around and rode north instead of south (it was before the sun was up), I still made it to work on time, but I had to work a little harder than I had planned for. The first week of commuting my legs were hurting, especially while working standing up and going up and down stairs. The second week was much better. A friend who commutes by bicycle 12 miles both ways said, "The first five day you ride to work like that you will question your ability to make decisions, about day 6 you'll be glad you started doing it." He was right, week two was much better than week one, and it's getting better here into week three.


Until next time, keep the rubber side down,


The Diesel Cyclist