Car Less Ohio

I did an indoor trainer session on Tuesday of this week, and planned to get another one in Thursday morning. When Thursday morning came around, the bed just felt too warm and cozy, so I decided to put off the trainer session until Friday.

Thursday evening, I noticed that the weather forecast was looking pretty good for Friday, wither temperatures expected in the low 50’s, so instead of getting on the trainer, I thought it would be a good day to start getting back in the habit of riding to work.

Come Friday morning, that 6:30am inertia starting feeling hard to overcome again, both when it came to riding to work and getting on the trainer. But, I figured taking a real ride outside was the lesser of two evils, so I got my bike, riding gear, and change of clothes organized. As soon as I headed down the driveway, I was very glad I made the decision. The sun was shining, and the air was crisp and cool, but not too cool. The snow and ice had pretty much all melted from the sides of the roads, as well as on the short stretch of bike path that I take out of my neighborhood. The only real inconvenience was the layer of silt and pebbles that collects on the sides of the roads during the winter.

On my way down Route 91, it occurred to me that had I done the hour-long workout on the trainer, then I would have spent a half-hour driving to work, then another half-hour driving home from work. Instead, I was spending an hour riding to work, and an hour riding home from work–two hours total in either case, plus I was getting the added benefit of double the amount of exercise time.

During the day at work, several people commented that it was supposed to cool off considerable by the evening. Since I ended up being actually a little too warm during the morning ride in, I figured I was okay; I’d either be dressed just right or just a little cold. In the end, the temperature during my ride home was a couple degrees higher compared to the morning. It was pretty windy, though, but I was lucky enough to have the wind in my back during the first half of my ride east on Route 303. When I made the turn north on Route 91, the crosswinds knocked me around a bit, but nothing too terrible.

I was surprised when I actually made it home during the last remnants of daylight, another encouraging sign that true spring weather is just around the corner.