Biking isn't the only way to avoid driving my car.

08/26/2011

Well, I have been too busy to update this more often. I am still riding when I can. I also look for other ways to avoid driving my car.

The other day I had a chance to test DART out a little. I flew in to Love Field from Austin and was able to take a DART bus to the rail station. From there, I took the green line to downtown and transferred to the red line up to the Parker road station.  I still had to drive home from there but a much shorter trip. If I would have left my bike at the Parker road station the day before I could have avoided the car altogether! Yes, it took a LOT LONGER but I had a book to read and some writing to do so I used the time wisely.

Give DART a try some time if you don’t already!

Paul

Remember the "be-prepared-carry-tools-on-bike" post?

08/04/2011

Remember about a month ago I posted about being prepared with tools? Well, I do, and I did not listen to my own advice. The commuter bike I have has great big tires that can't go flat - at least I thought. On my way home from work (actually just on the way to the fitness center to change for the ride home) I jumped the curb up to the front entrance to the fitness center like I do every day. But today the rear tire landed right on a sharp edge of the concrete and pinched the tube and leaked quickly.

I was going to ride to a meeting I had up in Allen after work but the flat changed all my plans. Why? Because I have no tools on this bike.  I had planned well for the ride home from my meeting with lights and everything but all that was for nothing. My wife came and graciously bailed me out of the situation and gave me a ride home. I then drove to the meeting and became like every other commuter in a car. I want to avoid the car so next time I will have a spare tire and tools and avoid the car ride.

After all that, I did not even have a spare tube at home for this size tire. So I prepped up my old old bike for tomorrow's ride (I don't want to miss the chance to ride in another 109 degree day!).

Lesson learned: Carry tools and be safe and cool.

Paul

Ride to work or Relax to work...

7/31/2011

My ride in to work Friday started the same way as most days. Warm air hitting my face and start to feel the humidity quickly. And then, I start to think about the work To Do list. My ride is becoming a ride to work. Then I have to decide to relax and put those thoughts out of my mind for the moment - I am just Riding - my destination may be Work, but I don't have to think about that for now. I am just enjoying a ride that is relaxing and enjoyable as usual. I begin to notice people walking, running, enjoying the morning. And I am doing the same - something that is not as easy to do in my car. I like to ride to work.

Paul

Seeing more on the bike than in a car

07/27/2011

When I rode in to work Monday I saw a dog heading down the sidewalk along McDermott. I soon realized nobody was with the dog. I changed course from the bike trail and rode up the embankment to the sidewalk and followed him for a while. He went past Twin Creeks and then toward Tatum. I called the Animal Shelter and left a message and then caught up with the dog again close to Erikson middle school. I tried to call to him and then went ahead of him and got off the bike, took the helmet off but he was still too scared. So, at the end of it all I could not help the dog, but I found that the bike mobility and the capability to ride up / down embankments and turn around on streets and sidewalks so easily made it much easier to follow the dog than if I had been in a car.
Another positive reason for commuting - go anywhere anytime!

Paul

Tour de France and Allen bike commuting

7/24/2001

Well, another Tour de France is complete. You may be wondering what that has to do with riding my bike to work. Not much, but, when possible, I try a criterium bike race on Tuesday nights (see http://www.dallascrit.com ). That means instead of riding my bike to work, I drive and take my bike on the car and head to the races after work. It is a lot of fun and good exercise too. It is fun to ‘Bike to Work’ but I think it is even more fun to ‘Race to Win’. More to come about all that in future posts!

Paul  

Never too hot!

7/23/2011

My blogs get a little less frequent as things get busy. But, I am still riding. And although I did not get to ride to work every day this week (I rode 3 of 5 days), I got in a bike race and on one of my bike commute days I did errands after work.

It was actually rather nice. I had to run an errand and drop something off at a store further south in Plano. So I found a decent route to get there and headed out from work in the 100+ temps. It felt good because it was drier than usual. And nothing feels better to me than getting around town on bike. In fact, after leaving the store, I saw an accident and was glad I do not deal with that on my bike (and if I ever do, it will not be pretty).

On the way home I was able to catch a bike trail with shade that got me about 4 miles from the house so it was a nice ride. Often I get asked, "Isn't it too hot to be out riding?" If you ask me that while I am out on my bike, I guess the answer would be 'NO'. Bike shopping anyone?

Paul

Yes, it is getting hot

07/15/2011

The past few nights I have been leaving work a little later than usual. That usually does not seem like a nice thing, but, with the temperatures hitting above 100, leaving as the sun gets lower in the sky has been a nice change.

As long as you take a water bottle along for the ride, you should not have a problem in this weather. But remember that you have to stay hydrated during the day so you start off with enough liquids. Drink water throughout the day to stay hydrated.

It has actually been nice because it has been a little drier these past few evenings.

Paul