Why Cycle Wednesday:Riding my bike to work

Or: "How to Lose 11 pounds in 1 day and ride 80 miles with no time."

At the bottom of this post from last month, I mentioned a way I'd discovered to get more miles in.  My weekly mileage (see "2007 Totals" on the left side) has been pretty pathetic and while September promises to be a VERY high mileage month (since I'm planning on doing two centuries), I'd like to be at least a little prepared.

So day-before-yesterday, I decided to ride my bike to work.  As I mentioned before, from our new place to my job is a little over 40 miles, one way.  I figured it would be a nice ride - mostly on a back road (which was the main north-south road before the highway was built) along the Connecticut River (though actual views of the river are rare).  According to the route I pre-mapped on GMap Pedometer, the profile didn't look too bad either - just a lot of climbing around Middletown, the only city of any size before my destination in Hartford.  Considering daylight hours, I had to make plans to get in to the office a little late and leave a little early.  I also had an office dinner to go to later that evening, so I figured I'd get the bike and stuff packed when I got home.

Problem was I didn't get home til after midnight - and wasn't in bed until about 1am.  And I wanted to be on the road by 6.

Ugh.

No problem, I thought.  Lately, it seems as though 5 hours or so is my "normal" amount of sleep (no where near what I need if Saturday morning sleep-ins are any indication).  But I was so excited about my ride that I didn't sleep very much.  I woke up 3 different times and the final time - 415am - I couldn't get back to sleep.  So, knowing I still had to pack, I went ahead and got up.

At 445am.  I was VERY tired, as you could imagine, but not at all sleepy - the weather was shaping up to be beautiful and I was just too psyched about the ride.  So on to packing...

While my regular rides sometimes hit 40 miles, I figured I'd need a few extra things for this trip (at least clothes for the office).  But I didn't realize HOW much until I made a list:

What I packed

• Office clothes (pants, shirt, shoes, belt, etc.)
• 2nd set of cycling clothes for the ride home (jersey, socks, shorts)
• Shower stuff (towel, washcloth, soap)
• Enough GUs for both ways, protein bar for arrival
• Multi-tool
• iPod (with a special playlist - I'll divulge if asked)
• File of office stuff (consolidated from the full briefcase I usually take)
• Wallet/keys
• Lock, taillight
• This all in addition to what I have on a "normal" ride - helmet, gloves, seatbag w/flat fixins (tube, CO2, patches, tire lever), 2 bottles of water, Garmin, cyclocomputer, cellphone and camera.

I put the GUs, iPod and camera in my jersey pockets and the rest in a backpack.  My bike isn't a touring bike, so I couldn't trick it out with any panniers or other bags.  Shortly after I got it a couple years ago, I'd rigged a handlebar bag to it for a long ride (which turned out to be an "accidental century"), but a handlebar bag wouldn't be big enough anyway.  I'd only used this backpack while riding once - and that was on my mountain bike when Deb and I went for a picnic earlier this summer.  So I figured it would work.  What I DIDN'T count on was how much it would weigh when I got all my crap stuff into it.

11 pounds(!)

Here's a pic of everything ready to go yesterday morning.

Despite getting up even earlier than I'd planned, I wasn't able to get on the road until about 6:30.  Our (former SpokesCat- scroll to bottom) Charlie hasn't been doing so well lately and we had trouble getting his meds into him.  But I finally got my backpack on (oof!), the iPod set, and started my trip to the tune of the "Acoustic Motorbike."

"Pedal on, pedal on, pedal on for miles, pedal on . . ."

Here's the route so you can follow along - and full Garmin details of the northbound trip are here.

While the forecast was for beautiful weather, it DID also say "morning fog" - and that's what I got.  I was glad I had my taillight on.  Nothing like bleary-eyed commuters driving their cars that early to make you wish you had a separate bike road...

My route, while nice and rural, is pretty non-descript - especially in the early morning grayness.  I discovered early on that fog has its own temperature, in addition to its dampness.  As I rode through each patch, the temperature would drop a good 5 degrees - a welcome relief since the backpack wasn't allowing my back to breathe at all

Finally, as I approached Haddam, the fog started to lift.  Just in time for this view of the river (as always, you can click the pic for a larger view).

That's Goodspeed Opera House in the distance, across the river in East Haddam.  Gillette Castle - home of William Gillette, a famous actor from the early 20th Century (most renowned for his playing Sherlock Holmes) - is just south of here.  To get there, you can cross the river either on the bridge in the pic (actually the longest swing bridge in the world), or on this ferry.

I continued north through what are some very typical, lower-Connecticut River towns; which is to say "small town New England."  Each town would have at least a few old colonials and, true to the Congregational heritage of many of the towns, a church.  Unfortunately, I felt like I needed to keep up a steady pace, so I didn't stop much to take pictures.

But I did take this one of me on my way - and as you can see, the day brightened up as forecast.

I'd been worried about the climbing around Middletown.  On the highway there is a HUGE climb - or at least it seems that way, even driving.  And I figured the back road paralleling Rt. 9 would be just as bad, if not worse.  But I'd hoped there'd be a payoff - from the highway you can see a full panorama of the city, river and valleys from the summit and I'd hoped that I'd be rewarded similarly for climbing that backroad.

Here's the profile so you see what I was anticipating.

Well, as it turned out, there was certainly climbing - the profile proves it - but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be - the worst was that every time the road tilted up, the extra 11 pounds I was carrying REALLY made a difference.  But apparently the biking gods didn't think I'd suffered enough, so no rewarding view at the top.  "Just" the exhilarating descent - made all the more challenging by the pack, which made me top-heavy, and the road - this section of which probably hadn't been paved since the 1950s.

When I finally arrived at Middletown, I decided it would be too much trouble to get into my pack for the map I'd printed out for getting through town.  Guess I should have put THAT in the jersey pocket.  Fortunately, I was familiar with the main roads through town so, in exchange for dealing with the now-rush-hour traffic and multiple stop lights, I was able to find my way easily to the north side of town and on to Hartford.

The ride from Middletown to Hartford was much less idyllic than the first half of the ride.  Commercial sprawl has started to fill in the towns of Cromwell and Rocky Hill.  Cool thing though is that - from the saddle of the bike - you can see much more than you can speeding by in your car and I discovered a lot of bits and pieces of the past in between the strip malls - little farm houses, and even some parts of old farms that hadn't been subdivided yet.  One good thing about the development on this part of the ride though - SMOOTH ROADS.

I'd been very fortunate that I hadn't yet gotten a mechanical or a flat tire.  After my luck a couple weeks ago, you'd think I'd be crazy to even try such a long ride.  But it had been pretty smooth sailing, until Wethersfield.

This town, a suburb just south of Hartford, was the site of my first problem.  I was approaching a stop light and shifted my front derailleur down, and promptly dumped the chain.  No problem, I thought, I'll just pick it back up on the fly (having done that a LOT for practice about a month ago).  You guessed it - the chain refused to be picked.  Fortunately I was able to unclip before the lack of forward movement caused me to fall over.

After this little mishap (which I'll take over two flat tires any day), I turned onto Rt. 99 - a VERY busy main road - for the final leg into the city.  I didn't really like all the traffic - and the big trucks were the worst, especially when I got caught between the curb and the truck and had to ride over broken up pavement and potholes.  That happened way more than I'd ever wanted - and fortunately I didn't get any pinchflats either.

But, following the great advice in The Art of Cycling, I just became traffic and it was actually fun riding on a route that I'd only driven on before (this busy road is a common alternate for the interstate into Hartford).

My front derailleur continued to give me problems though.  I dropped my chain three times is a little over as many miles.  I finally just left it in the big chainring, since the going was especially flat and easy.  Did I have a tailwind?  Good thing I was flying along - I'd forgotten that this part of the city is one of the worst parts.  You don't give it a second thought (usually) when you're driving through in your car; but it's a whole different ballgame when you're on a fancy bicycle dressed in tights with shaved legs . . .

Despite being a little later than I'd planned, I guess the bad guys were still asleep, or at least not interested in trying to catch me.  Besides, with my backpack, I looked like a courier (ok, only a little - I didn't have the manpris or any body piercing).  It was really cool when I got to the section of town where my office is - it was neat to be on my bike where I'd only ever been in my car (except for the Hartford Crit, of course).

Here's my parking spot - with my vehicle of the day taking up MUCH less space.

Here's where I actually parked - sign be d----d.

So here are the stats for the morning commute:

• 41.24 miles
• 17.1 average speed
• 2 hrs 24 min riding time
• 2012' of climbing
• 137 bpm average heart rate
• 2835 calories burned

This post ended up MUCH longer than I'd planned, so stay tuned for "Part 2 - The Ride Home."  I know it sounds deadly (must change the title), but trust me - I think you'll enjoy it, especially if you ever want to try commuting by bike.  I'll go over what I did during the workday to recover and prepare for the return trip, including things I packed that I could have done without, things I WISH I'd packed, things I would have done differently, and lessons learned.

And not being as pressed for time, I stopped more often to take pictures - so at least you'll have more stuff to see...

In the meantime, if you have a bike-to-work story to share, any tips - or any questions - be sure and leave a comment.  While I don't always reply on this site with a comment, every comment gets a reply via email.

Comments

[Larry]

Congrats on doing this for the first time.
If you're going to do this on a regular basis, you stock the office with your change of clothes and swap them off on drive days. That way you are not lugging everything and will be more comfortable.
Hope you have a shower available.

[beth h]

Welcome to my world.

I've been an almost daily bicycle commuter for over 30 years. I started commuting in grade school and basically never stopped. Once upon a time I was a freak. Now so many other people are taking up bike commuting that I no longer feel lonely on the roads anymore.

I suggest that if an 80-plus-mile RT commute turns out to be the thing for you, you may want to get a second bike, an older one that can handle a rear rack and a pannier or transverse saddlebag, so you can save the fancy bike for racing. (It should also have fender clearance.)

bravo! --BH

[Debby]

I am very proud of you. But NOW will you order the new headlight??? ;)

[Jim Smith II]

We wants the iPod track list please! ;-)

Sorry about not reading any off this sooner, but seriously congratulations! Have you noticed any issues with your Crohn's (early start and stress)?

I will throw in a tip from a BC guy at work - Get some cheap SPD pedals and a pair of sneaker type shoes. He said it saves the wear and tear on his good stuff and allows him to walk, etc. easier then with his regular shoes.

[suitcaseofcourage]

Great tip on the shoes - thanks! Mrs. Suitcase has those and I've often envied her being able to ride AND walk!

Thanks for the congrats on the ride too - it was somethin' fer sure! Fortunately, no issues with the Crohn's - but I did have to stop often early on to relieve the, er, hydration. But I suspect that's common for most.

As for the tracklist, well, remember, you asked for it:

The Acoustic Motorbike (a must, of course)
Joy by the Newsboys
The Face of Love by Sanctus Real
Strong Tower by Kutless
Atmosphere of You by Nate Maners
East to West by Casting Crowns (one of my favorite new songs)
Wake Up! Wake Up! by Everyday Sunday (for obvious reasons - since I could not caffinate as well as hydrate...)

[Nate Maners]

Hey thanks for having me as a part of your ride... I think it's super-cool.

Best
Nate Maners
Psalm 51:15