Bike to Work Week starts next Sunday (the 13th) in Chicago and I’m getting ready! I’ve been averaging a 3 day a week commute on the bike, held up by weather for the most part. And lawyer/retirement things that involve me NOT being a sweaty pig after work. But I’ve basically got the commute thing down pat.
First things first, I got a haircut. Not that it increases speed, but it has to do with cleanliness. With long hair, I wash it maybe twice a week. At most. I have to let the oils build back up again, but with biking (and sweating) my hairs will cling on to icky smells. I could do the trick of using lemon scented shampoo, but again, I’m washing the natural lipids out of my hair. They make hair healthy. What’s a girl to do? Thankfully I look great with short hair, and this way I can wash it daily if I need to and the short hairs make up for their own oils pretty fast. Perfect. The image there is the day I whacked my hair off and the little dude is my LiquidWeb Hero Guy.
Then there’s my speed. I can bike from home to the train station (2.2 miles) in 12 minutes. My aunt teased me about it, saying it’s not very fast. And she’s right. Points to be made to A. Susan are these: My tires are 16″. They’re Schwalbe Big Apple 16″ tires. Her’s are probably 24 to 27″. Now the math part you can do on your own, but the basics are that the bigger the wheel, the faster you go but it’s harder to pedal. On my teeny wheels, it’s a lot easier to pedal but I go slowly. I’m not going to draw it out for you. Gears help with this but I only have three. So basically, no matter what, I’m doing more work than I need to. I’ve yet to see what this extra effort translates to on a ‘grown up’ bike, but Bad Horse and I do fine.
Bad Horse is the name I jokingly gave my bike. I’ve been riding my bike since April (when I got it) and I’ve ridden in rain, snow and a bit of hail so far. In the cooler, Wintery, part of spring I wore my peacoat (warm!) and looked pretty stupid. The coat flared at the hips to keep me warm, but it was a bit funny looking. As I clearly think in this picture. My coworkers found it vastly amusing. I don’t walk through the office like this, by the way. I change my shirt (and pants if it’s warm) and bail, strapping up my ankles and slapping on the helmet outside. And yes, I always wear my helmet.
So next week I’ve got my private goal of biking every day, rain or shine. And then repeating it the week after. I’ll pack extra pants and shirts for work, but it’s all or nothing.