This winter left me in a somewhat less than ideal shape. The addition of a new member to our family meant that my time on a bicycle was greatly reduced. With moving to a new home and going to school while working full time, well, that meant that I spent a great deal of time in a seated, somewhat motionless position. Excuses, I know. I was just trying to make myself feel better that my first two days of commuting have left me somewhat sore and has given my body movements a geriatric quality. This morning, when I placed my posterior onto my body support device (aka: seat) of my bicycle, I must admit that it was tender. Nonetheless I got onboard and pedaled my way to work.

Never being one to ease myself back into anything I decided to just go for it: no warm up, no practice, no preparation, a plan of action that my wife often considers to be stupid. I think it might be something along the lines of never stopping to ask for directions or refusing to read an instruction manual. 20 km doesn’t seem like a long ride, and really it isn’t, unless you are out of shape and not entirely sure where the bike routes are.

Coming from a somewhat rural setting with narrow roads and large, tall redneck mobiles that are not entirely jubilant about cyclists getting in the way of their progress, an error in route choice can take a leisurely ride and change it to a harrowing experience. Having only made the ride twice it also seems as though the city planners have seen fit to try and make the cycling routes as exciting as possible by providing a constant stream of new construction projects. That’s okay it just makes the ride more interesting and makes being prepared all the more important.

My bag was the one thing I made sure was ready for my morning commute. Three tubes, a pump, a patch kit, tire levers, half a multi tool (i lost the other half) and an allen key set as a substitute for the other half of my multi-tool. Throw in some clothes, shoes, phone, watch and wallet and that seemed about right, if not a little heavy. But my son was nice enough to help this morning so I figured that if I didn’t ride he might be disappointed in me.

The wee-man has recently decided that a good nights sleep is simply not for him and in an effort to make sure that i do ride to work, he has started waking up at between 4:30 and 5am. Well, with a few hours less sleep, I am suddenly finding the time to get ready to ride in to work. So I did. Now I am a little tired, a little sore and a little excited that this is the start of a good thing. I admit this first post may not entirely make sense. I am finding that a 20km ride in the morning leaves me a little more lethargic than I remember, but it’s getting better each day.

This may seem like the inane ramblings of an inexperienced commuter, and you would probably be right in making such a judgement. I ride my bicycles a lot, just not often to work, a shortcoming I am determined to fix. But I figure that maybe if others could read about someone, not too unlike themselves, and the trials and tribulations they face in commuting to work, well, maybe they wold be motivated to ride as well. It’s a long shot but hey , why not try.

I figure I might as well try and put up posts about my rides to and from work, think of it a commuter’s journal. Well, we shall see how it goes. Until next time.

-Cadeyrn