I made it in on bike too

I only have to go 7 miles so it's not a big deal but I gave myself 50
minutes to make it, I made it in about 40 minutes, it was real windy, dark and cold when I left just
after 5 am. The scary bit was along SeaTac airport on hwy99. I only stopped at one traffic light, I
blew through several, "I know I'm bad but I made sure no cars were coming", got to work and sweated
for a while but my desk is out in the wharhouse so I didn't gross out anyone. The ride home was much
nicer because I wasn't worried about late. I think I'll bike in at least once a week until the
weather turns too wet again. That should be until August up here in Seattle

.
[email protected] wrote:
>
> Well the day came and went. It started out as a slightly chilly, foggy day. The morning ride was
> great! I tried timing it about an hour before the majority of the rush hour. That worked out very
> nicely. Also, listening to others worked out very nicely as they provided a path that helped me
> avoid the majority of the early morning commuters. Here are some of my thoughts:
>
> Bikes WON'T trip traffic light sensors. Silly me I thought they would, but after sitting through 2
> cycles of the lights, I decided to run it. Felt like a goob sitting there waiting for it. Then I
> felt like a law-breaking goob, but oh well, gotta get moving.
>
> Enjoy the ride, its the reason you're out there afterall. I found that I was concentrating so hard
> on; not getting lost, re-clipping in after every stop, watching out for the various drivers that
> aren't looking at me, the time, the distance to go, I forgot to actually ENJOY the ride. I figure
> with practice though, I'll actually learn to enjoy it. Just like driving a car.
>
> Allow for plenty of time to change over to "business" mode. True I took a shower when I got to
> work, but SOMEONE scheduled an 8am meeting and my body was still ramped up and sweating. I felt
> like everyone was just watching me sweat. Give yourself plenty of time to actually cool-down.
>
> Pace yourself, NOT traffic. Don't make a race out of trying to beat that car flying past you.
> Sure, some can do it, but for most, you AREN'T going to get to work faster than someone in a car.
> Don't let it play that mind game on you.
>
> Think about where to store your bike. I had the luxury of being able to store mine close to me,
> otherwise, it's kind of worrisome to leave it somewhere, even under lock and key.
>
> After I got to work, I was STARVED!!! I had a power bar on me, but for the most part, I was hungry
> all day long. So don't forget to feed that machine. You want it to get stronger, gotta feed the
> machine good quality food to replace what you burned on the ride.
>
> Don't schedule meetings later in the day. Someone actually scheduled a meeting for me AFTER when I
> left for the day. Friday afternoon.... Go figure why someone would want a meeting at that time, my
> attention span is about " " that long.
>
> On the way home, its ok to be slower. Tailwind = good, Headwind = BAAAD. Seems around here, the
> wind picks up in the afternoon. Sucks for me. It's usually going the wrong way.
>
> So my trip distance/time wise went like this: Morning ride = 11.49 mi, 43 min. Afternoon ride =
> 11.95 mi, 51 min. I have some major hills to contend with and my ave speed wasn't that great, but
> I KNOW I will only get better as I do this more. That is my positive mental attitude. But bottom
> line? Just get out there and do it. Sounds cliche, but it actually works!