Bike-a-bout: Off to School (and Back)!

Bicycling: 11.6 miles in :51:49 min. @ 5:30 a.m.
Pace: 4:28 min/mi.
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 56°F, 95% Humidity, Wind: From SW @ 5 mph; feels like 56°F.
Course: Bike 2 Work 2011 made using USATF Map It!

With only three weeks of work left (and the recognition of my having added 20+ pounds to my frame since the start of school last September), this morning seems like as good a time as any to start shaping up by biking-a-bout. This morning I woke up early and, despite having multiple photocopies to make before classes start, and recognizing my decision to bike would reduce the time during which to do so, I attempt to ride my bicycle to work as a penance of sorts for letting my conditioning deteriorate.

I pedaled myself to school from my home in the Park Avenue neighborhood of Rochester, adhering (for the most part) to the scheduled route referenced above.

Though I have bicycled at least occasionally over the past five years (but much less frequently in the last three after moving to the high school--and an earlier first class start time), I was once again struck by how much more opportunity one has to "see" things that otherwise go unnoticed on any trip when rather than the more traditional mode of transport, driving in an automobile at anywhere from 30 to 60 mph.

The route I took this morning was not unlike the one I drive on occasion and slightly adjusted from previous years. This time I avoided the "safer" Greece Interstate Trail , or "Bike Path," which runs parallel to the expressway. Today I stayed on main roads, deliberately passing through some of the neighborhoods which my students and athletes live and that I myself have travelled when giving them rides home after meets. This course offered no visits to the "roadkill biker," the silhouette of a biker painted on the asphalt at a bike trails entrance and exit points.

Bicycling: 11.2 miles in :61:00 min. @ 3:30 p.m.
Pace: 5:27 min/mi.
Weather: Fair, 77°F, 48% Humidity, Wind: Calm; feels like 77°F.
Course: Bike 2 Work 2011 made using USATF Map It!

Due to the potential for increased traffic, I took a slightly different way home after Track & Field practice. The sun was "up" this time, and despite significantly increased temperatures, I wore a long-sleeved training shirt home to avoid too much sun on my arms and to address the cooling effects of bicycling fast(-ish) on busy streets... though not wearing my bicycling shorts was a HUGE error in judgment as my butt was killing me!