Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Day 4: Commuting to School

Zeppelin Elite on the Bike Rack
I just filled up the gas tank on my pickup truck today. Admittedly, the tank size is relatively large at 22 gallons, but still: It cost me $75.86 to fill my tank up! That is exorbitant! To date, that is the most I have ever paid to fill up my gas tank.

As I mentioned in my initial post about #30daysofbiking, I've recently committed to pedaling to and from school and work instead of just hopping in the pickup truck. Gas prices like this have only added to my resolve to leave the truck parked in the driveway!

But when the weather is as gorgeous as it was today, I don't really need any urging beyond the simple enjoyment of spending time on the bike!

Commuting by bike is such a calming experience. Instead of stressing about the work to be done that day or the work that didn't get done, your focus is instead channeled into pushing the cranks and powering your way up the steep hill in front of you. On the way back down, all of the cares from the day just seem to blow away and by the time you arrive at home, all is right in the world!

Travel on the fork dialed down for commuting duty!
Yes, I realize that a full suspension mountain bike with 5" of travel front and back is not the ideal commuting machine. The only problem is, I don't own a bike with less travel than this! Hopefully soon, a nice hardtail 29er will arrive on my doorstep just ready to serve in the dual roles of singletrack slayer and efficient commuter.

Day 3

"What happened to day 3?" you might ask. Rest assured: I did indeed ride my bike! In fact, it was a tough, fast ride. My friend Matt and I went out and tore up Black Branch and Vietnam, along with 6 miles of forest road for a total distance of 12 miles.

As the brakes are kind of jacked up on Matt's rig, I was kind enough to let him borrow my Taka.

O.K., scratch that--"kind" might be the wrong word. In reality, I just enjoyed watching him suffer up the hills trying to crank away on that big DH rig. He did enjoy it on the way down, though....

Thanks for being a trooper man!

Your Turn:
Please comment below and share your thoughts on the highway robbery taking place at gas stations across the nation.

6 comments:

justin April 5, 2011 at 8:05 PM  

get the cross bike for commuting

Greg Heil April 5, 2011 at 8:11 PM  

I would love to... unfortunately, they won't give me one of every bike in their line up! :-D Maybe someday....

J.B.,  April 6, 2011 at 12:46 PM  

I live 12 miles from work but to commute I would have to be on a very busy 4 lane road. If I went a safer way it adds six miles to my total time. One day I will get it done, but I wont be caught dead on my bicycle on Washington Road. No way.

Greg Heil April 7, 2011 at 7:21 PM  

I hope some day you're in a better situation man! Gas prices right now are no fun.

AJ Heil April 9, 2011 at 11:07 AM  

Way to go man! Glad to see you're in the commuting mood now that the weather is livening up!

If you have the spare time, riding to and from work/school is definitely the way to go - Regardless of your rig :]

AJ

Greg Heil April 9, 2011 at 8:40 PM  

See, the beauty of it is that it doesn't really take much more time to ride than it does to drive... at least for me. It's much easier to navigate traffic on a bike, and finding a parking spot is a cinch. In fact, on my way home I'm actually much faster because I can avoid all of the traffic and it's almost all downhill!

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Greg Heil is the Editor in Chief for Singletracks.com. He's been writing and publishing online since before blogging existed.

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Mountain biking, plain and simple. Trail reviews, ride reports, and philosophical musings induced by delirium from grinding up way too many vertical feet.

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