Day 5 Commute, Final Predetermined Day

Today was the last day of my experiment. Here are some highlights:

Best Moment: Today I knew it was the final ride so I decided to let it fly a few times. Best part of the whole week was when I was about 1/4 mile from a four way stop sign. There was a car behind me, about 5 or 6 car lengths. It was slightly down hill and the speed limit was 30. So I gunned it and opened up the distance between me and the car. I was through the intersection before the car arrived. That was sweet.

Worst Moment: The worst moment was nothing really...it was when I was sprayed in the face with gravel on the narrow bridge by a dump truck.

Biggest Surprise: Everything about getting to and from is amplified. Every mistake you make or any disorganization you may have is a big deal.

What I saved: If I drove my truck this week, the same distances, I would have saved about $22. That's not a great total, but over the course of a year it's over a thousand bucks. Plus, the maintenance on a bike is significantly cheaper than a big truck.

If I'd driven my motorcycle I would've only saved $6.00

The nuts and bolts of the financial endeavor are this: If it's just about money, you'll be driving. Buying a decent bike and all of the appropriate equipment that go along with it is way more than a year's worth of gasoline. Add to that how expensive proper lighting for a bicycle is, it would probably take 2 years of NO driving to work (for me) to break even.

Exercise: I have gotten some good exercise riding, but for the most part, because of lack of days off or ability to alternate types of workout, I feel that commuting as the only form of cardio would create an enormous plateau. So, people probably aren't riding to work just for the cardio. That said, I'm BEAT BEAT BEAT. That is part from the commute and part from teaching. Like being in a band, you have to get a certain level of conditioning to perform well.

Look at this. I rode more miles last week at much higher intensity and never felt a thing related to fatigue. So, this commuting stuff is way different than training. This week I rode 84 miles. Last week I rode 60 in two days.

Weight Loss: I didn't stop at a restaurant and eat. When I got home I was tired enough that I wasn't interested in going out to eat. My diet was solid, more solid than normal this week, though I did increase my consumption. Yet, my daily baseline caloric need was much greater. So, I am sure I will end up having burned a decent amount of fat.

What I came away with: I really admire people who quietly have the conviction to act on their beliefs. I'm sure that as one continues to commute the learning curve slows and it becomes automatic. But, still, they're forgoing a huge convenience to do so.

Basically, those that commute are saying that the real price of the convenience of driving isn't worth it. Whether or not you agree or believe is irrelevant. I have a new found respect for those that ride bicycles to work daily and use them as their main source of transportation. I'll put up with their stink with a different mind set from now on!

Final thoughts: I enjoyed riding to school but with the heat, it's quite taxing. I still will ride two or three times a week during summer school. During the regular school year I will only have opportunity to ride to work a few times a year because of the schedule I must keep (leaving before dawn and often returning after dark).

And all that said, I could definitely maintain a running schedule and commute on a bike...but I couldn't do any weight lifting with the other two.

So, thank you for all of the comments. It actually made the temptation to NOT ride Thursday morning easier to resist.

Keep smiling and run (or ride) safely!

Day 4 Bicycling Commute and Operation Dirty Whore Updates

Day 3 left me with a sunburn. But, 'dems da breaks' of Operation Dirty Whore (aka Get Slutty). For those of you who aren't aware of said operations, they're nothing promiscuous, just a little tongue-in-cheek humor related to exercising to increase one's self-confidence and ability to wear differing types of clothing.

With that said...one protocol of Operation Dirty Whore states: If the sun's out, get the guns out. Besides the 17 miles on the bike in the Arizona July sun, when I got home I had to get on the roof. I did it all in a tank top. Ew, I know...wife beater shirt. They're still okay when working out, though not otherwise.

The result was that today I wore a long sleeve shirt while riding. It's one of my favorite shirts though...an Adidas running shirt. It's solid black, save a bright green back. Wicked cool. I'm a clothes whore (slut) too.

I think I finally have pace figured out for commuting. This isn't race training, it's not about speed. Instead of focusing on maintaining a minimum speed like I usually do, I focused on cadence (rpm of the pedals) and perceived effort. I kept the effort low and the cadence between 75 and 90. The result is that my mind was able to wander quite a bit, like it does when running or driving sometimes. That's cool!!! It's definitely something that normally doesn't happen for me when riding. Usually I'm focused on pushing hard and maintaining a high cadence and speed.

And how much time was lost? About 2 minutes extra to get to work. Not bad at all.

A couple of things to note about commuting on a bike instead of driving.

• You sacrifice a lot more time.
• You can't pick up a bag of ice on the way home.
• When arriving someplace where you must be presentable, like work, you have to take a whore's bath. That's a term from my mother, who is a very proper woman. I've only once heard her swear and that was "damn" and it was a quote from Winston Churchill.
  
  A whore's bath is when you have to wash your stinky parts with a wash cloth, or in my case, a wet paper towel. Then, you wet your hair in the sink. I have no access to a shower at work right now.
• You have to be more organized than when driving. You have to pack more things and unpack them quickly (clothes and food and such).
• Coworkers check out your legs and give you strange looks.
  

In case you don't know, I'm a high school math teacher. Right now my school is hosting a summer math academy for incoming freshmen that struggle with math. It's a very personal and low key environment where students are allowed to develop those weak skills. Today, we (my class), figured out how many calories I had burned losing 90 pounds. Then we figured out how many hours I would have to ride to burn those calories (though that's not exactly how it works). Then, we figured out how far I would've ridden at an average speed of 15 mph. Then I showed them some pictures of me from a year ago. It was a lot of fun.

Regarding Operation Dirty Whore. I got on the scale at the gym today and had an all time low...3 pounds less than a week ago and 6 pounds less than two weeks ago. The scale at the gym is higher than mine at home, but it read 213. That means my scale at home will probably read 207 or so.

Now, regarding the ride. I used imapmyride to track the routes so I could share them with people. Click on the 3d flyover feature, it's pretty cool.

Here's the ride from home to school. This is the easy ride. It starts at 3700 feet above sea level and ends at 3400. It's 5.9 miles, though the software shows something else.

Here is the ride from school to the gym. This is quite a bit tougher. Though the starting and finishing elevations are the same, the first 3 miles are up hill. That of course means the next three are down hill!


Here's the last leg, from the gym to home. The elevation goes from 3400 to 3700 again, most of it in the last two miles of the almost 5 mile ride. So, while there are some undulating hills and some mild elevation changes, none of it is hilly. It's a great route.

Day 1 Commuting Review

This week I am going to commute from home to work (vacation is over), to the gym, then home. The total trip is only 17 miles. The difficult part will be packing clothes and food and of course weather.

The morning's trip was uneventful. 6 mile shot, almost all down hill. I was at work, in my classroom, in well under 20 minutes.

I changed clothes and was glad to not have forgotten any garments. It was early, before the heat, and about as easy as a ride as I could hope for so I wasn't stinky...until I got to school. The air conditioner in my new room is DEAD. They couldn't fix it today either. I was stinky by the time class was over!

But, the stuff I was in charge of went well. Snacks, no problems. Fluids went well, no problems.

Right now I'm teaching a type of summer school that is from 8 to 12, Monday through Friday. I eat a banana and something light at noon, go to the gym and workout, then eat again when I get home.

When I got to work, I went to prop the outside door open with a large rock. Out from behind the rock jumped one of these:

When it's time to leave work it's lightly raining, but no lightning or thunder, so I'm good to go. A bit windy and wet for the 7 miles or so to the gym, but nothing bad. I worked out for 35 or 40 minutes working on core and arms (arms are my fun day), then headed home. Still overcast (thankfully) and humid (a nice treat sometimes) and done.

All in all, I'm all grins. I'm not sure this is something I'd like to do permanently here because there aren't any bike lanes and very few shoulders. But I'm going to give it the old college try for the week. That'll be about 85 miles of commuting, plus whatever riding for exercise I throw in later.

The thing that surprised me is how tired my legs are. I guess because each section is broken down into about 6 mile segments I feel like I don't have to pace myself. So, I'm zipping along on the flat stuff 20 to 22 mph and hammering out the small hills, up and down. Not sure that's going to be sustainable.

As far as running goes, I'm still on the shelf. :( I've got a 5K run on Saturday. I will go and at least walk. If I can run it was be a very light jog. The hamstring is just not right! Luckily it's something that isn't bothered by riding!

Until next time boys and girls, happy running!