Biking to work

I'm out in California full time right now. Earthlink's funding for me to go back and forth from CA to Atl (where my family still lives) ended on February 1. Since the $$ are on my tab now, I ditched the Homestead Studio Suites that had been my sporadic home for eight months, and rented a room in a house near to work.

The other thing that went was the rented car. I don't have any real desire to buy a car - when the family moves out here at the end of the school year, we'll already have two cars.

However, I did have the foresight to ship my bike out here last June. The house I'm staying in is less than three miles from work, a perfect distance to do a two-wheeled commute.

So starting a week ago, I left the life of a car driver behind - at least for a short while - and started the life of a person who only goes as far as he can ride.

I can't claim to have anything like Frank Steele's bike commute- Frank goes 9 miles in Atlanta, which I wouldn't try - but hey, I'm at least a little older than Frank, and I haven't ridden a bike regularly in at least 20+ years - not since college. (It's a pretty poor excuse, but I'll take it.)

My ride is much more modest - three miles each way - and in much better weather. (Pasadena's forecast for tomorrow - low of 41, high of 70, with 20% humidity.) It's close enough that I can ride to work in street clothes, compromising only on wearing tennis shoes and changing when I get in.

Still, I rode to church yesterday, and then I rode off to a movie theater, and then rode home. And today I rode out for lunch.

I confess that it won't be this strict for long. This coming weekend I'm going to fly up to Sacramento to see my parents, and they're going to loan me their Nissan Pathfinder. However, Pasadena doesn't allow overnight parking on the street, and the landlady doesn't want to see any large cars around. (The cars have to line up in the driveway.) So I'll park the Pathfinder at work (we have a fenced in lot with a card key access), and I'll I'll use the car mostly on weekends to take longer trips around LA. And I'll keep riding to work.