Bike Challenge

I am going to ignore the fact that it has been forever and a day since either pm or I made an update to our blog. It's not for a lack of desire, it's completely for lack of time. Our new home has been a swinging door for visitors, which at times make an escape to write rather (if not completely) difficult. Anyway, we live in the now - so let's begin.

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For months now I have been fantasizing about biking to work rather than try to determine the quickest and most cost-effective public transportation options. This is not to say that I am not still exploring that, but I finally (yes, finally!) bought a bike. I also have been wanting to bike because after being away for 9-11 hours at work and commuting to work there is just no time (or energy) for exercising. Biking will let me kill two birds with one stone -- fast & healthy.

Good bye sweet bike from my 8th grade graduation that along with taking a beating from me, repeated it all over again with my two younger sisters. Hello, hybrid Trek. :)

I have graduated into the "adult bike" world. In my mind this means two things:

1. It is not a Huffy.
2. It does not have a kick stand.

I am embarking on a journey that for now (and for lack of creativity) will be called my Summer/Fall Bike Challenge. It began today. I plan each day to try to document my journey, share my commuting stories, my challenges and my opinions/preferences for gear.

Without further ado, here are my daily stats:

• 17 miles (there and back)
• Average biking time: 47 minutes
• Number of bugs eaten while riding: 1
• Number of cat calls (from either walkers or cars): 3
• Number of four letter words uttered: 2
• ROI: $ 4.50

I am going to start building a must-have checklist for a commuting biker, but I need to get some more miles under my belt before I truly evaluate needs vs. wants.