I really, really do!!! Riding my bike has been wonderful and I have kept a clean 100% record for the Bike to Work Month challenge since I received it last Thursday. My trip is an easy 3 miles each way so I don’t really have an excuse not to ride. Plus it hasn’t been rainy so I really don’t have an excuse. Riding to work I think helps my overall energy level, work productivity, and mood. Here is a brief glimpse into my new daily commute:
My ride starts off an adventure!!! I have been enjoying riding through the curvy trails of Bhy Kracke Park feeling a mini mountain biking trip before hightailing it down the 5th Ave hill. Going down 5th is actually the scariest part of my ride because it is so steep and I brake the whole way. Amen for stellar disc brakes on my new bike!!!Then it is a flat boring ride during the stretch from Lower Queen Anne to Belltown. Yeah, yeah I pass the Space Needle and the Seattle Center but that’s it. I actually sometimes go through the Seattle Center which is a whole lot more fun!Next I I might dip over to 3rd Ave, only briefly and only if I really want to pick up McDonald’s new egg white sandwich for $1 on my ride in, which I have done twice this week. I bring my bike into McD’s with me because 3rd and Pine is just sketchy any time of the day.The end of my ride is the easiest yet. I constant downhill coast along the one-way and large 2nd Ave with a great bike lane and leading right into Union Station. I store my bike now in the Union Station parking garage which has a bike room for ST employees.
Ride Home:
A great refreshing ride home after work has most of the trip riding on the Elliot Bay Trail that follows the waterfront, strolls through the Olympic Sculpture Park, and taking in the sights of the Sound and the Olympic Mountains in the distance.Up over the overpass, bypassing Key Arena and the Seattle Center, and then giving up and catching a bus up Queen Anne from Mercer St. because I just can’t push myself to climb the hill.
And Friday, being the official Bike to Work Day, was full of fun events for the Seattle biker. It started off in the morning with commute stations set up by different corporate sponsors giving out free bike swag and snacks on many blocks in Seattle. Starbucks gave me a free tall beverage (I went with my old standby of the skinny cinnamon dolce) for coming in with my helmet on. And after work the Velo bike shop in Belltown provided Tom Douglass appetizers and drinks at their hosted bike party from 4:30-6:30pm!!! And then I got another free drink from Starbucks while talking to my mom…this time an iced skinny mocha. Cinnamon Dolce > Mocha…but free is always amazing!
Kimchi ramen noodle salad promoting Tom Douglass’ new Tanakasan restaurant about to open.Skinny iced mocha on a spring day talking to my mom
And though my commute might not be as cool as some of these people it is still fun to read about them:
I love to be active, be outside and be in the sun. I am shy but friendly, lazy but active, motivated but content, and I would smile my entire life if I could. I have lived in Michigan all my life until I took a chance to move to the Pacific Northwest in 2011 after graduating from the University of Michigan. It has been a great adventure. I am very excited to see where this chapter in my life takes me!
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