Sunrise
This morning I took the first step on one of my 2007 resolutions. I rode to work. Steve had been telling me about his ride to work, and my new job is on the way to his, so we decided to ride together. Unfortunately, Steve has to be at work at 8:00 AM, so it was going to be an early day.
On Friday I brought a towel and toiletries to keep at work so I can shower there. Sunday night I set up my bike - blinky red light on the back, white light on the front, headlamp on the helmet. Packed my backpack with clothes for the day and attached my reflective vest. Then I tried to get to sleep.
At 5:55 AM I clipped in and headed over to Steve's place. It's about 5 miles to Steve's, and it was DARK and surprisingly cold. Most of the route is pretty well lighted with streetlights, except going through Atherton where, apparently, streetlights are frowned upon. I think I saw 2 cars in the 20 minutes it took to get there.
My light seemed to be working ok. I was able to see the road fairly well. That is until I saw the light Steve had. He was behind me and the light was lighting up the road in front of me. So the first thing I learned is that I need a better light.
We turned onto El Camino and crossed over to Alma. At this point the sky was starting to light up. Traffic was light and Steve and I chatted as we rode. My computer wasn't working so I don't know the speed, but I'm guessing we were doing 15-16. Also, as the morning went on, I noticed that we were picking up speed as it got lighter. By Mountain View it suddenly got very light.
At about 7:05 I pulled off of Central expressway into the parking lot and took a leisurely cool-down around the parking lot. I put my bike in a bike locker, and walked into the deserted building. I climbed 3 flights of stairs - clip, clop, clip, clop - in bike shoes. I got to my desk at 7:15 AM. I think I was the first person in the building! I looked out the window to see the red and orange sunrise over Mount Hamilton.
I got in a quick shower and breakfast and got in at least an hour of work before I saw another person. It's great to be done with the day's workout by 7:45 AM!
UPDATE:
Obviously I need to get home too. But riding home would take a bit too long. So I planned to ride to the Lawrence CalTrain station (about 10 minutes), then take the train to Menlo Park and ride home (another 20ish minutes). This is all a great plan. Of course, it started raining around 4:00. So I suited up and headed out into the rain. When I got home I was soaked but happy with my accomplishment. Total distance for the day was about 27 miles (19 to work, 2 to the station, 5 home).
On Friday I brought a towel and toiletries to keep at work so I can shower there. Sunday night I set up my bike - blinky red light on the back, white light on the front, headlamp on the helmet. Packed my backpack with clothes for the day and attached my reflective vest. Then I tried to get to sleep.
At 5:55 AM I clipped in and headed over to Steve's place. It's about 5 miles to Steve's, and it was DARK and surprisingly cold. Most of the route is pretty well lighted with streetlights, except going through Atherton where, apparently, streetlights are frowned upon. I think I saw 2 cars in the 20 minutes it took to get there.
My light seemed to be working ok. I was able to see the road fairly well. That is until I saw the light Steve had. He was behind me and the light was lighting up the road in front of me. So the first thing I learned is that I need a better light.
We turned onto El Camino and crossed over to Alma. At this point the sky was starting to light up. Traffic was light and Steve and I chatted as we rode. My computer wasn't working so I don't know the speed, but I'm guessing we were doing 15-16. Also, as the morning went on, I noticed that we were picking up speed as it got lighter. By Mountain View it suddenly got very light.
At about 7:05 I pulled off of Central expressway into the parking lot and took a leisurely cool-down around the parking lot. I put my bike in a bike locker, and walked into the deserted building. I climbed 3 flights of stairs - clip, clop, clip, clop - in bike shoes. I got to my desk at 7:15 AM. I think I was the first person in the building! I looked out the window to see the red and orange sunrise over Mount Hamilton.
I got in a quick shower and breakfast and got in at least an hour of work before I saw another person. It's great to be done with the day's workout by 7:45 AM!
UPDATE:
Obviously I need to get home too. But riding home would take a bit too long. So I planned to ride to the Lawrence CalTrain station (about 10 minutes), then take the train to Menlo Park and ride home (another 20ish minutes). This is all a great plan. Of course, it started raining around 4:00. So I suited up and headed out into the rain. When I got home I was soaked but happy with my accomplishment. Total distance for the day was about 27 miles (19 to work, 2 to the station, 5 home).
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