Work Commute

Last night I decided I would ride the bike home from work tonight. Seemed like a good idea, so I loaded bike in the truck this morning, got all my riding crap together and headed off to work. Trouble is, it got cold and windy today. Cold enough I thought riding home in shorts would be too much. So on my way back from Verona I stopped off at REI for some pants and a warmer top. Enter ubber dork.

I left with a pair of lined black tights and a fleece type top long enough to hopefully cover my ass. How much of a dork did I feel like. I got dressed in the parking lot at work, rode out a side entrance of the AEC parking lot, and hoped like hell I made it home before the wife and kids. To top it off, I kept my head down while in the vicinity of my old office hoping nobody would see me. But warm and comfortable I was.

Either the padding in the ass of these tights aren't as good as my shorts, or the longer ride took it's toll, but my ass is sore. Ride ended up being 19 miles, and I was wiped out at the end, pretty much crawled up even the smallest hills. Luckily, I never really went directly into the wind, and had it somewhat behind me most of the way. All that said, my average speed was (drum roll please) almost 13 mph. Definitely wind aided. Probably would have been an average speed of 6 or 7 mph if I had to do it the other way with that wind. Likely a shorter ride again tomorrow afternoon.