How Was Your Commute Today?

[Fredwina]

wound up on the late train (as usual), still nit bad

[Melalvai]

Finished up a bunch of stuff and didn't want to do the other stuff, and I had a couple hours to kill so I went for a bike ride. The trail was a mess, and is now caked on my bike. It was beautiful. I kept peeling off layers until I was down to my bike shorts and the jersey I usually wear as an undershirt.

I meant to end up on Columbia College campus by 3:30 because that was when I was supposed to take the final exam for my online C++ class. The final is proctored, everything else is online. I miscalculated and barely made it. By the time I locked up & re-dressed I was a few minutes late, but that was ok.

I tried to upload pictures but I'm running into problems. Here's one of ducks that's on my blog (it comes out huge if I try to link it directly to here): http://www.kemenel.org/melalvai/?p=537

[Fredwina]

I think I need to break my circadian rythms from waking up so early the past years. Either that or find a longer route in. But I do like the earlier train better. Plus it gives some time in case of breakdown (i'm usualy on the next to last train in the morning

[kfergos]

Oddly, no commute today. I'm trying to work from home, with mediocre success (my work computer went to sleep, foiling my efforts to access it, and now I have to wait for my coworkers to arrive so somebody can wake it up for me). How do you not get all distracted when you're at home and trying to work? There's so much else I have to do here, like go for a nice bike ride in the sunny, non-March-like weather.

[Fredwina]

Think about the deadlines/things that need to get done so you can do the things you want to. Most of the time, I haven't had to deal teh urge to ride , urge to go back to bed, yes, but urge to ride, no

[Melalvai]

How do you not get all distracted when you're at home and trying to work? There's so much else I have to do here, like go for a nice bike ride in the sunny, non-March-like weather.

I've been working at home for several months, just going to the lab when the rats or students need me once or twice a week for a couple hours. Sometimes I have to:
shut down facebook
shut down my email
shut down my instant messenger
shut down the web browser...unless I have to open it to look for something. But nothing else is open in it.

Music is nice sometimes, but sometimes I get distracted looking for songs I like.

Sometimes I do the housework first so I can focus on my work. Sometimes I find the housework all too easy to ignore. Sometimes I use the housework as a break after an hour or two of concentration.

As far as a tempting bike ride, I generally find somewhere to go during the day even if I have to dig for an excuse, because otherwise I get to the end of the day and feel awful, having sat in front of the computer for so many hours. By "go somewhere" I mean by bike, because I don't have a car at home. The places I go are: campus to check on the students or the rats, my daughter's school to pick her up on Wednesdays when Daddy has class (we meet at the car), the grocery store to get more bananas, my husband's campus to eat lunch with him, or other errands like the library, hardware store, natural foods store, etc. I generally ride 10-20 miles total, depending on how many errands I have to run that day.

[malkin]

Today is "Professional Development Day" which means there's no hurry to get to school and no particular reason to stay all day. I rode in after a leisurely morning.

Commute #2 for the year. Not Earth-Shattering, but better than none!
Still kinda shakey and have a big dent in my thigh.

[Biciclista]

woke up a little late, didn't want to ride because the weather forecast is wetness...
Rode anyway because it wasn't raining yet. it was a damp 38 degrees, it's been raining on and off all day but it looks like it will be at least not precipitating on my ride home !

[pfunk12]

It was a wonderful commute today. I'm back on the trail after being forced on the roads for weeks because of the snow. It's still dark when I start out but it's getting lighter so much earlier. Noticeable difference every day. About 60 degrees on the ride home. Nice but because of a headwind the entire way home, it was a little chilly but I won't complain.

[HillSlugger]

Today is "Professional Development Day" which means there's no hurry to get to school and no particular reason to stay all day. I rode in after a leisurely morning.

Commute #2 for the year. Not Earth-Shattering, but better than none!
Still kinda shakey and have a big dent in my thigh.

[7rider]

I'm back!
Rode in this a.m. - finally. First time since mid-January.
The big snowpiles are still there, shaded by the hemlocks, at the start of my ride. But I was able to ride around them (in the afternoon,when that grassy stretch is warm, it'll be a mud-fest, tho'. ) for the most part. Did walk around a few sketchy sections. Saw other bike tire tracks in the sand...so others are riding, too (and I know I'm not the only one who relies on that stupid sidewalk to get out of the neighborhood).
In town, by some tennis courts, a big stand of bamboo had come down on top of the trail. I imagine it's the adjacent homeowners responsibility to clean it up?? It's their bamboo. I'm sure the county will take that stand, but given how overgrown and crazy this particular stand has always been, I don't foresee it getting cleared up for a while. Fortunately, now that I know, there are several work-arounds for me from which to choose.

[pfunk12]

I'm back!
Rode in this a.m. - finally. First time since mid-January.
The big snowpiles are still there, shaded by the hemlocks, at the start of my ride. But I was able to ride around them (in the afternoon,when that grassy stretch is warm, it'll be a mud-fest, tho'. ) for the most part. Did walk around a few sketchy sections. Saw other bike tire tracks in the sand...so others are riding, too (and I know I'm not the only one who relies on that stupid sidewalk to get out of the neighborhood).
In town, by some tennis courts, a big stand of bamboo had come down on top of the trail. I imagine it's the adjacent homeowners responsibility to clean it up?? It's their bamboo. I'm sure the county will take that stand, but given how overgrown and crazy this particular stand has always been, I don't foresee it getting cleared up for a while. Fortunately, now that I know, there are several work-arounds for me from which to choose.

Awesome! Glad to hear that you are back out there!! Now...how was your run yesterday?

[7rider]

Awesome! Glad to hear that you are back out there!! Now...how was your run yesterday?

More like a trot. Still able to walk upright afterward, and I didn't kill myself.

[pfunk12]

More like a trot. Still able to walk upright afterward, and I didn't kill myself.

That's all good news!

[DebW]

Instead of my usual 2 mile commute, today I had to go to Harvard for a meeting, which is 13 miles down the Minuteman Bikeway. Got to Alewife station and expected to ride down Mass Ave to Harvard, but saw a sign pointing to a bike route to Harvard and followed that. The route went along a path along Fresh Pond Parkway and then turned onto Vassal St and Brattle to Harvard Sq. Took me about an hour and 15 minutes.