My Commute

I have started doing a partial commute to work via bicycle. It actually costs me more money than if I were to drive but when I drive I don't get the benefits of 2 solid hours of exercise per day that commuting lets me have. I can't squeeze in 2 hours of exercise after a normal day of work because even if I started when I get home (about 6:20 PM) I wouldn't finish up until about 8:30 and that's way past my bedtime. Besides that, it doesn't leave much time for eating and drinking.

So my schedule is like this:
Commute days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Tuesday and Thursday I get to sleep in.

Bike days I get up at 3:30 AM, leave the house at 4:30 AM, leave parking garage at 5:00 AM and arrive at work around 6:00 AM. This gives me time to cool off and change clothes before I start working at 7:00 AM (which is really 6:30 AM but I haven't been marking my time like that. I need to start doing that but that's another topic altogether.) I get home at about 7:30 PM on bike days.

Rest days I sleep in until 5:00 AM and then leave the house at 6:00 AM to arrive at work about 6:40 AM. I arrive home at around 6:15 PM and really need to be heading to bed before 8 PM to get rested up for the next day.

Thus far I haven't lost any weight but my commute time on the bike is decreasing. My longest ride was 1 hour and 12 minutes and this morning I did the commute in 58 minutes with an average speed of over 15 miles per hour. Shaving off 14 minutes is quite an accomplishment for me, although that does only average out to just about one mile per hour difference. I'm hoping to get my average up to about 17-20 miles per hour. I think that would be much more realistic if I didn't weight 240 pounds and be carrying 30 pounds of bike and 20 pounds of clothes, tools, and general luggage but alas it is not to be.


Here is a google map representation of my commute, in case you're in town at 5-6 AM and want to say hello. :P

Leg 1, from the parking garage
(Satellite)
Leg 2, downtown
(Satellite)
Past the civic center and on to Georgia bike route 85
(Satellite)
On to route 80 and Dean Forest Road
(Satellite)
Dean forest road runs into route 21 then down Bonnybridge road to work
(Satellite)