Halfway There

Today marks six months of bike commuting. In honor of that, I had a commute the exact opposite of yesterday's.

I rode most of the way to work in a rain/snow mix. This afternoon, it was 30 degrees cooler when I left work, than it was yesterday. I had a headwind in both directions, and was almost hit by a car whose driver decided to whip around the traffic waiting for a red light as I crossed Leetsdale.

Still, I had a good time riding. The rain/snow earned me a few of those "I can't believe you rode in, today" comments at work. I refrained from answering with, "I can't believe you didn't."

And, at the intersection where the kid backed over me last week, a couple of Denver cops let me out into traffic to cross the bridge. Once across, I cut through the little park I use as a shortcut, and took my route through the neighborhood. Once I reached Florida Avenue, I had to wait until those same two cops drove by before I could cross. The cops looked at me like they just couldn't believe I had gotten there before them.

The only bad thing was that the singing, swinging girl wasn't in the park, today. Usually, as I ride by, there is a 14 or 15-year-old girl on the swings. She swings so high that the chains on the swing go slack at the top of both the front and back swings. All the while, she is listening to her iPod on headphones, and singing at the top of her lungs to Beyonce (or music of that ilk).

I look forward to seeing her, every day, and I miss her when she isn't there.

Anyway, I start my seventh month of commuting, tomorrow, with over 1800 miles under my belt. What seemed like a big challenge, when I started, has morphed into a comfortable routine. Having invested a little bit in cold-weather/rain gear, in addition to the cold-weather gear I already had, I am able to stay fairly comfortable on the cold days. Hopefully, we won't have as much snow as we did last year.

Fingers crossed.

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