Thank you Sander

Just the other day I was emailing with my friend Sander in St. Louis and I was lamenting about my bike commute in to work. I was complaining about the traffic and that people drive to close and yadda, yadda, yadda... and Sander made the comment,
'you should take pictures'.... at first I thought there is no way. Mostly because it's hard enough to trek 14 miles one way and with traffic the LAST thing I want to do is pull out a camera along the way.. I just want to get to my destination. --EEEERRRTTT! (insert needle scratching off the record sound here) wait... Did I just say that?! How wrong is that!?!?! I almost can't believe I felt that way. Most of the time I go around living and telling folks that life is not about end points or destinations, that it's really about the journey.. it's about the ride, if you will.

So today I headed out to work and brought my camera with and it was an amazing experience. Biking commuting that distance is hard sometimes. People in their cars and trucks do drive to close most of the time and you are always on the defense. Always. People who are driving aren't expecting bikes and most of the time aren't watching for us. But even with that I realized today how wonderful it is that I can bike to work. How lovely 90% of the ride actually is.. and I am sort of embarrassed that I ever complained at all.

Lots and lots of people ask me about my commute to work and what route I take and how long it takes. Here is a short breakdown. I ride from NE Minneapolis to Bloomington. It's about 14 miles one way. It takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I'll ride most of the year if the roads aren't too snow/ice covered. This year I'd like to ride a lot more in the winter and am thinking about setting up my mountain bike with studded tires. The route I take varies a bit, but not too much. I head out of NE and cross the river at the Stone Arch bridge in downtown. Then I take Portland south to 42nd street and the head west. From there it's tedious and boring to all those who don't live here. So, if you REALLY want to know I'll tell you, but maybe over coffee :)

Anyway, it was an interesting experiment today and I am encouraged at how much fun it was that I was able to ride my bike today and that I have that option. More people should try it and see for themselves. Don't let winter or cold weather deter you.. enough layers and it's all good.

So good! As Homestar says.

Thank you Sander for throwing out the idea. It was a different way to look at what I was taking for granted. I realized how easy it is to complain and that I should do less of that and just enjoy the ride.

Be well all and I hope you enjoy the photos below.