Commuting Rehearsal


I don't know why I should be surprised, considering last Friday's events...

I drove to work today, and administered a make-up exam. After I'd finished grading it, and posted final grades for the class, I decided to ride my bicycle to the train station and then back to the college to see whether my plans for train/bicycle commuting meshed with reality.
Good news:
  • I've learned to properly brace my knees for cycling. I have no knee pain this evening.
  • The downhill trip from college to the train takes about 30 minutes. This is excellent! I had to allow an hour and twenty minutes for the journey by bus, what with schedule mismatches and bus changes.

Bad news:
  • The uphill journey from the train to the college took me 52 minutes. Yes, that's right, taking the bus, even with 12 minutes scheduled wait and stopping to pick up a handicapped bus rider, is faster than me on a bicycle.
  • I was so badly winded by the uphill journey that I had to "get out and push" three times; i.e., I walked the bike along the sidewalk until I stopped gasping for air like a beached fish.
  • I lost my bicycle lock and had to get another one.

Well, if I improve my overall fitness, that 52 minutes may well improve. After all, including my own weight and the bike's weight, and the weight of books, etc., I'm trying to push 225-230 pounds uphill. If I stick to my new eating plan and continue to exercise, 70 pounds of that could gradually disappear.

New plan: I will take the train and bike to my college 3 more times this week. The week after I'm rather stuck, since I will be going to SIGGRAPH, but there are two more weeks in August after that to continue rehearsals. Maybe I'll improve enough that I can bike from the train to college; if not, then the buses still run and I can schlepp my little bike via bus to college, and then roll downhill at the end of the day... :-)

Posted: Mon - August 2, 2004 at 09:30 PM   | | | | |

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