Tried riding my bike to work today. It worked fine.

My main worry was that I would stink and offend my coworkers, but that problem seems alleviated by just riding gently on the way in. No sweat.

I’ve wanted for a while to ride to work. My morning ride often takes me out a trail that ends up about half a mile from my office. Then I turn around, ride home, and drdive a car back to the office. Showers were always the holdup. But there were too many positives not to try it, most significantly the time not lost to sitting in my car. It’s never been a bad commute, just 15 minutes each way, but it always seems like 15 wasted minutes. Time in the car traded for time on the bike seems like a good deal.

I didn’t take my go-fast bike, opting instead to put town tires on my old mountain bike. I didn’t fancy worrying about the nice bike out on the bike rack in the parking lot at work. I also invested in a good lock. By my calculation, I’ll have to ride 30 or 40 times this year to amortize the money I sunk into the tires and lock. (Of course I sprung for the nice armadillo kevlar thorn-proof tires and slime tubes. This is Goathead City.)

I can’t do it every day. Some days I need my car for work. But on days when I don’t riding seems like an option.