Old, Slow And Fat
Apr. 14th, 2011 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdymonkey(That really, REALLY needs to be the name of a bike blog. Maybe I need to set one up. In my copious spare time. Right.)
This morning, I got up a half hour earlier than I normally do because I had to leave a half hour earlier than I normally do when I drive to work.
Taking the bike to work - PROS:
It's good for me. (OK, right now it doesn't FEEL good for me, but we'll go with the conventional wisdom and try not to think about inhaled bus exhaust, or the skills of the average California driver. My conditioning should improve if I continue doing this, as should my confidence about riding off-island.)
It's good for the planet in a drop in a bucket kind of way. Supposedly. See Cons below regarding laundry.
The route from home to the Fruitvale BART doesn't have a lot of traffic at 6:15-6:30 AM. While it's busy at 4:15-4:30 PM, it was fairly manageable.
The route between San Leandro BART and work is flat all the way. It's practically deserted on the morning leg. The afternoon leg requires keeping an eye out for heavy trucking between my office and the north side of the intersection of Alvarado and Marina Boulevard, but once I'm across Marina, it's fine.
Taking the bike to work - CONS:
I have to get up at 5:45 AM. I have to be out the door at 6:15 to arrive at work by 7 AM. It takes longer: 45 minutes instead of 12, each way. If the drawbridge is up or a train is late, it will take even longer.
The light with the motion detector in the alley is not well placed in terms of the railing where I lock up. Locking/unlocking the bike before dawn/after dark has to be done by feel.
Weather will dictate whether I plan to ride on a given day. I know how hard it is to see a cyclist through rain and windshield wipers, never mind the fact it's not fun to ride in a cold rain. I've mentioned the curse of head winds in previous posts about biking out to Alameda Point. My PM ride time could be adversely affected on summer days with heat advisories (yes, we do occasionally get those).
Sweat is an inevitable byproduct of biking and will continue to be so as we come into summer. There are no shower facilities where I work. I'll have to carry an extra top to change into at work, plus some Wet Ones. I have just upped the amount of dirty laundry I generate. So much for my carbon foot print.
The approach to the bridge on Fruitvale Avenue is uphill in both directions. Now, it's not a big hill by any means, but it's a momentum sucker just the same, particularly if I hit a red light at the corner of Fruitvale and Alameda Avenue on the way home.
The elevators at the Fruitvale BART work, the one on the southbound platform in the San Leandro station did not, requiring me to portage a vintage bike with an all steel frame down a long flight of stairs. I could manage, but she's heavy.
Round trip BART fare is $3.50. Gas was $4.09/gal plus 0.50 ATM fee when I filled up on Monday, so round that up to about $4.15. Round trip by truck is 16 miles. Blanche gets about 25 mpg on the highway, so let's pick an average of 23 for this trip. $4.13 / 23 = $0.18/mile. Estimated fuel cost if I drive is about $2.88 - and that's with high gas prices, so it's actually costing me $0.62 more per trip to ride BART. On the other hand, it's less miles on 'Tite Blanche, my '99 Tacoma, currently at 155k on the odometer.
The BART car I was on this morning stank. I don't know why, but it did. There was the weird guy who hooted at me in some language not of any planet I'm from. Then on the way home there was this elderly guy in Oakland A's event staff cap and jacket who started reminiscing about his 18 speed and how awesome it was that I was biking and somehow got onto the blessings of Jesus before getting off at the Coliseum.
I have to channel Samuel L. Jackson, Toshiro Mifune, Kate Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, Sigourney Weaver and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
baronalejandro and TAKE THE LANE several times on the return trip, which has more left turns in it, and more traffic. With a semi behind me at the light on Marina.
Cycle chic? Are you kidding? The dress code at work is fairly casual and I never know if my day is going to involve dumpster diving for packaging materials or crawling under desks to plug or unplug electronics, so I tend towards casual pants, sweaters/long sleeved tees/polo shirts. It makes for practical biking clothing at least, even if it's not glamorous.
This morning, I got up a half hour earlier than I normally do because I had to leave a half hour earlier than I normally do when I drive to work.
Taking the bike to work - PROS:
It's good for me. (OK, right now it doesn't FEEL good for me, but we'll go with the conventional wisdom and try not to think about inhaled bus exhaust, or the skills of the average California driver. My conditioning should improve if I continue doing this, as should my confidence about riding off-island.)
It's good for the planet in a drop in a bucket kind of way. Supposedly. See Cons below regarding laundry.
The route from home to the Fruitvale BART doesn't have a lot of traffic at 6:15-6:30 AM. While it's busy at 4:15-4:30 PM, it was fairly manageable.
The route between San Leandro BART and work is flat all the way. It's practically deserted on the morning leg. The afternoon leg requires keeping an eye out for heavy trucking between my office and the north side of the intersection of Alvarado and Marina Boulevard, but once I'm across Marina, it's fine.
Taking the bike to work - CONS:
I have to get up at 5:45 AM. I have to be out the door at 6:15 to arrive at work by 7 AM. It takes longer: 45 minutes instead of 12, each way. If the drawbridge is up or a train is late, it will take even longer.
The light with the motion detector in the alley is not well placed in terms of the railing where I lock up. Locking/unlocking the bike before dawn/after dark has to be done by feel.
Weather will dictate whether I plan to ride on a given day. I know how hard it is to see a cyclist through rain and windshield wipers, never mind the fact it's not fun to ride in a cold rain. I've mentioned the curse of head winds in previous posts about biking out to Alameda Point. My PM ride time could be adversely affected on summer days with heat advisories (yes, we do occasionally get those).
Sweat is an inevitable byproduct of biking and will continue to be so as we come into summer. There are no shower facilities where I work. I'll have to carry an extra top to change into at work, plus some Wet Ones. I have just upped the amount of dirty laundry I generate. So much for my carbon foot print.
The approach to the bridge on Fruitvale Avenue is uphill in both directions. Now, it's not a big hill by any means, but it's a momentum sucker just the same, particularly if I hit a red light at the corner of Fruitvale and Alameda Avenue on the way home.
The elevators at the Fruitvale BART work, the one on the southbound platform in the San Leandro station did not, requiring me to portage a vintage bike with an all steel frame down a long flight of stairs. I could manage, but she's heavy.
Round trip BART fare is $3.50. Gas was $4.09/gal plus 0.50 ATM fee when I filled up on Monday, so round that up to about $4.15. Round trip by truck is 16 miles. Blanche gets about 25 mpg on the highway, so let's pick an average of 23 for this trip. $4.13 / 23 = $0.18/mile. Estimated fuel cost if I drive is about $2.88 - and that's with high gas prices, so it's actually costing me $0.62 more per trip to ride BART. On the other hand, it's less miles on 'Tite Blanche, my '99 Tacoma, currently at 155k on the odometer.
The BART car I was on this morning stank. I don't know why, but it did. There was the weird guy who hooted at me in some language not of any planet I'm from. Then on the way home there was this elderly guy in Oakland A's event staff cap and jacket who started reminiscing about his 18 speed and how awesome it was that I was biking and somehow got onto the blessings of Jesus before getting off at the Coliseum.
I have to channel Samuel L. Jackson, Toshiro Mifune, Kate Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, Sigourney Weaver and
baronalejandro and TAKE THE LANE several times on the return trip, which has more left turns in it, and more traffic. With a semi behind me at the light on Marina. Cycle chic? Are you kidding? The dress code at work is fairly casual and I never know if my day is going to involve dumpster diving for packaging materials or crawling under desks to plug or unplug electronics, so I tend towards casual pants, sweaters/long sleeved tees/polo shirts. It makes for practical biking clothing at least, even if it's not glamorous.
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Date: 2011-04-15 06:10 am (UTC)