Happy Bike Month! Get your Hallmark cards early, they sell out quick. May is that magical time of the year when bike commuting percentage rises from .00001% to .001% It then drops off promptly on June 1st. Sort of like that dried out Christmas tree still laying in the backyard.
Enough wise-ass comments. Here in the bike crazy Seattle area, it is cool to see the increase of folks pounding the pedals. Part of the increase is due to the Group Health Commute Challenge, organized by the Cascade Bicycle Club. Companies and individuals form teams, mark their progress on the website and go for bragging rights. Trips and mileage tracked. A few thousand folks signed up for the festivities. Awesome.
For the 9th year now, I've put together my own team at work, and helped organize some other teams - along with other bike minded folks earning a paycheck at the same place I do. We have 10 teams total for this year, maybe 80 people signed on. All good clean fun to get people out there.
It also kick starts my alleged fitness level, which after this winter is pretty lame. I totally fell off the commuting wagon in, uh, November or so. I'm usually the hard core bike commuter, the last two winters not so. Call me the soft core commuter now, which also describes the 10 pounds gained. The occasional mountain bike ride and garage trainer session not enough to keep the pounds at bay.
Commuting to the rescue. 100 - 170 miles a week. Painful at first, then the source of all goodness. Let the riding begin.