Finally a new voice - Monica's story of her jaunt into work.
Actually the train was first. The Burlington Northern line is about three blocks from my house, and I left home just in time to see the engines crawling past as I got to the tracks. Note to self - leave a couple minutes earlier to beat this train on Monday.
Normally the mile-long freight trains go by in a couple of minutes.
Today, it was going so slowly, it took like eight minutes. Really. I looked at a clock. That's a long time when one is just starting on a morning commute, running later than one wanted to be, and not yet warm.
Not a good time to have to stand around. I did take the opportunity to dig the iPod out of my backpack and turn on some tunes, which was nice, but then I waited some more.
The Interurban trail tends to become something of a wind-tunnel, situated as it is between large industrial-ish buildings where there used to be train tracks. And for some reason, the wind is almost always blowing from the North. I'm accustomed to riding into a bit of a headwind in the mornings because of this. But today the wind was trying to blow me back home to my warm bed. I looked down at my computer toward the end of the 4-mile stretch of the trail that I ride, and saw 8.8mph. Oyh, that's slow. I normally average around 12mph. Not a speed-demon, this one, but 8.8mph is really slow. Yuck.
The upside of the headwind? Assuming the wind doesn't change direction, I'll totally fly on the way home tonight. And really, any day I get to ride my bike is still a good day.
-Monica
Bike: Route 66
Actually the train was first. The Burlington Northern line is about three blocks from my house, and I left home just in time to see the engines crawling past as I got to the tracks. Note to self - leave a couple minutes earlier to beat this train on Monday.
Normally the mile-long freight trains go by in a couple of minutes.
Today, it was going so slowly, it took like eight minutes. Really. I looked at a clock. That's a long time when one is just starting on a morning commute, running later than one wanted to be, and not yet warm.
Not a good time to have to stand around. I did take the opportunity to dig the iPod out of my backpack and turn on some tunes, which was nice, but then I waited some more.
The Interurban trail tends to become something of a wind-tunnel, situated as it is between large industrial-ish buildings where there used to be train tracks. And for some reason, the wind is almost always blowing from the North. I'm accustomed to riding into a bit of a headwind in the mornings because of this. But today the wind was trying to blow me back home to my warm bed. I looked down at my computer toward the end of the 4-mile stretch of the trail that I ride, and saw 8.8mph. Oyh, that's slow. I normally average around 12mph. Not a speed-demon, this one, but 8.8mph is really slow. Yuck.
The upside of the headwind? Assuming the wind doesn't change direction, I'll totally fly on the way home tonight. And really, any day I get to ride my bike is still a good day.
-Monica
Bike: Route 66
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