{"id":302,"date":"2010-07-24T00:02:17","date_gmt":"2010-07-24T06:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/?p=302"},"modified":"2010-07-24T00:15:58","modified_gmt":"2010-07-24T06:15:58","slug":"clear-the-air-challenge-day-23-i-finally-rode-the-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/clear-the-air-challenge-day-23-i-finally-rode-the-bike\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear the Air Challenge – Day 23 – I Finally Rode the Bike!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bike\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So I finally did it. I have been talking about riding my bike to work all month but have not got my lazy butt to do it. I decided today was the day. I asked my boss if it would be okay if I was a little late to work because I was going to give biking a shot, he said no problem. He has been supportive the whole time as I have been figuring out how to commute doing the challenge.<\/p>\n

Before I rode my bike I did do a little research. I wanted to know which roads were bike friendly. I didn’t want to hop on my bike and worry about being hit by a car. The Salt Lake County Bicycle Advisory Committee has published a brochure that has a map of the city and preferred roads for cyclists. You can pick up a free copy at local bike shops or libraries but you can also download it from their site here.<\/a> Check it out there are some great tips and information in there.<\/p>\n

Another reason I have been dragging my feet to ride my bike to work, is because I wanted to find a bike that I could use just as a commuting bike. I was lucky enough to find one at the Deseret Industries (a\u00a0 local thrift store) for a reasonable price. The bike pictured above is the bike I found. I had to put new tires on it and clean it up a little but other than that is works pretty well. I am going to have to get it a tune up, but at the price I paid I am sure I can afford that.<\/p>\n

So this morning I woke up and loaded up a change of clothes and a drink and off I went. I have to fess up. I didn’t ride my bike the whole 16 miles to work. I biked 8 miles to Trax then rode Trax for 7 then finished on the bike. but it worked out great. I was able to cut 15 minutes off my commute. Biking to the train station only took me 5 minutes longer than when I ride the bus. I am sure as I continue to ride, I will be able to shave off another 5 to 10 minutes of that time as well. Also the last mile to work that I usually walk is a lot faster on the bike.<\/p>\n

Going into today I was apprehensive about riding because I didn’t want it to take longer and be all sweaty for work. But after doing it once, I am excited. In the long run this will save me time and money. I wasn’t able to try the commute home because my wife picked me up but I am sure that this will speed up my commute home by 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

My wife and I have been riding to the store, library, or anywhere else that is reasonably close for a couple years now. We love it and it is a great way to reduce our footprint. Our kids love it as well. We load them up in the trailer and off we go. I will now start riding to work a little more often. If you have ever wanted to give biking a shot, my advice, just do it. Start small, bike to the store or to a friends house. After you master that keep adding mile and eventually you will be there.<\/p>\n

If you have suggestion or tips, please comment. I would love to hear about other’s experiences on the bike. Until next time, keep riding!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I finally did it. I have been talking about riding my bike to work all month but<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[99,94,92,118,100,101,90],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-bicycle","tag-bike","tag-commute","tag-commuting","tag-deseret-industries","tag-thrift-store","tag-trax"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}