16 June 2014

Tales from the Commute

Normally, my commute is nothing noteworthy. Today may or may not be an exception to that.

First, some back-story…

My commute isn’t that bad. I live 30 miles from my office. A distance that is not unmanageable on the bike, but one that is if I don’t want leave the house 2+ hours before work, and get home the same amount of time after.  Because I love my family, and want to spend time with them, I’ve made some concessions, namely riding to the train station, taking that downtown, then riding from the train to work.  My ride to the train is approximately 4 miles, and the ride from the closest train station to my work is a paltry 2 ½ blocks (about ¾ mile).

Recently, I’ve been unsatisfied with my commute, and have wanted to mix things up. Looking for more time to ride, I’ve been getting off the train further and further down the line in order to extend my riding time from the train to work. Currently, I get off the train at 2100 s (I know this won’t mean squat to those of you who don’t live in SLC, so to try and explain, I work on 200 s – about 3 miles additional distance as the bike rolls).

Okay, on to today’s commute.

At some point after I boarded the train, I noticed a co-worker who works on the same floor as I do board the train.  We rode along till the 2100 s stop, where I exited the train and started riding towards work.  The ride was uneventful and unremarkable as always, except for the fact that I was enjoying my commute instead of struggling to stay awake on the train. I arrived at my office, locked up the bike, entered the building through the parking garage entrance, and pushed the button for the elevator. When the elevator doors opened, I was standing face to face with the same co-worker who was on the train with me.

Even though I departed the train 4 stops sooner than he did, I still arrived at the office at approximately the same time (I probably arrived before him since my time to the elevator included locking up my bike).

I’m also fairly certain that I enjoyed my commute a lot more than he did his.

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