"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways":
- I have a direct one-way 14 mile ride outbound from downtown Boston to a suburb through varied pleasant residential and light commercial streets (pleasant urban; pleasant suburban; ritzy suburban; and gritty, but safe and interesting urban neighborhoods). IMO, 10 miles is a minimum distance for exercise benefit.
- I don’t punch a clock, so I can come to work at my own time, within reason, so I commute very early in the AM, and can start working immediately on arrival.
- For training purposes I can extend my commute through additional nice routes including premier cycling suburbs, such as Dover and Sherborn.
- Major roads on my route are expeditiously plowed in the winter.
- I can take my bike on a Commuter Rail about 1.5 miles from my home, and about 500 yards from my workplace.
- At my workplace I can keep my bike indoors with plenty of space to hang my clothes including use of a floor fan to dry off.
- My workplace has showers, a cafeteria, coffee shop, and a place to sleep if I decide to stay overnight. I can use WiFi , or post the to the Internet for diversion if I do.
- Most of my work day is spent in hospital scrubs, so I don’t have to clean up too much, or keep a lot of clean clothes on site.
- Almost all my personal service needs like barber shop, dentist, dry-cleaner/tailor, supermarket, drugstore, good take-out restaurants and a bike shop are all within walking distance of my workplace, or a short hop on the bike
- I'm a well-known cyclist, and get a lot of respect for that.
The only downside I can think of is that my job is so time-consuming that I can’t ride as much as I like to. I don’t have many pictures of my ride, but this one is cute and exemplifies the quirks and amusement of urban riding. I’m struck by how the yellow line so precisely bisects the columns of the Harvard Medical School.
