i don't take the most direct route because it's a very busy trafficy street full of angry motorists and bus exhaust and people opening car doors into the traffic lane and people jaywalking out between parked cars and a million other things going on to be constantly on guard for, especially at rush hour.

so i go a little bit out of my way and side street it to work. much less cars (by an order of magnitude at least), much less stress, much less exhaust, and only a small time penalty of maybe 2 minutes. plus, the side streets are primarily tree covered, so less sun to overheat me.

totally worth it in my opinion.