Starting a new job on Monday so I took a test ride of a possible new commute. It's 45 miles one way, but there's a park & ride / MUP trail-head about half way that I was thinking of driving to then hopping on the bike path the rest of the way. It was a nice ride, a couple bumpy sections where the path is randomly torn up but nothing that delayed me too much. The last 5miles however is on a main road, traffic on a Saturday was crazy I'd hate to see how it is on the weekdays. Stopped at a red light when some homeless person walked up with a sob story of how him, his wife and his puppy have been sleeping in his car and they just ran out of gas. When I said I didn't have any cash, he said "That's a nice bike, surely you can help me out." I said again that I didn't have any money as I stood there waiting to see if the situation was going to escalate any further but fortunately it didn't. I now understand WHY many cyclists run red lights.

I won't let that one uncomfortable situation stop me from commuting at least until the snow falls. Since the path won't be plowed and the one road that runs parallel is prohibited to bikes/pedestrians, I'd have no choice but to drive OR buy a winter bike with wide studded tires. There's a couple alternative streets I could take but that would add another 10 miles to the already 25mi commute.