With great sadness, I annouce my last bicycle commute. I'm 41, and I started riding my Schwinn BMX bike to school in the 3rd grade. I've commuted in South Carolina, Norfolk and Portsmouth Virginia, Arlington and Washington D.C., Honolulu, Baghdad (seriously), and Monterey, CA.
After 20 years, I'm leaving the Navy and returning home. Potential job sites are more than 40 miles away, and I have an ultimatum from the lady of the house to be able to pick up kids from school on any random day. Seems reasonable.
So: I'm hanging up the the luggage rack & panniers. I didn't know it at the time, but this was my last commute:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/648922881
I've been mostly creeping on the Commute forum since 2006. Please, ride on and keep on posting more than I did.
Now for the good part! What I get:
1. Weekdays with my family - priceless. For the last 4 years, it has only been weekends.
2. Weekend club rides - when I've been home, I've abstained and focused on the family. Now, Saturday club ride starts 1 mile from my new house!
3. South Carolina country rides, not urban red light gutter junk frustration.
4. Stable size - N=4, but N+1 has become N-1 based on garage clutter, but, cost is no object, so I can get whatever bike I want, provided I reduce garage clutter! (wife says so!). Lynskey, reserve me one...as soon as I get a job.
You'll find me on the Road and Triathlon threads now, but I'll drop in from time to time.
Signing off,
VTKarl