It is a great way to start the work day. When I drive to work and back home, I'm tired and angry from traffic and think everyone in the world is stupid or crazy. When I ride a motorcycle, my mind is singularly focused on everything around me in heavy traffic. It's the ultimate brain eraser, leaving me happy and ready for work in the morning or the family when I get home. I'm finding that when I ride my bike, I'm sort of pumped up and wired when I get to work. Now, it's the heat of summer, so riding to work is great, as it's still cool out. Riding home, I'm super heated and need to cool back down when I get home before I'm good for anything, but still a bit wired. Once I cooled off for a few minutes last night, I was good for a five mile hike with the wife.

- For reference, I'm in my mid-50s, weigh around 185, in "getting back in shape" mode and have a 12.5 mile commute by bike.

Bike mainenance is key. I've always worked on my own bikes since I was a kid, so fixing flats, adjusting gears, repacking bearings, etc is no great shakes for me. I'm using the Cyclemeter app to track my rides, and that 30-year-old steel Trek 930 is a bit faster than my new Trek FX3 that is lighter with narrower tires. When I put new Michelins on the 930, I stuck with a 1.95 width so I could do some light trail riding if I wanted to. I'm riding a paved river trail for a good part of my commute that goes under major cross streets and freeways, so there's some downhill and uphill spots along the way. I'm finding the 930 faster downhill and carries more speed back uphill than the FX3. I'm wondering if the rotational mass of the heavier tires is helping to do that a bit.

Also, I haven't touched the FX3 yet. The wide hand grips are comfy for resting my palms when cruising, but I don't have any options for hand positions, so maybe changing up the bars might be in order.