Here’s the breakdown of my commute using Wednesday’s ride as an example…

Lately I have more things going on than Ringling Brothers and my schedule has been bouncing around all over the place. On Tuesday I was pulling regular dayshift hours. On Wednesday I rode into work at 5PM and would be back on the road at 130AM.

The most direct route is a high usage road/hwy with traffic hitting speeds of up to 70mph. The posted is 55 but are going well beyond that. This route has frequent high winds coming out of a canyon, which kicks up lots of debris. Gravel pits on both sides of the road are a wonderful addition. It’s not unusual to find yourself weaving around a piece of furniture along the side of the road here. If that’s not enough, there’s also a good sustained climb. This commute is actually uphill both ways. Have a look around 41° 7'44.57"N 111°54'30.46"W at Google Earth. My home is in South Ogden and I work at that nearby runway. Hwy 89 is far from being an ideal commuter route but there aren’t better choices in the area. Its lower intersection count and wider shoulders draw favor among riders.

I bought my commuter bike with the last two minutes of my commute in mind. This 40ish minute ride to work is punctuated by 8 flights of stairs. The lighter bike weight and flat underside of the toptube works out well. Wednesday night my counterpart surprised me with one of the shop cameras. I was looking down as I climbed and heard him say, "You need to learn how to run with that thing." (a cyclocross joke) As I looked up...snap....



130AM temps had me suited up with the rain gear. A nice big moon was out but its light was blocked by mostly cloudy skies making for very dark roads. Traffic was light, down to about 2 cars every few minutes. A couple of older trucks slowed way down beside me and I wasn't sure what they had on their minds. Next time I'm riding home this late I'll probably tack on about five more miles to go around the long way where there's more visibility and alternate paths to dodge into along the route. During the day that option would be asking for trouble since it’s in the heart of big box store shopping. The wind was coming through Weber Canyon at about 15mph, which had me leaning over pretty far to keep going straight.

I’m set to retire and find a retirement kinda job (whatever that is) in just shy of 365 days. I’ll be strongly considering anything that has me riding in the opposite direction.


Cheers,