Bike to Work Day 2007

As if taking up running wasn't enough, today I participated in the Bike to Work event sponsored by the Central Indiana Bicycling Assocation. There were 8 meet-up sights around the city of Indianapolis where individuals would meet up with other riders and bike into Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. The distances ranged from 5 miles to 20 miles. Luckily for me, a VERY novice biker, the distance from my home to the meet-up site and then into the circle was much closer to the 5 miles than the 20 miles!

In my enthusiasm (and trepidation), I decided to recruit my friend Patrick who lives just down the street from me to join me in the ride. He is a teacher at a school not too far from the circle, so the ride made sense for him too.

We set out early with the rest of the group and after about 2 miles, I wasn't certain that I was going to make it the whole distance. Patrick is a such a good friend. He helped to calm me down, told me to forget about the rest of the pack if we couldn't keep up and we figured out what gear I was in vs what gear I should be in. That made ALL the difference in the world. (Well, that and a traffic light or two that we got to stop at.)

By the time we made it to the circle, I was actually feeling pretty good! It felt great to save gas, get in some exercise and encourage someone else to do likewise. Patrick even said that since gas is so high and he drives an SUV, he thinks he will probably continue to bike into work for the remainder of the school year, which is about two weeks.