Biking to work
With the start of my new job in Lethbridge I’ve had the opportunity to bike to work. Since most of the other jobs that I’ve had were relatively close to where I lived this is the first time I’ve had to bike commute farther than a couple of kilometres. The total distance from our house to work is about 11km – not too far really. The only major obstacle is the massive coulee in Lethbridge, since we live on the westside of town, thus an eleven kilometre bike ride feels more like fifteen.
Here are some interesting things I’ve discovered during my rides to and from work:
-you are at the mercy of the weather, if it’s nice in the morning you still worry all day that it’s going to pour on the way home. Nature is much closer to you.
-Stop lights are at times a nice breather and other times a painful hindrance to a nice continuous bike ride.
-Some people are good drivers and some are not (but we all knew that before, didn’t we?)
-The bike infrastructure in Lethbridge is lacking (surprise surprise), although I wouldn’t be commuting to work without the Whoop-Up pedestrian bridge..props for that.
-When the wind isn’t blowing I can keep up with most vehicles in downtown Lethbridge
-Getting 22k of riding in during my regular routine feels great
-More people should bike. The majority of people at my workplace live less than 5k from work. Their excuses for not biking are quite weak (and they even admit it)
-It’s fun. Get on your bike.
Stats for May (for the Bighams out there):
Trips in May: 25
Total Possible trips: 40
Approx distance for each trip: 11k
Approx total distance for May: 275k
Approx. avg. time to work: 30 min
Approx. avg. time to home: 40 min (hill is bigger and wind stronger)
Approx. total carbon emissions saved if I used our Yaris (6.2L/100k): 39kg
Carbon emissions if I drove an H3 4×4 hummer (14L/100k): 83kg
Total carbon emissions to fly from Calgary to Toronto: 365kg
Carbon emissions remaining to offset upcoming flight: 320kg (wow, that’s a lot!)
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