Jonathan R. Schmidt

July biking

In July I calculated that I biked 375 km. I don’t have a bike computer, so this is an estimate based on online mapping.I biked a total of 16 days out of a possible of 19. Only three days I drove due to rain or other circumstances – overall a great month for biking!

It’s been interesting to note that my fastest times have dropped substantially. My ‘to work’ time has dropped from about 30 minutes to a record of about 25 minutes and averages between 25-30 minutes. My ‘from work’ time has dropped from around 35-40 minutes to a record of just under30 minutes, with averages in the low 30s. A big result of the dropped times is my increased fitness and skill tackling the ‘Lethbridge coulee’. Formerly I was taking about 10min to get up coulee on the westside, while now I have it down to around 5 min or under. It’s pretty exciting to feel so strong on the bike, although the bike ride isn’t long enough to test my real endurance, just mostly speed. I also find that my time to and from work can vary widely based on how I hit the stop lights. There’s a potential to wait about 5 minutes at all the stop lights, so it’s tough to really set a record speed unless I hit all the lights green.

Other interesting things to note

-I can now recognize most of the ‘regulars’  who walk, bike or run from the west side of Lethbridge each day
-I’ve talked about 5 different commuters at various times, sometimes for awhile, sometimes just to say hi. This is something I enjoy about biking that never happens in a car.
-Biking in the rain ain’t so bad as it seems and can be overcome, something that I thought was a major barrier to cycling
-Putting my canoe ‘dry bag’ into my pannier was an easy way to ‘waterproof’ my pannier
-My bike work remains one of the highlights of my daily work routine

pedaling off…