the commute

I love riding my bike to work! in the sun, snow, rain, ass-cold temps, it doesn't matter. it's so freeing to be outside, to not be locked and trapped within the confines of a vehicle, plus the past couple days have been beauty's, cool in the morning (arm warmers), mid-50's by the afternoon.Random pic of some guy riding in front of me along the Charles River in Cambridge into Boston. Couldn't help but photoshop it a bit, give it an artsy look. i really should be working, not doing this... this guy hammered by me this morning, i love it - the efforts folks will give, that is. usually i'll just sit behind folks like this for a while, let them have their moment. i've got plenty of my own...

Have found some good new-to-me commuter blogs off martino's bike lane diary... they say each gallon of gas we use releases 26lbs of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere! holy crapola! by riding my bike to work i'm guessing i keep approximately 7,500 lbs of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere each year. there's also a great list of easy ways to be more energy efficient on this site. jenn and i do most all of them (use a push mower for our small lawn, keep our house at 62 during the day, 53 at night, keep the fridge turned-down, don't use an air conditioner unless guests from the South (i.e., our families) are visting, etc, etc)... it's so easy to get into a practice of saving energy. we also subscribe to GreenStart New England, we pay more for our electric, but the proceeds go to funding "green" energy sources, maybe there's a program in your state? it's even tax deductible.

My bad mood on the Cohutta is ovah. I'm all about the Mohican 100 in June to chase this demon away. Legs feel fantastic this week. Crazy. It's like i didn't even do a 100mile dirt race. One of the best things about the taper is that it counts as a "rest" week, so i can usually get right back into hard rides the wk after an "A" event. Also looking at another switch to the schedule (sorry jason! oh yeah, check-out his write-up on a great race effort in crap conditions) and heading to Mont Sainte Anne on June 17th for the UCI marathon. Jenn is psyched at checking-out Quebec (as am I) and with the race on Saturday morning, we'd have a full day to walk around the city and chill on Sunday. Sounds good to me. Plus it's always fun to get your butt kicked by the pros. To race a UCI event you have to be a semi-pro, so looks like i'll be making the jump. I told Parsons i need to win an Expert race before making the switch, so i guess i only have 2 or 3 chances before Mont Sainte Anne, the pressure's on!
city of boston from the bike path on the cambride side of the charles. was way hazy this morning. but, snagged a digital camera, hoping to get some decent pics in the coming weeks...