Defining your Commute

I’ve been commuting for a long time. During school my commute was sometimes hour and a half crawl to and from Atlanta. Since moving to Midtown it’s changed several times. I drove a mile and a half for a year before I changed jobs and began a new commute from midtown to Duluth. Resurrecting the grind had an unexpected effect on me, while in the past I was able to sacrifice in the interest of an education, I discovered that now I was willing to do just about anything to avoid it. I made another transition and found myself a mile and a half away from work again. This time however I was determined to walk. The problem with walking though is that it’s slow and the weather can defeat you easily. In December of 2013 I made another change – my wife bought a bike for me.

I was hesitant at first and tried to split my ride between sidewalks and the road. I was trying to be safe. One evening on the way home I watched another bike commuter wait in the traffic with the cars. At first I thought he was wasting his time, but after transitioning into and out of traffic a few times I found that he was farther ahead of me for less effort. It occurred to me that being on a bike didn’t necessarily mean I had gotten out of traffic, I had just become a different kind of vehicle in the same traffic. Once I embraced the idea of being part of traffic I noticed that I really did lose the stress and some of the fear associated with riding and also discovered that being in traffic as a bike is really fun. You’re part of the city rather than shielded from it, listening to the radio and completely cut off.

The best part about riding a bike a mile and a half is that once you find the right roads to travel on, it actually takes less time that driving would in the same traffic and it’s better for you. The improvement I experienced with respect to my overall fitness was unexpected. I knew the ride would get easier over time, but I didn’t realize that riding would start to take on its own ambitions. Rather than the bike ride replacing the car drive, it actually became an activity that I wanted to find excuses to do. “We need to go get groceries?” No problem I have a basket. “Let’s go to the movies!” You got it, let me top off the air in my tires. Riding a bike quickly becomes a part of your identity while you’re doing it.

Edit: Since publishing, my commute changed again. Where I worked moved their offices from midtown Atlanta to Windy Hill and Powers Ferry. I’ve cycled it a few times, it takes a little over an hour to do it.