Simple commute is best commute

I started riding into work a few days ago, and I have to confess, I don't know why I didn't start doing it sooner. It's not distance. My commute is just over 30 minutes each way. Nor is it the fact that I'm scared of the dark, cuz I'm totally not. I think it was just laziness, honestly. See, here's the deal. I'm not a morning person. Never really have been. I'd much rather stay up until 11pm and wake up at 7, than go to bed at 9 and wake up at 5.

Seriously, this was my alarm some days.

But the other day I figured, I'm already technically waking up stupidly early for work. Why not stop putting it off, and go apply Rule #5 to my mornings? So I convinced myself to do it. I said, "self, quit being a whiny bitch, and go out there and Rule V this shit!" And thus, it was so.

Don't get me wrong. That first morning was not one of my finer days. My alarm went off. I smacked my phone. I rolled over. But then part of my brain kicked in and woke up me. That son of a bitch. I keep trying to kill him with beer, but he keeps sticking around.

OK. I was up and awake. Man, this sucks, I thought to myself. But I pressed on, undaunted. Then I realized I'd broken my one cardinal rule of commuting via bike. I hadn't packed my work clothes in my commuter bag the night before. OK. No biggie. So long as I left by 5:25, I'd be good. It was only 5:10. I was golden.

Somehow, though, I managed to leave at 5:35. I blame some kind of weird time vortex manipulation BS that exists only because I woke up at 5am. It definitely wasn't the fact that I wasn't prepared to ride my bike to work, or the fact that I walked back and forth in my apartment about 97 times. Definitely couldn't have been those. Had to have been time manipulation. Anyway, yeah, I got to work late.

But that hardly matters. Waking up in the morning and going for a ride before you really do anything else is friggin' awesome. It woke me up more than my usual morning coffee (grande iced coffee with an add shot, FYI), and resulted in that day being one of the most productive days I'd had all year. And it put me in a good mood, which is a miracle unto itself.

Yup. Kinda like this, but MOAR BETTER.

Best part is, the roads are in pretty decent condition and there wasn't any real traffic to speak of. So I guess my question is, why don't more people commute to work via bike? Or any real kind of alternate transportation? And why the hell did I stop?

Every day that I commute, it saves me gas, it saves me wear and tear on my car, and it keeps me from getting stressed out. If you've ready this post, then you know I kinda sorta already talked about how working out helps make you happy. Didn't read it? Shame on you. Did read it? Thumbs up!

Then there's the fact that one more bike on the road is one less car in its place, of which there are already plenty. I mean, there are a lot of people who do my same work commute. But I think the worst parts are the fact that 1) the traffic is always inconsistent. One day it'll take me 15 minutes to get to work. The next it could take me as many as 30. 2) There's quite a few douchenozzles who'll cut you off. Why? To be a douchenozzle, that's why. If I ride my bike, I solve both of those problems. My commute time will be consistent, and because I take bike paths most of the way, I don't need to worry about people cutting me off.

Will it last? Will I continue this new system of travelling to work? I don't know. But I'm gonna try. And that's where you, my dear reader, come in. I issue this challenge. For every view this post gets, I will commute to work for one day. If it gets 30 views, that's 30 guaranteed days of commuting. 80 views is 80 days. 1 bajillion views? Well, that's pretty much commuting for forever, times infinity. And I challenge you guys to try it, too. If you're not comfortable riding to work, then find another means of transport. Join a carpool. Take the trolley. Do something other than your usual morning routine. Give it a try. If you don't like it, switch back. But no harm ever came from trying.

Till the next time, keep the rubber side down, and your skin off the ground!