love the ride

My commute to work is pretty quick and fun. It’s only 4.5 miles. 15 minutes going in. 16 or 17 coming home. Fairly rolling but more uphillish coming home. The last two tenths is a wall. A good way to finish.

It’s no secret how much I hate the white shit. And so far this winter I(we?) have been pretty fortunate there hasn’t been more of it. Snow and ice can really wreck my ride. Maybe that’s partly why I hate it so much. So, I’ve been keeping a tally of my commuting days so far this year. I’ve worked 36 days so far. I’ve driven to work only 1 of those days. I’ve been picked up only once, last Friday when Erin and I had to make quick and get to the rehearsal dinner. I drove the shop van home on a Tuesday night to drive it down to Trek U on a Wednesday then drove it back to work on a Thursday. If you count one commuting day as 2 trips I’ve achieved 67 out of a possible 72 trips. I guess you could say this winter has been pretty tame by most measures.

I’ve been riding some form of bike since I was probably 6 or 7. When I was growing up in East Berlin, PA I rode around town on my sweet ‘Goose bmx’r. I rode all the time. During the summer I would be on my bike all day long. It is a cool town to cruise the streets. Not very big. Just big enough when you’re a little mx punk. Me and my bike buds had two tracks to race. One was almost a real bmx track. In the woods behind the elementary school. We had jumps and banked berms on it. The other track was an oval. All the guys were dirt trackin sprint car fans so it was no surprise we raced our bikes sprint car style too. Good fun. But most of the time it was just rolling the mean streets of EB. Look for trouble. Never finding any. Getting yelled at when I came home well after dark.

I think riding home at night is so much fun. It takes me back to those days in EB. Although I didn’t have a digital Niterider back then. Zinging around through the streets of Camp Hill now but not much different from EB. Tonight was especially sweet. There is a very odd series of intersections all tied together. Going home I come to a light, make a right over a humpback bridge, immediately hit another light, make a right, immediately hit another light, make a left, and over railroad tracks. Most nights I can make it through somewhat fluidly with a little braking and trackstanding. Tonight the planets aligned. First right turn, green light. Over the humpback, right turn green arrow. Left turn green arrow. As soon as I rolled across the RR tracks the gates lit up and started to drop. I did a two handed victory celebration. Must of looked like a ‘tard but it felt like I won something.

Riding at night always gives you a different perspective on things you see in the daylight. Shadows and moonlight or no moonlight. Everything is different. Sometimes I’ll turn my light off and ride by light of the moon. I recommend it.

If you haven't looked at The Original Jack Ass blog make sure you do so. One of the funniest dog pictures you'll ever see. Isn't there some expression out there about dogs and their owners looking alike? Nice work Josh.