I love my bike commute

I love my bike commute. Yes, even in November! It’s when it gets cold and gross and miserable and dark that I get to reach deep inside myself and realize that yes, I still love commuting to work by bike.

Sometimes, if the temperature shifts dramatically enough in a certain way overnight, stuff freezes up. Yesterday it was my bike lock, my derailleur, and Jeremy’s rear disc brake. All thawed as the day warmed up, so the commute home was much more enjoyable because I wasn’t stuck in one high gear.

Sometimes, people get creative with visibility lighting and drape their bike with a string of battery-powered LED Christmas lights. Love that.

I love cruising up almost to the very front door of work and just…parking there and walking right in. And parked alongside me are cargo bikes, e-bikes, road bikes, junky bikes, bikes with rumble seats - bikes.

There’s a certain 1-2km stretch of road where I race the bus when we line up just right. Sometimes I win but even if I don’t, it’s still fun.

I love passing kids walking to school in the pitch black dark, reflective vests and visibility lights winking at me. And the group of high schoolers waiting at the city bus stop, strung out down the sidewalk keeping the unspoken but agreed-upon social distance of 2m that predates the pandemic.

Most of all, I appreciate the solid bike path infrastructure we have here. There is one short stretch on a relatively quiet road where I have to share the space with cars - I take that route to avoid an extra traffic light, but if I wanted I could have my entire commute on bike paths.

I love that!