Monday, June 2, 2008

Friends and a Sunday bike commute

Sometimes you just don't appreciate how wonderful your friends are. Yesterday, I found out.

Driving, it's about 16-17 miles from my house to REI where I work on the weekends. When backroads are used, such as a route to ride a bike on, it's 20 miles on the nose door-to-door. After some playing around on a cool site http://www.bikely.com/ I came up with a route through a bunch of neighborhoods and mostly off the main flow of traffic. http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/REI-to-Lewisville

When I told my neighbors, Debbie and Marsha, about the ride, they were worried that I'd get stuck or in a bad area or worse, get hit. The gang at REI also voiced concern for my ride home. I feel so lucky to have people care enough to worry. Because I've been on my own for so long, I sometimes feel as if it's me against the world and forget how wonderful of friends I have. It's opportunities like this that take a two-by-four to my noggin to make me realize the friendships I have. Thank you all! :)

So, I offered to let Deb and Marsha know the minute I made it to the store, so they could stop worrying. On the way home, I texted them again to let them know I was on the way and about what time I expected to be home. I figured it would be about 8:15 when I got home and let them know. Sure enough, when I rounded the corner to the street at 8:05, the two were sitting on the front porch waiting. It was so sweet.

I gave myself about 2 hours and some change to get to work, which also allowed me a bit of time to get a quick shower and get changed for work.

The heat wasn't too bad, but the steady south headwind made it a slow ride going to the store. Plus I swear, Edmonds Lane is all uphill, though it's deceiving in that it looks flat. It took about 1:45 to get there, but I also had a belly full of breakfast.

The way home, the air was cooler and the wind had died some. I had a bit of a tailwind, but not much. Through the neighborhoods, the aroma of grills was everywhere and my stomach growled incessantly. There was a bit more traffic on the road, but for the most part it was much quieter than it would be on a weekday, I'm sure. It took about 1:25 to get home.

Great friends. Great ride. What else can you ask for, right?

1 comment:

Deeann said...

That is wonderful! Of course your friends care about you! You are lucky to have those ladies in your life. I'm grateful someone was worried about you, seeing as you weren't :)

Can't wait to see you in a few days! I can't believe Sunday, Bloody Sunday (my new name for the tri) is coming so soon. Thanks for talking me into this. Oh, I will deny thanking you for this Sunday afternoon :)