Bike 2 Work

Bike to Work Week.
A romantic notion that crashes into the reality of meetings, weather and family obligations that comprise the usual rash of excuses which leaves one stuck in a car reading the same tired old bumper stickers like "01.20.09", "Envision Whirled Peas", "I may be slow but I'm ahead of you" or "Stop Continental Drift". Screw That. I had a meeting in the deep south, like in Fairfax County, so I hitched a ride with the wife to Alexandria and then biked the remaining 14 miles to my jobsite near Mt. Vernon, did the meeting then back to the office in Bethesda and then home. 52 miles and hardly saw a car.

One forgets how well endowed our trails are when tears roll out our eyes while screaming down River Road, but if you slow down for a change there are treats along the way, even in Virginia! The GW Parkway Trail hugs the Potomac (slightly flooded during my foray) offering marsh & river views, battlements like Fort Washington & Fort Hunt, colonial charm of Old Town, the industrial brute of Mirant mountaintop-scraping coal-fired power plant, adrenalin pumping game of Chicken with the incoming planes to Washington National (last time I checked we did not live in Reagan, DC) at Gravelly Point, vertigo inducing panoramas atop the Key Bridge and the Rail-to-Trail along the historic C&O Canal up to my work destination.

How could such a trek be better rewarded than by finding my place atop the podium as bike Commuter of the Day in the company of none other than Miss Maryland, USA! Yes it's a tough job but I chose to do it in an effort to save all those other lost souls who need to enjoy cycling at whatever level one partakes. I may be another month away from healing my poor anterior tibialis into racing shape, but at any speed we can take pleasure of being responsible commuters, riding to improve our health and suspend denuding our earth, and read about interesting people under bridges like "Borf" or "Cool Disco Dan" instead of the elementary school Honor Roll while ingesting bong hits of CO2.

The weather could suck. There might be a meeting. A spouse may be waiting. Fugettaboutit. Repeat the mantra:
Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

BPVC Proverb