I'm taking a bit of a rest today. Last night I was biking home and just go so utterly tired. I don't know if it was the wind or if I was just pushing myself too much, but I felt like there was no way I'd be able to bike both ways today. So...I'm going to be missing out on Critical Mass, which is unfortunate.

I'm thinking that I'm going to really need to pace myself to work up to five days a week. I did 2 and a half days this week for a total of about 50 miles. I just don't think that i would have been able to do it today. So, next week I think that I'll bike Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then take the train Tuesday and Thursday.

As always, the scale is discouraging. I stepped on it today and it didn't show any reduction. I don't know if that's because I'm gaining some muscle or what. I track all of my calories and exercise at fitday.com and I've been running a 500-1000 calorie deficit for every day this week and yet I haven't seen any weightloss this week. Grr...I'm not going to be concerned until I've been doing this whole biking thing regularly for a month, but if there's still no difference after all that time then I'll go over it with a doctor.

Okay, mileage: about 70 total commuting miles

Spring is coming! Today I saw little leaf buds coming out. I also saw some crocuses coming up. Yay for greenery!

The weather was gorgeous again today. However, it's supposed to get kind of nasty tomorrow and last for the rest of the week. I must admit that doesn't bother me that much. I'm a Seattle native and I've always wondered why people here in Chicago seem to get so upset when they get splashed with a little rain. It's just water after all.

Anyway, the ensuing rain will hopefully clear out the Lakefront path. Last night it was like a madhouse. Everyone and their dog and their mother was outside. I've discovered why other people so dislike rollerbladers. They are usually wearing headphones in both ears, they take up a lot of room and they don't go all that fast and they aren't predictable. Grrr rollerbladers! I can't really blame everyone et al for wanting to be outside yesterday, it was beautiful...ah well, I'll have to learn to live with them.

Mileage: approximately 50 commuting miles

Into the wind

Biking into the wind is tough. Today was my first day having to ride against the wind. It certainly is harder and requires more effort. However, the breeze was nice once I got off the bike.

I find that being on the bike really lets me enjoy the weather so much more. If I had taken the train today, I would have just had my outdoor time from my apartment to the station. Riding along the Lakefront trail is a great way to start my morning. Today, the sun was shining, the water was glistening and if it weren't for the headwind it would have been a perfect morning. Now I'm just going to hope that the wind doesn't shift before my ride home. It will be super easy then.

Oh! And today I didn't get lost! Yay! That was nice. I'm also going to start logging my miles. Last week I biked about 30 miles. As of this morning, I'm up to 40. It still takes me an hour to bike the 10 miles. Hopefully I'll get that time to go down soon.

The Lakefront trail seemed pretty empty this morning. It was kind of a dreary AM, but since I'm from Washington a little bit of precipitation doesn't bother me.

I'm still pretty slow and I was definitely very tired halfway through the ride downtown today. It's about a 10 mile ride, and since I'm here in the Midwest it's flat.

However, I got lost today! Somewhere around Navy Pier there were two trails and I took the wrong one and found myself underground! So, I figured that I could find my way out and let me tell you! That is certainly easier said then done. So, after wandering around all of these freight loading docks and delivery entrances and going down a couple of dead ends I finally found the entrance to the Millennium Park Garage. So, I went around the gates, walked to the elevator and went back topside.

I did get a map at the bike station so hopefully I can figure out how to not repeat this adventure.

Well, this blog has been on a bit of a hiatus, but I am going to resurrect it now. Spring is here, that time of renewel and new beginnings. I just started a job working downtown so that means I don't need to drive 300 miles a week for work. I am extremely pleased about this, especially because I am going to being biking to work on a regular basis.

On Tuesday I signed up for a membership at the McDonald's Bike Station in Millennium Park and biked to work for the first time. It was great. I was able to get downtown in the same amount of time as it takes to ride the train, plus I could enjoy the weather and get exercise at the same time. The Bike Station was quite nice too. They have indoor bike parking, changing facilities, showers and lockers, all for affordable daily, monthly or yearly fees. To be honest, it was actually nicer to shower there because my shower at home goes cold after 2 minutes before going scalding hot.

Since I hadn't biked in a few months I'm a little out of shape and just biked the one-way on Tuesday. I hung out with some friends after work and took the bike on the train for the way home. Damn! It's nice that the Chicago Transit Authority allows that during non-peak times for no additional fee. I'm going to bike to work again on Friday and will try to do both ways. Lets hope that I can do both ways!