Finished my first annual commute to work by bicycle event today. I’ve done this in the past, but never to a workplace so far away from home.

Due to the number of busy roads around here, I carefully planned the route ahead of time in order to minimize traffic. The resulting google directions took 3 pages, not counting the useless map.

I left for work shortly after 7:00AM. I got lost twice on back roads I’ve never been on before. Saw a big doe along the way. Next time I’ll see if I can avoid planning commuting routes on roads named “Hill Road” and “Crestview Road”, especially near the end of the ride. Altogether it took 3 hours to travel the 26 miles. Arrived at work after 10:00AM.

I decided to leave at 4:00 in order to make sure I got home before darkness. Even though I bonk’d with 6 or 7 miles to go, getting home only took 2.5 hours and there was plenty of daylight left.

All in all a great day, but due to the time involved and resulting shortened work day, I will not be able to repeat this effort very often -I think once a year is about it.