elfs | Och, me aching buttocks...

One of the nifty things that we picked up over the July Fourth weekend was a new commuter backpack, something I could use when riding my bicycle to and from work. It is a very silly backpack, full of small pockets with labels like "USB port," "Laptop Vent," "Mouse," "PDA," "Cell Phone," "Automotive Adapter," "MP3 Player," "CD Player," "Spare battery," "Power Cords," "USB Cords," and the like. But it seems to be robust enough that it'll carry two notebooks, a textbook, the laptop, lunch, and spare clothes for the office.

So, with a new bicycle and a new backpack, I was obligated to try it out. My chosen ride was a simple one: from the house to the Park & Ride, about a mile and a half, and then from the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) to my office, about two and a half miles. An estimate shows that doing this twice a day (to and from work) on Seattle's hilly terrain will burn about 800 calories a day, which is my current exercise target, especially if I can do this 3-4 times a week.

The ride to the Park & Ride was okay yesterday. I'm in much better shape than I thought; I did the ride without much effort, despite Burien being significantly higher than Normandy Park and so most of my ride is uphill. The same is true going from SAM which is almost at sea level, up over Market Hill then down again to the waterfront at Elliot, then uphill to Lower Queen Anne.

Riding home yesterday sucked, though. It was wet and rainy, true Seattle weather, and they won't let me load my bicycle onto the bus in the downtown free-ride zone, so I have to ride to the other end of the zone-- at which point the bus is full and I can't sit down and write. Grr. By the time I had gotten onto the bus I was soaked through.

Today's ride into town was a little harder-- my butt's not used to the narrow seat yet, especially since this one has that ridge in the middle that's supposed to allow blood flow through the groin region and prevent injury to the genitals. But other than that there were no surprises. Well, two-- I couldn't find my bus pass this morning, and I forgot a belt for my pants. Things to get used to when doing this routinely. I also have to find a better way to package my radio. And now I sit at the front of the bus, so I can make sure nobody walks off with my bike; the fellow I sat next to clutched his faux camoflage backpack tightly and acted as if I were about to go postal any second. Very strange.