Monday, May 11, 2015

Bike to Work Week

It's May in San Diego. More specifically, it's the week of the 11th of May. Which means Bike to Work Week! Time to dust off the ol'....wait, you've been riding your bike almost every day? There's no rain or inclement weather to keep you off your bike?

Thank heavens San Diego is literally classified as a coastal desert, or we'd be kept off our bikes due to rain and snow. Forget droughts. I'm just happy the sun is always shining and my faucet is directly connected to the Colorado River's ever dwindling supply. Fuck you, got mine!

Despite your mentality about San Diego's disturbingly sunny weather, it's still bike to work week. Lots of hashtags regarding this even permeate my Twitter feed. More attention-grabbing opportunities for me, I guess. Take this photo, for instance:



Got some Mountain Bike Radio action right there! Heck yeah! Looks like I'm just parking my bike in a fiberglass box. But no, it's also #biketoworkweek. Exciting, no?

Yeah, it's really not, unless you're the person who just rode in. And I didn't even ride in all the way! I actually parked my vehicle at a Park & Ride just outside the engineer's sphere of influence (Qualcomm et al) and rode my bike in. Saved me a lot of stop & go hastle hassle. Yeah, I had to look that word up for some reason.

My work is kind enough to have installed some bike lockers. They're pretty roomy, actually. I could fit two bikes in each one. They're also full of itchy fiberglass which is terrible. So I won't be setting up a satellite office/hideout in mine, even though I like to escape from work now and then.

Right, so, tomorrow's plans: Drive to work. Because I want to go climbing afterwards and avoid traffic. Wednesday? Drive to work, because I have a meeting at 7:30AM. Thursday? Drive to work, probably...

But Friday? You're goddamn right I'm biking to work! Check this shit out:



Yep, each one of those little blue bicyle persons is a pit stop unto which an actual human will be standing around waiting for your lyrca-clad behind to show up. Added bonus: Many of them will have free things to give you, including an ill-fitting "Bike to Work 2016" t-shirt that office dwellers so hotly covet for their casual Friday ensemblé. Bonus is being able to wear the shirt on the day of acquirement, such that you can wander around the office with baited breath hoping an unobservant coworker will comment "SO DID YOU RIDE YOUR BIKE TO WORK TODAY!?"

And you'll say "yes" and feel pretty darn good.

And at 5:30 you'll drive home because you parked your car at the office so you wouldn't have to ride 20 miles back home through angry San Diegan traffic. Because 90% of San Diego cycling is shit.

That's my usual experience, at least. And maybe this time will be different. But the takeaway is that even though I don't foresee accomplishing a fully-fledged #biketoworkweek, if I can replicate this pitiful attempt for the other 51 weeks of the year, perhaps there will be a net-positive impact.

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