Evolution of my Bike Route

The Denver Metro area has been an optimal location for biking.  After first moving here and in to an apartment close to work, I found that with my trusty Wal-Mart bike, I was able to bike mostly down hill getting to work in 5 minutes.  This was great because I was usually always running late.  After my last semester of college where every night was about 2am, having an 8 to 5ish type job was rough! I found out people notice if you fall asleep in boring 6am meetings : )

Anyway, so this post is about my experiences with three different bike routes I've used to go to work for the last 5 years and a recent thought that brought this post about.

The Quick Scary Route

2 miles

The first route like I said earlier was a perfect "to work" route.  The return was a killer and probably the reason I lost 15 lbs within a year of moving out; that and having a 4 hour earlier bedtime and cheap bike that made me work really hard.  As I think about it, the downhill to work was really the only perk of this route.  I had to wait on 4 stoplights and part of the trail was dirt.  I obtained many flat tires from goat heads.  Sidenote: A friend helped me take my bike in to have my tire repaired one time and the sales guy told me my bike wasn't worth fixing and to look them up when it was time for another!  Rude!  But oh so true.  There were also many different people and cars to watch out for, which made it more of a frazzling frantic ride than just a quick jot to work.

The Peaceful Route

5 miles

After a year of living in an apartment, God opened the door for me to buy a house.  I had no concept of where the house actually was though as my Realtor drove there every time. I remember deciding one evening to bike in the general direction of the house.  I stumbled upon what became one of my favorite places to have alone time.

My house was very close to the Sand Creek Trail, which I could take to work going one way and to the Bluff Lake Nature Center or Stapleton going the other way.  The pictures above are from that area.  I loved biking or walking along this trail.  It was incredibly peaceful and full of little treasures you wouldn't think of finding in the city.  Such as a deer leg Slate brought to me!!!  Or the time I came upon a pack of coyotes!  My favorite thing about this trail was that it wasn't very traveled.  Because it is gravel and doesn't connect with any other of the metro trails, many bikers stay away.

The Perfect Trail

6 miles

I am now on my 3rd residence in the 5 years I've lived in Colorado.  Jake's house happens to also be close to a bike trail.  This trail rocks!  We can bike to Kev & Kerry's, Dan & Tess', the girls house, the Wiegands, Sarah's, work, and church without having to bike along any major streets.

Except in this type of weather...

Some days, this trail is packed and other days I don't meet anyone. As it takes me 21 minutes to bike to work if I take a shortcut and 27 minutes if I ride the trail as mapped above, I have a long stretch of time to just think.  I never thought I would enjoy a commute.  But when your only concern with commuting is not scaring someone you bike up behind or making sure you get unclipped before you tip over at an intersection, it's very easy to start valuing the time of commute.  It's a great time for prepping and unwinding from the day.  Ask Jake, if I ride home with him from work sometimes I can be a little fiesty : )

I've seen the same people over and over again as well.  One of these days, I hope to stop and introduce myself. It'd be super fun to start meeting people or at least say "Good morning Sir 'Small-Chinese-man-with-khaki-jungle-get-up'" instead of just "Morning." I'd love to know their backgrounds, become acquainted, or even get a picture with each of them.  That last one would be debatable, I wouldn't want them to take a different path because of "the creeper" that wants a picture with them.  All last summer I would meet the same tall black lady out for a morning walk.  She always had on a ball cap with a bandanna under it and sweat pants.  I longed to stop and chat, but for some reason, was either running behind or didn't want to bother her.  This year as I have yet to see her once, I almost grieve as I will never know what happened to my "friend."

It also makes me ponder whether hello's, thank you's, or any other communication is remembered?  Do they recognize me? Is my bike commute only a time of peace for me or can I positively impact those that I meet or pass?  I read about this gentleman from KC who was known as The Waving Man, who not many knew personally but were all positively impacted by his friendly wave.  Kindness can be expressed in many ways and I guess if there is a desire on my heart, some of my questions may never be answered but I'll at least know I can be doing my part.

All in all, it's been fun biking around my relatively new home.

Lots more enjoyable and a lot less road rage : )