I'm on Fire

"Hey, little girl, is your daddy home? Did he go and leave you all alone? Whoa, I'm on fire." I had the Boss running through my mind as I rode home along the Jordan Parkway trail with my little girl in the trailer behind me.

Carrying Beth behind me increase the time to 50 minutes from 30 for the ride, but it was fun. The commute also increased to 15 km from 13 km since I took a detour through the neighborhoods so as to not have to deal with the fact that 1300 West has no shoulder through most of West Jordan, and it seems the city has no plans to add one on what could be one of the most cycling-friendly roads in the Salt Lake valley.

I was heartened while riding the trail to see several other bikers, both roadies and tread-heads, kids on scooters, moms on roller skates, skate boarders, walkers, equestrians, and even a family who took up the entire bridge while the two-year-old (or at least so he looked) walked his bike ever so slowly across while his mom tried to not roll backwards on her roller blades. This early burst of Spring — even before the vernal equinox — is well received, and the switch to Daylight Saving Time seems to have brought out all kinds of people enjoying the weather and leaving their cars behind. There were people hooked up to their 'Pods, and other enjoying the rhythm of life. There were people who could figure out that the yellow line was a divider, and others who just spread their trip across the entire trail. I saw babies in strollers (even beside Beth), and bikers with white hair. It was a totally different experience from driving on a crowded road. Even though I had to slow down numerous times when overtaking a group, I enjoyed the entire commute.

This was the first time I've brought Beth home from work on the bike. Although I threatened to ride with her last week, I was scared off by cold weather. I have decided that I have some minimum temperatures for riding. I want a morning low above 0° C (32° F) and an afternoon high of at least 10° C (50° F). Call me a fair weather cyclist if you will, but I have my standards. The weather predictions for this week meet those standards, so I'll be riding as much as I can to and from work this week.

How did Beth do on the commute? Very well. She slid into the Chariot and dozed off quite soon after we took off. She didn't wake back up until after we had pulled into the garage. That's a great time to take a nap. I just wish I could have done the same.

Tomorrow will probably be back to the road for a quick trip to and from work — yes, still in the bike — but this was a great change of pace.