Thursday, October 13, 2011

Day 30: Composting gas money into gear

Day 30 miles to/from work: 26.8
Total miles for S4S: 793.4


According to Weather.com, the rain was supposed to stop by 7:00 am. By 7:30 it was still going strong. When Silver Beauty and I set out, we were fully geared up—I with my rain jacket, rain pants, and industrial goggles; Silver Beauty with her seat encased in a plastic grocery bag. Within two miles I was roasting, and the rain had mostly subsided. I pulled off to the side of the bike path, took off my helmet, removed the goggles, stripped off the rain jacket, took off each shoe followed by the corresponding pant leg one at a time, and stuffed everything into a pannier, then replaced the helmet—all while balancing SB. I wondered what this looked like from the office building I was facing.

This project has been meaningful in so many ways, but it has also fueled my addiction to "gear", as well as the need for serviceable tools. Since I started S4S, I got a great rain jacket $150. Rain pants $110. A 1000-lumen light that will cut a swath like a night train $90. And $130 for new panniers when my old ones finally disintegrated.... It is not cheap saving money on gas. Perhaps it sounds like I'm complaining, but the opportunity and "need" to get mo' bettah, cooler, efficient gear:  priceless!

I was happy to leave the office in the light of 5:30 instead of the dark of 6:00 and rain—the sun was shining, wind blowing, and temperatures had dropped. It was chillier than I had expected, but a bright ride home. No dark. No rain. Just easy ridin'...and home.

1 comment:

  1. I'm sure there were some binoculars trained on you from the office building - waiting to see just how MUCH further you would go in your "disrobing"! ;-)

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