As of this evening there are six more bike commute days available to me in 2009 out of the nine that remain (three of those I’ll be on vacation in Yosemite with Susan and my mom. Yeah: ohgeedarn.).
Should the weather and my health cooperate on those six final weekdays, I will close out the year having pedaled to/from work a total of 201 out of the total possible 261 workdays, which when you do the math comes out to 77.01%.
Factor in last year in which I biked to work 197 out of 257 total workdays (an almost identical 76.65%), and my two-year running total figures out to be 398 days biked out of a total of 518, or 76.83%.
What will 2010 hold? Funny you should ask because if things go as planned by my employer, next year my commute mileage stands to see a drastic change. At present, our office space is waaaaaaaay to large for the number of employees. So right now negotiations are taking place either to relocate to smaller digs where we currently are, or to move outright (I’m told El Segundo or Marina Del Rey are the top choices).
Regardless of whether we stay where we are or move someplace new, when that change is made I’ve been given the opportunity to work from home — which is totally cool. But for a guy who loves to bike like I do, the new arrangement will seriously zero-out a major mileage source. My commute will go from 15 miles one-way between Silver Lake and Westchester to about 30 feet one-way between the bedroom upstairs and my desk downstairs. That’s basically 90-plus percent of my mileage gone poof.
So you know that can only mean one thing, right? Damn straight: A serious 100% uptick in recreational riding to fill the void. Granted it’ll most likely be a lot of solo sunrisers and late-afternooners around Griffith and Elysian parks with some downtown and the Eastside thrown in (6 a.m. “10 Bridges” Ride, anyone?) — maybe the occasional dawn patrol up the Verdugos or down to Watts Towers and back, but any riding is better than none. Hell, you might even see me start saddling up for some Friday night group rides around the way — or organizing my own.
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