I’ve been doing more walking lately and I’ve been enjoying it. Sadly, much like my experience while hiking, my shoes have been pretty unfriendly to my feet. In an effort to keep my feet happy I have been wearing my Fivefingers more. Though I originally bought them for hiking and the outdoors, I am using them more and more for walking about town.
Tag Archives: commuting
Walking
Another of the side effects of taking the bus instead of biking is that I am walking more. Since the little man’s day care is just about a mile from my desk and the bus that I ride home drops me off about a mile from home, I am walking an extra two miles every day that I ride the bus. I could try to minimize this, but honestly, using anything other than your legs to travel a mile is just plain lazy.
Shifting
February wasn’t much of a blogging month around here. I’ve been swamped with feral catalogs at the book mines, dealing with a sick boy around the house and feeling a bit of general restlessness. I just haven’t had much meaningful to say. Last week I made some changes to my routine. Mrs. Portmandia picked up another part-time job, so I am responsible for taking the little man to his child care two days a week. I also started running again, managing to go for three short runs. I think that all the extra activity might be finally shaking me out of the winter doldrums.
Traffic
Last week we had a fairly pleasant weather. I only had to wear rain gear for one of my commutes and it was warm enough in the evenings to leave off some of my layers. Though this is nominally an improvement for my commute, the warmer weather makes up for the marked uptick in bike traffic. That equals more people being rude on the road.
Dark and Cold
Winter is in full swing here in the city of bridges. A cold lingering fog has kept the temperature from climbing above the low forties for the last few days. The days are short too, with the sun setting before five each night. This makes for difficult commutes and little incentive to to leave the house.
Raining
I’ve now had my first real day of commuting in the rain for the season. In the morning I went for a run in the rain. Then I rode my bike to work in the rain. Finally, I rode home in the dark through gusty wind and rain. An exciting weather day here in Little Bay Root.
Darkness
The time changed this weekend and so I had my first night time commute of the season on Sunday. Riding at night is different. It is easy to become paranoid with all of the lights and shadows. Not only do I find myself scrutinizing every bump in the road, but I have to keep a constant mental inventory of the other road users around me. All of this is made even more difficult thanks to the frequent negligence on the part of cyclists and pedestrians when it comes to making themselves visible.