"I've found that there are several small roads that I can take to get to work"

Hey everyone!  I just joined the Bike2Work Challenge and last week has been so much fun biking to work :).  I started biking to work about a week and half ago, but I was still using my rusty old bike.  It felt great nonetheless, but I was really having trouble with some of the roads as it's an older bike.  For example, I've attached a picture of some of the railroad tracks that I pass during my commute to work.  

 



They're not pretty!  And as my bike was much older and the tires much smaller, it would not only hurt to ride over these, but I'd have to pump the tires every time just so I could ride back in the evenings.  This is on top of the many gear issues I was already having.

The new bike this challenge has provided is great and it has not only motivated me even more to bike to work, but has made it much more enjoyable!  This past week I biked to work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Since starting on Tuesday I've experimented with different routes to work to optimize time, while also finding routes that had minimum car traffic.  I've found that there are several small roads that I can take to get to work.  The hardest part is crossing Weber street.

This simply can't be avoided, so I try to cross it where it has street lights, so I'm not stuck waiting forever!

My first bike into work on Tuesday felt great.  As work provides showers, I'm able to bring change clothes into work.  I already feel better and more energized at work.

On Wednesday, as I was trying a new route to work when I came across the Breithaupt centre, which has a swimming pool!  I had no idea this was so close to home and also on the way to work. So on Thursday I decided to go swim at the centre on my way to work.  By the time I got to work I felt like I had a full blown workout!  I used to workout in the morning when I was a student at the University of Waterloo and it felt great!  I'm so glad I'm able to do this and I hope to continue doing this on my bike ride to work :).

Statistics:

I took a total of 7 trips this past week (the first one being from work to home on Monday after I first received the bike).  This totaled to 25.3 km!

- Ashok R. from Google