I biked over the the Mountain View station to catch the 8:59 train. Once it arrived I was met with the conductor telling me and the other bikers that there’s no more room. Had to wait another 30 mins for the next one to arrive…sigh

This time I caught the baby bullet and made it to work pretty fast. Only other problem was that I arrived with only a few minutes to spare. In the process of buying my pass I bought a zone 3 to zone 1 pass. When I saw zone 1 I thought 1 zone perfect. Only after getting in did I notice my mistake oops.

Will try to go again and more often as I actually enjoy the ride.

I’ve invested about 120 dollars into a floor pump, some Shimano MTB Shoes, and some cleats for my Time ATAC pedals (it was truly hard to pedal in running shoes when I tried this last summer).

I decided to start small today by biking to the CalTrain Station in Mountain View. Perfect since today since today was Spare the Air Day that means free rides till noon. I juuuuuust missed the 7:57 train…literally it pulled away as I ran to it.

Luckily the next train was at 8:05 and was not really crowded at all. Also missing the last train let me know which car was the bike one (I could also have followed all the ppl with bikes). Luckily it was not crowded at all and I was getting off in 2 stops so small mistakes on my part weren’t magnified (like not putting a tag on my bike…I finally get why they do that now)

All in all it took me from 7:40 am to 8:20 am to get into work, I think if I had made that first train I could have been in by 8:10.

That’s not too bad. We’ll see how it compares to riding the whole way back home (I plan to do that after work).

“The biggest problem is my butt hurts. Is that normal?”

Yes, Mr. Edwards it is normal…and I am suffering from the same.

After doing some research online and finding this really useful PDF showing bike paths available from the VTA I plotted another course home that would not take me along the death trap that is El Camino.

Even though the overall distance was a bit longer the ride was a lot more enjoyable this time around. Going along a bike path is a lot more enjoyable than dodging traffic.

Not to mention I didn’t inhale an insect this time. The ride still took about 45 mins which means I was only going about 10 mph, but it felt a lot better this time and I don’t think I’ll be having a sore bum tomorrow, Huzzah!

After a lot of looking around for a cheap mountain bike for Tiff we finally found something that was pretty good today.

After driving over to Milpitas we met up with a really nice guy who sold us a Specialized Hardrock with a 15″ frame. It also came with some upgraded shocks and grip shifters. I don’t think she’ll be outgrowing this bike for a while so if you see us riding around wave. I’ll try to post up pics if I ever get time.

All in all it’s a 7 mile ride one way down El Camino (the 82) praying that I don’t get killed by a car from behind me.

Things that made me fear for my life:

Car’s parked on El Camino making me ride farther out into traffic.

No mirrors so that I can see the impending doom and steel myself for impact.

The thought that I’m going to have to ride back home sometime.

Feeling that I was not going to make it all the way and being stuck miles from work and home.

Things that made me feel better:

Getting to work.

Seeing other bikers (20 of them showed up on this one street going different directions then disappeared a block later)

Seeing 2 bikers lightly T-bone each other because they weren’t paying attention.

Seeing a biker get off her bike and walk up a hill I was going up (I barely made it)

Notable things of a good or bad nature:

Swallowing a bug.

Having a wet back due to backpack.

Jelly Legs.

Sore Butt.