Days are getting longer

It was really difficult thinking about the bike ride to work this morning.  It was dark and raining.  I'm just getting too old to commute by bike in poor weather.  I just rather ride my gas guzzling suv, my bad.  However, I mustered enough motivation to get going and get myself in by bike.  By the time I got to work, I was soaking wet.  I was not looking forward to the ride home and putting my wet clothes back on, yuk.

When it was time to commute home, the weather changed for the better.  Not only that, I'm noticing the days are getting longer!  Sunlight!   My mood really changed going home.  I felt great!  I love biking in good weather.  Funny why that is.

The photo is of the Lions Gate Bridge.  After riding through the downtown core, then through Stanley Park, I cross the bridge to the North Shore on the way home.  It's a good ride and what a view.

It doesn't seem more than a week ago, that it was still dark commuting home.

With the Olympics still on, many people are biking now.  Amazingly, the traffic is really light all day.

It's half way of 3 weeks of riding. Another week and half and the Olympics will be over and many roads re-opened and I can drive again.

The bridge is quite a climb every day.  I feel my legs getting stronger and my cardio getting a little better. or maybe, it's just the sunshine.

The games are just about here!

 In a few days, the 2010 Olympics will begin.  There's a real buzz in the air.  The torch has almost arrived.  The athletes have arrived.  Tourists are flooding in.  Things are starting to happen all over town.  The excitement is building.  

Vancouver had been voted  multiple times, one of the most livable cities in the world.  But as with most big cities, we also have our problems, big problems.  Even more so with the economy as it is.  Homelessness, drugs, alcohol, gangs, violence, money,  poverty and the many many other issues.  We have hard problems to figure out.    Many of the 10 thousand reporters coming into the city are reporting on the many dichotomies of the games, of Vancouver of this nation.   That's ok, we need to look into the mirror and deal with it.  I can deal with that.

For me,  the Olympics are about our youth.  I really get inspired by our youth.  I hope the games stay focused on the youth, the human spirit and the higher ideals that we aspire to.

  

It's now Peddle Power

With a number of road and bridge closures in preparation for the Winter Olympics , it's now time to switch modes of transportation.  Driving around the city is becoming much harder.    I really can't bare to ride the crowded buses everyone else has switched to, so I've decided to bike it to/from work for 3 weeks until the Olympics are over Feb 28.

I started riding last Friday with the closure of 2 more bridges.   I switched from the luxury of my SUV to peddling a bike.  It seems a bit ridiculous to drive solo in a big gas guzzling SUV but that's how I got to work in the downtown core.  Although I am somewhat apprehensive about riding in bad whether,  I've committed to biking it, whatever the weather.  Lucky me, it's more like spring that winter, which is a bit of a problem for the Winter Olympics.  We've had our warmest January on record and February is just as warm so far.

I have to get up a little earlier.  Ride in the dark.  I come home a little later, a bit sweaty.  If I can do 3 weeks, I may try to ride a little more often.    On a real positive side, I'm getting two good workouts in and saving $15 per day.  We'll see.