It takes me about 60-65 minutes to make my commute. I leave at 5:55 AM. Susan leaves at 6:30. I ride 13 miles she drives 22 miles. I get to work about 7:00 and so does she. During my commute I have seen an uncountable number of rabbits, dozens of box turtles, three snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, and of course birds out the wazoo. I ride 8 miles of my commute down the Swamp Rabbit Trail with no cars. I share it with joggers and other bikers as well as the occasional weird guy pushing a grocery cart and the guy that is always talking to himself and waving his arms. I go by Furman University, through a forest and by suburbs, past a swamp, a locomotive yard, by the Peace Center and across Main St, through Cleveland park, pass Greenville Tec and along Nicholtown and pass Sterling School to the office.
Susan goes down Poinsett Highway pass Cherrydale to Stone Ave and through a zillion red lights to I-385. From there she merges with a gazillion other cars as she drives to her office. Along the way she has burned up $676.00 worth of gas. She can sit through 3 stop light changes at E.North and Stone trying to get home and she battles through Cherrydale traffic each way, each day.
Now, I know you can say she never arrived at work with advanced stages of frostbite on her toes and fingers. But that’s winter riding. You have to expect a little discomfort. I know she’s not soaking wet with sweat when she gets there either and she doesn’t have to take a sponge bath and change in to fresh clothes. Small consolation. She’s never gotten wet in a rain storm riding to or from work. Big deal. I don’t think she has every gotten out of her car and fallen down in the driveway gasping for breath either after riding home in 107 heat index, but so what. I also know she doesn’t have to climb the Big Easy each morning either.
THE BIG EASY
The Big Easy is my finishing hill going to work. I call it that because I’m in my biggest, easiest gears. Besides it sounds better than soul sucking, heart stopping, appalling steep hill. It climbs from the Reedy River where the trail intersects E.Faris. I go up E.Faris to McAlister Rd to Greenacre Rd. It’s over a mile at 10% grade in places. It’s not all steep but it’s almost all up. I know every inch of pain on the Big Easy. The payoff is I get to ride down it coming home. And Susan says she can’t believe I ride my bike to work and back. I wouldn’t trade places for anything. Would you?
Along the way my two thousand miles equals:
2 2/3 barrels of oil
133.3 gals of gas
$433.00 dollars not spent on gas
10 lbs lost body weight
1 bike chain
2 chain rings
1 rear cog set
