The difference a ride makes

The ride home from work today once again reminded me why I like bicycling to work so much. The ride itself is pretty unspectacular, there is a nice enough descent and a pretty good climb, then a whole lot of traffic lights; but it's the act of riding that makes it worthwhile.

By the end of the day I was feeling pretty run-down and just in a bit of a funk. I think this has something to do with feeling as though I have not accomplished anything since getting the grant out; revising a lab manual and writing a recommendation letter seem kind of trivial in comparison to a grant for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, if I had to drive home I'm certain that my mood would not have improved. I never feel better driving somewhere; most often I get annoyed at bad drivers, shitty traffic and/or lack of parking. But on the bike things are different.

I guess it just comes down to doing some physical work and probably the general feeling of joy that I get from riding. It doesn't matter that I probably have over a dozen stop signs/lights on my ride or that I have about a 2 km long hill to climb (with backpack), those things are trivial in the end. Certainly the riding does take something out of me, by the end of the week I'm topping 100 km of riding just for commuting. It's not as much as I used to ride (hell that could be less than a single ride/race) but with the pressures and time of work it gets physically tiring. But all the same it results in an inevitable change in my attitude, I can be feeling crappy before a ride, I never feel (psychologically) crappy after a ride.

So let me just throw this out as a suggestion to those few of you who read my blog. If you do drive to work daily try riding home from work one night. Sure the logistics suck in some cases to set this up, but give it a shot, you may be surprised at the difference it makes.

As a side note, if you are looking for a way to listen to music or podcasts while you ride get an iPod shuffle. I have one of the previous generations and as you can see from the photo below it can be very convenient to use. I happen to have earbuds with a cord that can be shortened so I don't have to deal with a really long mess of wire. I would also suggest only using a single earbud, so that you can hear traffic with the other ear. And if you are wondering what I'm listening to I've started the Great Conversations series from the University of Minnesota; the older ones are a bit dated, but quite engaging to listen to.