#30daysofbiking

Today was my 31st consecutive day on the bike.  The “official” #30daysofbiking takes place every April.  I’m not sure what year it started, but by the time I heard about it, I no longer had a “regular” bike commute, and I’ve never participated in the April challenge.  Then, a few weeks ago, I happened across a tweet about #30daysofbiking in September.  By that point, I already had 14 or 15 consecutive days on the bike (in August), which put me halfway to the 30-day point.  I decided to make thirty happen.

Over the past thirty days, I’ve made my thrice weekly commutes to school, weekly trip to Bumbershoot Aerial Arts, numerous shorter errand runs (e.g., grocery store, library), and a few weekend family rides.

I would love to say that I also had 30 consecutive car-free days, but that was not the case.  I may have come close if not for coming down with a cold a few weeks ago.  While I did get on a bike on the days I wasn’t feeling so hot (motivated by not missing a day), I kept the distances quite short and made a couple of trips by car that I would have otherwise made by bike, due to low energy levels.

Of course, the actual challenge is to bike all thirty days in September, which means I’m 17 days in.  I’m not sure I’ll actually finish out September, though the competitor and perfectionist in me is certainly tempted.

As I was riding home from class on Monday night, I realized that I’ve been a bike commuter without a commute for almost SIX years now.  It feels really good to get my bike groove back!