First commute of the year

I think I've mentioned before that 2 years ago during the first round of Biggest Loser at work, I used bike commuting as my not-so-secret weapon.  Each Wednesday when we had our weekly weigh-in, I would ride in to work, and the water weight I would lose from sweating on the ride was usually good for an extra pound or so of weight loss.  Last year though, I only commuted on my bike 4 times all year, twice in February and twice in July. 

I wanted to ride to work more often, but one of the things that was always holding me back was that there were two problem spots on the shortest route for me to get to work that had a lot of traffic but little to no shoulder.  If I got out of the house before 7, these usually weren't too bad in the morning, but the afternoon was the bigger headache.  Last year, I tried an alternate route home that was on a much busier road, but it had a nice wide shoulder where I didn't interfere with the traffic at all, except in one or two spots.  The only downfall (if you want to call it that) was that it added about 5 miles to the length of the ride.

At some point last year, the trail on top of the levee in Chesterfield Valley got extended out to the far western end of the valley to a road that offers me another way out that usually has a lot less traffic than either of the other two options.  Today, while I drove into work, I brought my bike with me with the intention of riding home, and I tried this new route.  Using a sample size of one, I was very happy with this option, and I want to thank the Great Rivers Greenway and the City of Chesterfield for making this route possible.  It adds another couple miles to the commute, but on my way home tonight, not including the road my office is on, I think I was passed by about a half dozen cars.  Now my only complaint is the 300+ feet of elevation difference between my home and office.  It's nice in the morning (all downhill, huh?), but coming home can wear you out.  What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger, right? :)

Now off to bed so I wake up early enough to make it in at a decent hour.