KC Bike Week 2009 - Day 5

Another morning of fighting those S/SW winds. It is always nice to start your day with a pleasant ride into work, but those head winds usually take all the fun out of it. Today was no exception.

First stop this morning was the Wheel Cyclery for their Coffee Break Stop that they were sponsoring for Bike Week. I am usually well on my to work at this time of morning, but I wanted to stop by and support some of the functions that Eric Rogers and the Car Free Challenge crew put together. I was hoping that Heather would be in extra early, but Starbucks did not open until 0600. I was able to hang out for a few minutes and picked up some goodies including some vanilla and chocolate Petite French Cakes. With main ingredients like sugar, butter and milk cream I decided I would wait until my arrival at work to enjoy them.

By the time I got back on the road, I was about 30 minutes behind schedule. I tried my darnedest to make up the time with the mostly downhill run before the the climb up to Cliff Drive. The below view of the city gave me some motivation, but the winds were not helping my cause (nor was stopping to take a picture :-). Soon I was getting "will you be there today" emails from my director at work and Carolynn was calling to check up on me. Ended up bringing back 15 minutes of that time, but still arrived late. Damn those morning winds....

I have food on the mind today. Here at The Stowers Institute we have a nice cafe'. I missed the breakfast special due to being late so I wound up eating some oatmeal and one of those french cakes. What should I have for lunch? Grilled Vegetable Napoleon, Taco Salad, Baked Lasagna, Chicken, Roasted Vegetable pizza or breaded Cod??? The Chicken with some chunky potato soup sounds like a plan. I need to load up for the ride home....

Just heard about a fellow cyclist/commuter who was hit by a careless driver in Iowa. Kim West has the update on Leesa Shoemaker.

Time to take a nap. I ate way too much lunch. Very sleepy now.....

How did everyone fair on their commute home? Did you get wet? Did you make it home safely? I sure hope everyone got home o.k. My work schedule allows me to leave by 1600, so I missed most of the rain. The little I did get actually felt good. Was it warm/humid today or was it just me? By the time I got done with my 24 mile commute home I was soaked with sweat. It's been a long time since I felt humidity. Looks like Summer is just around the corner.

Only two more days left in this years challenge. I am getting in a good groove and hopefully will be back to commuting 3 to 4 time each week. The first part of this year I have been enjoying XM radio while driving to work instead of commuting. You get in a habit of doing something and it is hard to change. I am glad that I signed up for this years challenge again. I am well on my way to developing my commuting habit again.