(Not counting today, of course.) Pretty quiet at work now between tapering off and other people’s vacations. I’m feeling pretty lame-duck. People are taking me out to lunch Thursday and Friday, though, so that’ll make those days go by quicker.
I think I’m going to gather up my stuff Thursday and take it home that night, so all I have to do Friday is bring in my laptop and badge and so on and leave empty-handed. I have surprisingly little stuff here.
I rode my bike to work yesterday! I’d been meaning to do so for a while but had always figured it a bit too far, but then I spent four hours riding on a Sunday a while ago and realized it was nothing. Here’s the route I took there and back. In the morning it was only about 18 Celsius out, so once I hit Carling I just followed it the rest of the way, and got to work with half an hour to spare. On the way home the humidex was 32, so I took it a bit slower and followed a bike path through the Greenbelt instead of taking Carling direct.
The ride in was easy, but the air was so thick on the ride home that I felt pretty tired out. I’d really wanted to do it at least once, though, so I’m glad I fit it in before I was done.
Odd thing: I must have encountered at least half a dozen cyclists wearing helmets that hadn’t been produced for ten or fifteen years. Folks, those aren’t even useful for keeping your beer cold now.
I don’t know how often I’ll ride my bike to school next year though. Yesterday I threw jeans and a polo shirt in my bag and showered when I got to work, but it’s less practical when I have to do the same with business casual clothes, with no office, and only for a 2-3h class instead of an 8h day. And with a bus that goes from my door straight to school, I’d rather arrive dry and cool.
3 responses to “three days to go!”
How long did that ride take (there or back) ?
I ask because I’m very cursorily assessing the plausibility of riding a bike to/from Carleton from some more habitable place in the city. The idea of buying a car has kept me from even considering attending there.
45 or 50 minutes there, bit over an hour back, but I sort of went out of my way on the ride back to stay away from rush-hour traffic and in the shade.
Here’s a map thingy of Ottawa’s bike paths and routes. From where I am, going down Island Park through the Experimental Farm to Carleton is probably around 6 km or 20 minutes, and probably similarly from downtown along the canal.
Don’t forget that Carleton has an O-Train stop too, which means that it’s pretty accessible from anywhere along the Transitway in the north end of the city. I’m planning on being basically car-free next year since parking downtown or on campus is expensive. Taking the 96 from Westboro station to Campus station is going to take me 18 minutes according to the OCTranspo website, while from Westboro station to Carleton via the 96 and O-Train is 19 minutes.
I rode my bike to school far more than I ever rode my bike to work. The only prerequisite was a really good book bag. A side-slung bag with 10kg or more of books in it can be a significant hazard….
The good news is, there’s a gym and shower in a reasonable location, and it’s easy to get in and out quickly.
I found a bike especially useful for those little errands that one likes to run between classes. It’s often possible to find oneself stranded downtown with just enough time to accomplish nothing useful. A bike makes it possible to do nothing useful over a much wider area. 8^)