This morning I participated in my third annual Bike to Work Day.  After ditching me last year, Kim decided to join in again for the fun.  We started our ride around 5:45 this morning, after mapping out a route last night.  Once again it was a different route than used the other two years, though there are some similarities.  We started on a route similar to what we used two years ago, weaving along Franklin, Dartmouth, Colorado, and Quincy.  Once at Quincy we hopped on the High Line Canal trail to take us all the way to the same Panera we visited before for the free food and drink.  From there we continued on Orchard over towards Kim’s office.  As we arrived there just before 7:30 she remarked that we should bike to work more often, as it wasn’t as tough as she remembered it being.

I continued on from Kim’s office, remembering that the ride from there to my office was pretty hilly before, but hoping that my route would be a little better.  Besides, the weather was great and I was hoping to find another breakfast station.  I quickly rode to the other side of I-25 and entered the area I referred to last year as Inverness land, where nearly all the streets have the same name.  However, I didn’t make one wrong turn this year and ended up passing in front of the Colorado Athletic Club Inverness for a couple of slices of orange and some orange juice.  It wasn’t nearly as good as the free bagel from Panera, but I wasn’t too hungry anyway.  I continued on my way, and quickly saw the office sitting up on the last massive hill of the ride.  I ride the hill pretty regularly, now that I am in the office daily, and often bring my bike on the light rail commute.  Though it is always a tough climb, it was nothing like today.  I managed to find the strength to get to the top and arrived right around 8:30.  Even after a quick shower, no one had realized that I was late or that I even biked all the way from home.

I’m considering riding the bike all the way home after work today, which is something I haven’t yet done on Bike to Work Day. I have another route that I really want to try sometime, so I figure that today might as well be the day. I have a change of clothes to put back on, and I don’t have anywhere to be until 9:30 tonight. As long as I leave by six I think I am going to do it. The route that we took this morning can be seen below.