Bike to Work Week

Just when you thought it was safe to visit the blog.

Readers of this electronic publication (in LA, anyway) are fairly familiar with my annual blogs about Bike to Work Week here in what many have called The Most Unbikeable City in North America (they have never biked in Dallas or Memphis.)

The week kicks off with an event down on Olvera Stree and as advertised above, the Blessing of the Bicycles at Good Samaritan Hospital. The actual Bike to Work Day is on May 14th, but like Earth Day, people stretch it out all week, and even into the month. It's usually the kick in the pants I need to remind me that I need to start riding to work again.

If you're at all considering riding to work, the Los Angeles Bike Coalition has an amazing array of how to's posted on their site, covering every concern I've ever heard about someone biking to work, including Morphing from a Stealth Cyclist into A Worker Bee, Best Way to Carry Your Stuff, and (most important) Plot Your Route.

Here's my advice: Start planning today to ride next Thursday. That can be it, your one ride to work day a year. You can do that, right? If you hate it, write me and I'll send you some chocolate. If you love it, consider doing it maybe twice a year. Or once a month. Or every Friday... whatever you're comfortable with.

You don't even have to ride the whole way. Last summer I bought a folding bike, so I could drop my kids off at school, then just take the bike out of my trunk and ride the rest of the way to work. (This was after trying for months to figure out how to get the kids to school by bike, then going from there.) Even though it's a shorter ride, it's still 8 miles a day, a good light cardio workout, and an excuse to order the Carbo Load Special at Rocco's Pizza.

And yes, just like Eco Week, I'll be blogging about this again. So be prepared.

Now I just have to get my foot healed, as I've been in a boot trying to quell my heel spurs and Plantar fasciitis, and see if I can still remember how to ride a bike.

Shouldn't be too hard.

They say it's just like... um, riding a bike.