Gearing Up

You may not be aware, but this week is the 12th Annual Bike to Work Week!

If you've been groaning about gas prices, maybe this is the week to try your biking skills out and save, save, SAVE at the pump!

If biking the rest of the week seems a tad ambitious, maybe you can celebrate Thursday's Bike to Work Day. 

Why is there a Bike to Work Day in the middle of a Bike to Work Week? I really have no idea. Maybe the city's Graphic Designers liked to make posters, mugs, and T-shirts.

What I do know is that you can pledge to ride to work this Thursday and have a chance to win a commuter bike and other swag. And that there will be several pit stops around the city all morning. Plus, if you really feel you've bit off more than you can chew halfway through your ride, you can flag down an MTA bus, put your bike on front, and ride for free. (I used to do this all the time, riding only halfway into work but the whole way back home. It's not considered cheating, I swear.)

Before you decide to ride, though, a few words of advice:

• Pack your bag carefully the night before. (Yeah, this is a biggie.)
  
• Choose your route wisely. Pick out quiet streets instead of busy ones. Heck, you're only going 14 mph, you don't really need to be on Wilshire Blvd. with cars whizzing by you, right?
• Give yourself time to decompress once you get into the office.
• Don't forget snacks for work! (Reward yourself with chocolate, you just burned up a lot of calories.)

Who knows, you might bike to work more!

Then you'll be asking yourself stuff like, "If everyone loves the weather here so much, why the heck are they always in their cars?"

I ask myself stuff like that all the time.