It's Bike This

And bike that.

It's Bike to Work Week, home of Bike to Work Day and Bike to Work Month.

(Somewhere, I'm guessing, 2008 is Year of the Bike. Oh, yup. Here.)

Once again I'm going to try to fulfill my promise to ride to work (and back) all week.

If you've got a bike, you should at least try to work in Bike to Work Day, this Thursday.

Don't feel up to biking the 11 miles from your house to work? Hey, it's okay to Bus and Ride, where you put your bike on the front of the bus and ride part way - over 14 bus lines are free to bikers on Bike to Work Day

I drop my kids off at school (and there is no way around that without leaving my house at 6am), so for this week my bike is on my car for the 6 miles to the school. After dropping them off I bike the other 4 miles into work.

Cheating? Well, non-bikers might consider it cheating. But:

a) I'll be riding my bike 8 miles a day, which is technically biking (I think everyone would agree)

b) My car will be driven 40 fewer miles this week

c) I won't endanger everyone on the road by trying to balance two elementary school children on my bike while riding to their school

If you're at all concerned about the crazy LA traffic (and you should be) remember that you'll be taking "slow streets" instead of main thoroughfares to get to work. These streets are only "slow" to drivers who want to go 40mph, which is why drivers prefer the bigger streets. You'll be doing 10mph on a bike on streets long forgotten by car commuters.

You can check out the bike maps, guide to biking to work, sponsored pit stops, and more at the MTA Web site.

And if your Bike to Work Day is terrible, no worries, you can take your car for the other 239 (or so) days you'll go to work this year.

Let me know if you're joining in!