Training Day

30 Days of Biking 2018 Mileage Total: 494.9

Day 24 was quite the day, not necessarily in the physical sense like yesterday, but more so in the mental capacity.

As I mentioned in passing yesterday, I'm going to be moving away from Philly at the end of May (again, more on that some other time - maybe even tomorrow). I put in my notice a little over a week ago. Since then, my team and I have been slowly putting pieces in place to ensure a smooth transition, one of which is to train a replacement.

I conducted a "working interview" today, which was basically a job shadow. I've done these several times before, but today just felt a little bit different. The reality that I was actually training a potential replacement rather than a future colleague opened my eyes and made me a bit nostalgic. It's a rather jarring epiphany when someone asks you several questions about all the tasks you do on a day-to-day basis that seem routine at this point. Training is good, but for this reason, it's exhausting. I actually realized that I know more than I give myself credit for, and also how far this company has come since I started out as a morning delivery cyclist nearly 3 1/2 years ago:

Inevitably, I started telling stories of the days of yore, bad and good. As you're probably aware if you've read this blog, I've seen my fair share of craziness whilst toting laundry around this city. What else is crazy is that two of my colleagues that work in my plant are the only two employees that have been with the company longer than me (with the exception of our owner/CEO). They in turn have seen their fair share of craziness inside the laundry room. That also makes me feel a little bit better about someone stepping into my shoes. Having some veteran leadership is always helpful for new folks, right?

Anyway, for the introduction, we had some more beautiful weather today before the clouds started to move in after lunch, and a much lighter route (if you want to call 11 miles light):

Things took a little longer than normal as expected, but overall, the day went smoothly and I was damn grateful for that. I think it goes without saying that it would weigh heavily on my conscience if I vacated my position in anything less than ideal conditions. I'd hate to leave anyone hanging, and today was a huge step toward making sure that doesn't happen. Mental exhaustion can never win over peace of mind.

And with that, we're on to the final 6 days of this little annual adventure. Where the heck does the time go?

#30daysofbiking