I was Told that Winter was Over

I mean, in real life. Not Game of Thrones life. Anyway...

Some pretty serious thunderstorms and even a few tornadoes whipped through parts of Ohio yesterday evening. Columbus mostly escaped unscathed, and the worst of our severe weather seemingly had moved out overnight. With little precipitation in the forecast, I decided to commute via bike again on day 15 of 30 Days of Biking:

As you can see, we didn't skate by completely damage-free. This was one of several downed trees I witnessed today, and the remnants of the storm seemed to stick around longer than expected. I faced some pretty fierce swirling winds on both commutes and throughout my work day, and I even saw a few snow flurries in the early morning.

Needless to say, it wasn't the most fun day to be on a bicycle, or to be outside in general. It felt more like early Winter than mid-spring. While battling a stiff headwind this morning that forced me to pedal at full bore on a downhill less than 2 miles from home, I actually thought about turning back and getting in my car. For whatever reason, I kept going. I guess I felt like I had to?

I knew deep down, I had to because I always feel better working after a good morning ride. And then I realized that I've actually done more commuting by bicycle than car this month, something I haven't done since moving to Columbus. I decided to have a little fun with that thought.

According to Strava, I've commuted more than 120 miles via bicycle this month, which means I've spent that much less time in a car. But, the car mileage I've avoided doesn't really stop there. My commute via bicycle is about 8.6 miles one way. By car, that number grows to 13. I've commuted via bicycle 14 times this month, so I've actually saved 180 miles in gas expenditures. If I keep that up over the course of the month, I may not need to buy gas for an entire month, which would be pretty awesome.

With a proposed gas hike coming this Summer, I may work a little harder to keep that flow going after this month is over. Speaking of, we're halfway home in 30 DoB. How ya doin? Still riding along?



30 Days of Biking 2019 Mileage Total: 228.4