Marvelous Monday

30 Days of Biking 2018 Mileage Total: 468.0

Halle-freaking-lujah what a beautiful day it's been to be on a bike!

As I mentioned this morning, I had a busy day ahead of me that started quite early. 7 AM to be exact. With a beautiful day in the forecast, I was actually quite excited about this. There's nothing better than getting out early in the morning and getting some fresh air and/or a workout.

In full admittance, if it were a Saturday, I probably would have gotten my fresh air by having a cup of coffee and breakfast out back, and eventually made my way on to the bike for a mid-day ride. My job schedule doesn't really allow for that.

Thanks to the stellar work of my laundry team pulling a weekend shift, I had 15 bags ready to deliver to one client in addition to my usually busy Monday workload. Here's approximately half of that 15:

I know it looks a little awkward and potentially dangerous (I mean, riding a bike in the city is always dangerous), but it's actually a fairly light load. It's mostly sleeping bags and rain gear. One more positive to sunny days is that I don't need to worry about a rain cover, so I can actually strap a couple bags on top of the "full" bin, meaning less trips and potentially wasted time. Not that time on a bike is wasted, but you know what I mean. Anyway...

I already knew the first delivery would require two trips because of the volume. When I arrived for the first half of the delivery, I was greeted with a surprise. More laundry!

Again, I knew I had to make another trip back to the laundromat, and hauling an empty trike basically means we're not making money off that trip, so it was actually quite a pleasant surprise. It also meant that I'd be hauling 3 full trikes for a round trip totaling nearly 6 miles before 9 AM. Good stuff:

Once I finished up there, I filled up the trike yet again with the lower loop of my usual route, and then again for the upper loop. Mondays can be quite maniacal if you're not prepared, but they can be marvelous as well:

Again, I know it looks awkward and you might think that those bags would fall out, but they're actually quite stable. There's a bit of adjustment that has to come from the rider to avoid tipping over. It's called slowing down for turns. What a concept.

All told, I finished all of my deliveries around 12:30. Even I was surprised to see this mileage total:

Quite the hectic morning, but again, the weather was so gorgeous I didn't even notice the time until I got back to the laundromat. Riding is just easier on days like today, and the rhythm of the day just feels more natural. No missed appointments, either (I'll pat myself on the back).

I made a pit stop on the ride home to sum it up:

Days like these, I will miss once I leave Wash Cycle at the end of May (which, by the way, is happening in case I didn't mention it here - more on that some other time). For now, I'm glad Spring seems to have finally arrived and I intend on soaking up every last bit of it. This might have been the best Monday I've had in a long time, and it's not over. Time to take a ride and find some dinner. I highly recommend you get out and enjoy the evening too...

#30daysofbiking