not quite so long this time

Monday morning I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat and a bad attitude (up a lot at night with a screaming baby). I had been planning on biking in but wasn't really in the mood, but the weather was gorgeous enough that I felt obligated to get over it and saddle up. I'm glad I did- who knows how many days will be that nice. I overcooked it a bit though on my knee, it was pretty tender for a while. I think I might be sitting a bit behind where I should be- 40 miles of commuting may not be the best way to dial in a new bike, but what are you going to do?

Random observations of my commute:
I should probably invest in some energy bars just to have one in my bag. I don't think they have Cliff bars here, which is a shame. If I'm far enough along the bonking path to want an energy bar, nothing tastes better than a Cliff bar.

There is a bike elevator that takes you up to the street level of the Tay bridge on the Dundee side. Riding in this elevator is much more fun to me than it should be.

Every time I've crossed the bridge, I've seen at least a couple of other bikers that have the look of commuters. By the time I get half a mile further along the Fife coastal path, there's no one else and I have yet to see another person on a bike between Tayport and St Andrews. Obviously not a well traveled commuter trail. I've seen a few people biking on the tantamount-to-suicide route when I drive in, but I'm not sure where the rest of these people disappear to.

In the pleasant forest bit, I found a path that is both a shortcut and two miles of singetrack. How sweet is that. It's dead flat except for 100 meters and there's no technical challenge, but on a commute? Awesome. There are a couple of other, shorter sections on the side of the main trail or road that I can hit- I think of them as singletrack treats.

I'm really happy to be biking again.