I finally had a day where I wasn’t driving the kids to school or camp, I wasn’t stopping at Trader Joe’s on the way home, and nothing else was there to preclude me from biking to work. So I did it. No problem.

My commute is about five miles each way, and I think the bike ride took maybe an extra five minutes. 

My biggest problem is that I have to ride down some pretty major streets. And LA isn’t really a bike-friendly city, so I actually took to the sidewalk in a few places, like around freeway entrances where I’ve seen many cars swing wildly across three lanes to get on an entrance ramp. In those areas, I took the safe route.

Cars in LA really don’t get how to pass a bike on the street. In fact, I’d wager that all of my energy savings were lost by having other cars crawl behind me, then jam on the gas when they thought they could safely pass.

Nice ride, in the end. No radio, no phone, just the fresh air (really) and the wind.