The not-so-pretty part of commuting on city streets

Last year when I commuted to work on my bike, I generally parked at a location a few miles closer and then rode the C470 trail to the DTC.  It ended up being about 12 miles, 17 miles if I depart from my house.  But this year, I've been commuting in via Dry Creek which takes me about 55 minutes and is 14 miles one way.  I really like being able to leave right from home actually.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that it really requires your full attention to ride on the road with traffic as there's a lot going on.  You have to constantly watch what's ahead, listen to what's behind.  Work hard at being courteous to the cars on the road while keeping yourself safe.  After a few weeks though, I kind of reached a point of mental exhaustion.  Last week I felt like I had a lot (ok, maybe only like 3 times) of battling traffic, people yelling at me and honking.  One day I decided to stick to the sidewalks as much as I could which resulted in a flat (there's so much debris on the sidewalk and at one point I hit the curb too hard after crossing a road).  When using the sidewalk I realized it's almost just as dangerous because cars pull into the crosswalk rather than stopping behind, so it was a bit of a dodging game.

So I decided to take a bit of a break and stick to the trails for a while.  Commuting by bike, whether to work or the store can be tiring. Especially if you do it a lot.  It often requires a bit of planning and organization on top of the other things you "deal" with when commuting.  My point is, its ok to find ways to ease up in yourself to help you stay dedicated. Don't burn yourself out, on whatever it is.