Dave's Experiment

For those of you who don't know Dave too well, he likes to experiment. Let me give you a couple examples... raw milk - a recent blog of mine :), crazy diets with low sugar and no white carbs (which actually works well for us both!), super intense workouts, training for a marathon with no further distance trained than 12 miles.

His most recent experiment is to bike to work 15 miles each way. Luckily there is a decent path for most of the trip right along the Charles river. 

This all started when Dave got sick of feeling a little stressed while going on the T. It wasn't always reliable, would be so full he'd have to wait for two more trains, etc. He wanted to do something that he'd think would be more reliable. There are a lot of people that bike around downtown, and a coworker of his bikes about 15 miles into work.  So the experiment begins.... :)

This weekend he had a test run. He got all geared up and figured out the 15 mile trek. He had a couple detours, but got to his building in an hour and 27 minutes. Then I picked him up, he got some yummy sticky buns from Flour bakery by his work, and we drove on back home.

Attire: Hat, helmet, aviators, scarf, gloves, smartwool long sleeve base shirt, fleece, outer shell, long underwear, track pants

I wanted to highlight here that in order for his track pants to not get caught in the chain he used my headbands. :)

 So like I said, he made it to his building! Pretty cool, Dave.  But of course, this new experiment costs a little bit of money. Dave said now he doesn't have to pay for the trains, and it should even out in a couple months - so fingers crossed. So like I said, since Dave plans to bike throughout the winter he has to buy some items. So he needs some warm base layers, bike fenders, a bike rack, clear glasses/goggles to protect his eyes, waterproof shoes, and front and rear lights. He has about half of these things already. 

The one I'd like to point out is the crazy bright front light. So Dave comes home and says this was kind of expensive, but it's a safety feature, so it's important.  'Was it like $50?' 'Hmm, a little more.' 'So more like $100?' '(Smile)... a little more' 'What?? Like how much?' 'Well it was $150, but remember it's a safety feature.'  ... So for any of you who would like to do this kind of experiment, be prepared to spend a little bit of money for safety features. :)

And in case you are curious, Dave has been riding his bike to and from work this week. He's loving it - although it's pretty decent cool weather for biking right now. Unfortunately today the bathroom stalls were all full so he decided to change out in the open.  He said nicely dressed middle aged men kept walking in!!! He said he thought they all looked at him like he was homeless. lol  If anything interesting happens on his bike rides, I'll most likely share. :)

Boston Tip of the Day: There are a lot of hills around Boston! Dave bikes uphill for the last couple miles - it's crazy!  Oh, except he does luck out in downtown because long ago they filled in the ocean with a bunch of dirt to make Boston bigger (fun fact!!), so it's nice and flat.