Carbon Diet Challenge, Day 1: Pollen Storm

I picked the wrong week to start bike commuting.

Last weekend, the trees unleashed a storm of pollen that has been terrorizing the area. Pollen has become so prolific that I'm afraid there might soon be trees sprouting out from between the keys of my laptop. It's on every surface, and it's getting kicked up with the wind forming little pollen-devils and pollen-clouds. It's as bad as a sand storm in the desert.

To say the least, this is not ideal conditions for biking. I hadn't even left my neighborhood today before I was wondering how many gallons of saline it was going to take to flush the pollen cakes out of my eyes. Though I'm still coughing, and rubbing my eyes, I'll try to move past all that and focus on some of the thoughts spurred by the beginning of this experiment.

I'll start off by saying I don't recommend bike commuting to everyone. I happen to already be a fair-weather cycling enthusiast. I own a bike, helmet, and appropriate gear. I'm in decent shape. I'm thinking of this adventure not as a great tidal shift, but as providing some impetus for an activity that I've always thought about doing, and have wanted to do for some time.


Day one is a good idea to consider a route. If you're thinking you'll just navigate over to the new google.maps "by bike" capability -- not so fast! In the Durham/Chapel Hill area, this will not always get you on a safe, repeatable route. For instance, it put me right onto 15/501 from I-40 to Academy Rd. Anyone who's ever driven this 45 mph stretch, currently with construction, has thought to themselves: Now, why isn't this a highway? It's a box store wasteland, with stoplights and traffic that won't quit, especially during commuting hours.

Being somewhat familiar with the surface roads, I chose to follow the same path I drive to work, down Old Erwin. It's still pretty busy, but it has some shoulder, and a nicer view.

To avoid major overlap with the morning traffic rush, I sent off a few emails from the home office before gathering the bike supplies and hitting the road. I encountered fewer cars, but at least one large truck, which I will admit, is a scary experience.

The ride home, which I did not time as well, was an experience being on the other end of the line of commuters waiting patiently for the first car to work up the nerve and space to sneak around the biker. Unfortunately, even if I'm going a blazing 25 mph (kinda fast on a bike), that's an agonizing crawl to the internal combustion community.

So, here are some thoughts from the first day:

1. Share the road. Drivers: be patient with the biker, and no, I don't think it's necessary to swing all the way into the other lane. There is such a thing as passing safely without threatening the oncoming traffic, yourself, and the cyclist. Cyclists: stay on the shoulder, minimize swirving, use hand signals, and keep a constant speed. There is room for everyone.

2. Casual skirts make for excellent post commute attire. One of the frustrating things about bike commuting is the sweaty, just wiped off the make-up and ruined my hair, I'm still sweating in my new outfit even though I've been in the office 20 minutes problem, especially for the ladies. I don't think I'll be able to do the bike thing if I have an important meeting or presentation. Luckily there's a bus, at least during the school year, but I'll have to overcome the bus hurdle first...

3. Storage. I will not leave my bike outside. I spent good money on it, and I refuse to leave it to the weather and the vandals (not that I know if this is a problem). It's in my office during the day. So are my sweaty bike clothes. I also have office mates, so this is an issue.

4. Distance. There is probably an ideal bike-commuting distance from campus. My guess is that I would fall outside that circle. That doesn't mean that I can't be maverick, it just means there's more risk, because there's more miles, and more time out on the road. In fact, it took me 45 minutes door-to-door on day one. That's about 10 more than my car-commute. And people have died on the Durham roads during routine commutes to work. It's just not worth that.

5. Stress. Especially with the commuters on the way home, I had to be focused. There were lights to pay attention to, people passing me, me passing people. It's so much easier when I can lean back in my leather seat with the windows down and the radio blasting all the way home. For everyone on the road, this is something to be aware of. And no TEXTING! I can see you!


Happily, the weather was nice today, despite the pollen. I lost steam, though, on the way home, and slowed to a crawl. My back hurt, my sit-bones hurt, my legs were drained. Not a good way to start the experiment, but perhaps expected as it's been months since I've been on my bike, let alone with a backpack.

Not to fear, I will persist. But for now, I'm settling in for the evening with a beer, and my feet up. I think I earned it.