This morning at dark-thirty, I hopped on my SXP, and joined the ranks of those who bike to work. After moving to Crowley last month, I have been a lot closer to work, so this morning, I filled the Aerotrunk I just got from Nelson with a load that evblazer would be proud of (well, maybe not quite THAT much), and headed to work. The weatherman had predicted no rain today, so of course, it started misting before I got a mile from home, and misted all the way to work.
 
You can see the bikely map of the route I took here. I used side streets to get out of Crowley, then took Crowley Road all the way to Sycamore School Road, a little over half a mile down Sycamore School Road, then side streets the rest of the way to work. Crowley Road has a wide, paved shoulder on the stretch that I rode.
 
I had no issues at all. I think it's a good route. Traffic this morning was very light. The only heavy traffic I got in was on the way home, riding down that stretch of Sycamore School Road. There are three lanes each direction, two traffic lights and a railroad track on that short stretch, so the traffic isn't really high speed, and people had no problem getting around me.
 
I rode an easy pace on this new route in the dark going to work, averaging 13.2 mph for that stretch. It's more uphill going home, but I averaged 14.1 mph on that part of the ride anyway, being confident in the route and more comfortable with riding in daylight. There are a couple of short, steep hills to climb on the return route, but it's a fairly flat route. It was 12.6 miles to work, and 12.5 miles coming home.
 
I'll be a fair weather commuter, skipping the really rainy or cold days. Hopefully, I can ride to work two or three days a week. Comments at work ranged from, "I should ride MY bike to work" to "You rode from Crowley, are you CRAZY?"

Go Bud, Go!!!!  Yeah!!
 
Everyone who commutes deserves a free pass in my book. Good to hear it went well, and don't worry about not riding every day. I used to have to call for a pickup ride part-way home about every other Friday during the summer. My body would just go on strike, and about every three months I'd have to take a 3-day vacation. Ride when it's fun so you don't burn out.

Wow, you work about a mile from my apartment.  Good job on the commute!