Add a little dirt to your diet.

I posted on this last fall...but it seems a the local bicycle world is a bit slow these days in terms of news and blog content.  So here's a reminder.  If your commute is getting a little routine, look between the roads and hunt out a 1/10th of a mile of trail here or there.  This little gem (3/10th of a mile!!) is right here (see below) if you happen to live in my neighborhood! 

Yellow=Normal Street Route, Green/Red=Modified Street and Dirt Route

The resulting route change adds about a 1/10th of a mile to my total commute and gives me 3/10th of a mile of dirt riding.  It's not an everyday thing, but it's there if I want it.  So look around your commute....there's probably a back alley, service road, or path that might just provide a little fun on those days where things are getting boring!

An adventurous morning bike commute.

Ok, I will admit that the commute today was challenging.  The neighborhood roads in Reno are never on the plow list, so they become hard packed, rutted ice.  I didn't stop for a picture of this because it is best to concentrate on not eating it.  The studded tires on the Xtracycle definitely help, but you can still find yourself kissing terrafirma in short order.

Once you make it to more traveled roads you might find a two-track type area where you can at least get out of the ruts.  You then have to be very careful in regards to overtaking traffic.  They too are focused on the two-tracks and don't tend to pass very safely.

Finally, I make it to the river path.  It is usually plowed within 24 hours of any snow!  It was clear sailing from here, or so I thought.  This is what I encountered on the rest of the commute....

The path had a road closed sign at the ice rink.  A construction crew was doing some concrete cutting.  You can't go around the other side of the rink so you're forced to cut through.  I walked to be polite.  Really there was nothing to the "construction" that required a closure.  The worst part was their large truck blocks your view of traffic in the cross walk (or more importantly, traffics view of me trying to cross).

A bit farther along, just across the bridge at John Champion Park, another road closed sign!?  This one you really have to go through, as there is no way back that doesn't involve a 2 mile detour on roads that aren't friendly even on nice days.  Apparently they are scooping out something in the river and hauling it up the path.

The only bad part about this one is envisioning how much damage this does to the path.  It's not build to handle 10 ton trucks!

When I finally got to Rock Blvd. (which has bike lanes)....the bike lanes are the location the snow is pushed to.  This leaves you exposed and basically riding in traffic, so it's a bit nerve fraying.

So that's how a standard 6.5 mile commute turns into an adventure!  A few obstacles never hurt anyone eh?  They did make what is normally a ho-hum commute into something interesting!