Variety is the Spice of Life.

The title translates into, I took a slightly different route to work today.  That's right, even those of us who really love the commute get bored with it after a while.  I'm lucky in that I have a couple routes that get me to work and keep life interesting.....but even those get boring.

Now if you think that interesting means you have to create an entirely new route that detours around town and takes twice as long....you may be disappointed with this post.  If you're slightly more practical, read on, because all you have to do is move over a few blocks on a cross town commute and the dynamics can completely change.

So here are a few of my options:

Mill St.  This route is technically the shortest option at just over 5 miles but has multiple stop lights, so it's not always the fastest.  And yes, I do stop and wait at all the lights.

The River Path.  At 6.3 miles it's a bit longer, but has a super low "risk" rating since I don't have to deal with traffic for more than 4 miles.  And the homeless guys don't really count as a "risk".  It's the same one's every day and they really don't even interact with you unless you say hi...and then they respond in kind.

Today's route.  Basically, down 1st St. and then jogging over to E. 2nd St. all the way out to Sparks.  A little jog on 21st St. to avoid a tight section on Rock Blvd. and then around the remainder of Rock Blvd. to work.

Today's route ended up just under 6 miles, so it's kind of in between the other options.  2nd St. isn't a cycling paradise.  It doesn't have bike lanes and it's 4 lanes wide, but it does have adequate shoulders in most places and traffic is slow (due to numerous traffic lights) and fairly light volume (for a 4 lane road).  It probably didn't hurt that it's Veteren's Day and many people are on holiday, so traffic was light everywhere.

Here's a few pics along the route:

With this route you get to right past the baseball field.  Even if you don't care about baseball, it's a pretty cool building / space.

The corner of E. 2nd St. and Well Ave.  As you can see not much traffic today.  Pretty wide lanes, so there's plenty of room to ride with traffic when it's there.

Corner of e. 2nd St. and Kietzke Lane.  This intersection is a bit narrow but then widens out to a full extra "lane" to ride in all the way to Rock Blvd.

So mix it up if you're bored with the commute.  It might just show you a part of town you don't normally see.

How to get to work....a little variation!

We didn't ride to work today.....but we didn't drive either.  Instead it was time to stretch our legs (e.g. running)!  Wifey is definitely the real runner.  I just tag along on many of her runs because I like to eat and drink and I don't like being fat.

This whole saga started because we went to a good party on Saturday and therefore didn't feel much like the 10 mile run we had planned for Sunday.  Instead, since it was a dreary cloudy day in Reno we sat around and read books and magazines and watched some running movies.

So this morning I noted we could just run the 6 miles to work and the 6 miles home and we'd have knocked out the required miles.  Usually she doesn't like this (she doesn't like to show up to work sweaty), but she went for it today.  Here's how it went (in picture form).

Wifey in the lead.

Glamorous self pic.

Wifey is obviously still in the lead and killing time!

Now I know what you're saying.  Even if you have been convinced you can ride to work....you're surely not going to be running to work.  I mean at least the bike has paniers or room to carry a bag.  What about lunch and work cloths!?

The short answer is keep it simple and light and this is about all you need!

The smallest pack is all you need.  Skip the water bladder....it's cool out!

One little pack holds work pants, shirt, salad, hard boiled eggs, onion, tomato, sliced turkey, and a cup of dressing.  A perfect salad lunch and the whole deal weighs a few pounds!  And yes, that's a razor....we decided to run at the last minute and were pressed for time. 

So if your ride is getting a little stale and you need to stretch your legs give walking to work (or running) a try.  It mixes it up and makes the day go by a little quicker!