Just when I thought I had seen it all, here’s a totally sweet approach to carrying your stuff in an eco-friendly bag that is good for the environment, looks swank, and can double as an emergency patch kit in case you really need one. I’m going to figure out how to get one of these for sure!

When traveling, of course one of those essential tools is my MacBook Pro. Love the computer but HATE the power cord that comes with it. Cool idea how the outer compartment is made just for the power cord and maybe a few other things. Also, love the idea of the vertical configuation, especially when boarding the plane makes sure you don’t bang into everyone when looking for the back-row seat.

I’ve taken the last few months off from bicycle commuting due to injuries and moving into a new apartment. But I’m happy to say that I made the first ride to the office from my new location this morning - in 98% humidity.

There’s no “right” bike for commuting, personally I use a Redline Conquest cyclocross bike because it’s built tougher than a regular road bike and has a more relaxed geometry (luckily mine is green and not that horrible blue/white color!). The only modification I’ve made to it is throwing on a set of 23mm road slicks to replace the standard 35mm ‘cross tires. Although, the pavement on McCommas is in such poor condition that the wider, knobbier tires would have been much more comfortable: they ride at 70 PSI instead of 120 PSI like the slicks.

I carry my clothing, tools, and miscellaneous gear in a messenger bag although I’m hoping to upgrade it to a Chrome Metropolis in the very near future.

My old location was so far from the office that I would ride 9 miles to the DART station and then take the train all the way to downtown, after which I’d hop back on the bike and beat the train to the RD2 office.

Fortunately, my new apartment is so much closer that I could ride to the office in the same 9 miles and avoid the train completely. I decide to opt for safety, however, so my overall route is just a bit over 13.5 miles. I chose my new place based on its close proximity to White Rock Lake, and I definitely make use of it on my route. It’s very calming to look out over the water for a few miles and not have to worry too much about traffic; the road is only really used by other cyclists at that time in the morning.

There’s several good climbs on the way in, but once I hit the Katy Trail it’s smooth downhill sailing! I can’t wait to ride back home and tackle it all from the other direction.

Yesterday I got my first bike commuting flat 3 miles from home. Luckily, I didn’t fall or anything. I was a good boy scout and had everything it takes to fix it right there, but the replacement tube went flat as well within a half mile. It was old and I couldn’t pump it up enough. I’m really glad my wife was home and could pick me up. There may be nothing sadder than a grown man walking his bike home. I even had my backpack on for extra elementary school flashbacks. If I have gotten jumped for my lunch money under the 635 bridge, my spirit would have been crushed for weeks.

Everything is now fixed and I’m researching tougher road tires. Apparently the tires that come on bikes are meant for weekend rides once or twice a month. If you actually ride a lot, they wear out pretty quick. On the train this morning I was inspecting my tires and found 2 more weak spots. I’ll be riding home today with a little fear.

I started riding to the office because I was fortunate to find a house close to work and my commute is about 3 miles each way. I didn’t start riding in until the beginning of the year so I’m one of the new guys. I had just finished up school in December and for graduation my parents wanted to get me a present so I asked for a bike, they were quite surprised by my request. I got the bike from Richardson Bike Mart, I was quite nervous about buying the bike since I had not ridden on one since I was in middle school, but the staff there was very helpful and nice. Since I’m so close I chose to go with a commuter bike by Electra bikes called the Townie. Needless to say since it was on my parents dime I pimped my ride, I got a luggage rack, nice lights, a trip computer, helmet, gloves, and my favorite a bell. I decided to try and ride the bike home, about a 3 mile ride and I got halfway through and almost passed out because I was so out of shape. I’ve been riding in for about a month and I’ve vastly improved.

On Superbowl Sunday Brandon and I decided to get together to ride around and just hangout before the game. We rode around downtown for about an hour and found some really cool buildings. On our way back to my house we hit a flat patch of open road with no traffic, so we decide to start pedaling hard and we got up to about 20mph. Unfortunately we came upon some traffic and had to either stop or continue at our pace to beat the traffic. We decided to keep going and Brandon made an unexpected turn and I tried to follow. Unfortunately my bike is the equivalent to a Chevy Belaire and I didn’t exactly make the turn. I got about a quarter way through the turn and was about to hit a curb so I hit the brakes and skidded out, and hit the ground hard. I slid a couple of feet my elbow and knee scrapping against the asphalt and mid slide rolled over and slammed my other hand onto the ground to stop myself. I had just experienced my first crash, I hurt pretty bad but I got up and got out of the road and took a breather. I fortunately didn’t do much damage to my bike. We straightened out my handlebars and my front wheel wasn’t really turning well so we stopped by White Rock Cycles which was just down the road and had Kevin fix my bike up.

Overall it was a great ride and I had fun. I had a nice case of road rash on my elbow / forearm that hurt a good amount, but it didn’t stop me from riding in the next morning.

In case you were wondering here is my route to and from work:

Over the past 6 months, the RD2 team has been bitten by the cycling bug. It all started when we hired the quiet and unassuming Mark Hurd. Mark is a fantastic coder and information architect with a mountain biking and cyclocross alter ego. Almost immediately after he started work, Mark began making the 10-mile journey from his apartment in Far north Plano to the nearest Dart station. I was intrigued and began spending my weekends getting my old bike in shape and taking it out for test rides. After a little bike maintenance and training, I began making the 16-mile trek from My house in south Richardson to our West End office. Two bikes parked in the office every day started to raise interest and last month, Blake became the 3rd member of the 2-wheeled crew. He recently moved into a house just east of downtown with a 4-mile commute. After a weekend trip to Richardson Bike Mart, he was armed with everything he needed to be a full-blown bike commuter. I’m now pleased to report that Mike is strongly considering a mix of Dart rail and bike locomotion to make his daily commute.

So as it stands, roughly a quarter of the RD2 team will be peddling their way to work in 2007! New bikes are being purchased and considered. Lunch discussions now frequently stray into bike talk. And to cap it off; this week there was an informal meeting to discuss plans for bike hangers in the storage area.

This is the first in a series of post chronicling the commutes of each rider. While we all ride to work, we’ve taken unique approaches to how we ride and what kind of bikes we’ve chosen. I hope you’ll check back for future posts that are sure to be filled with geeky bike talk and fun commuting stories.