Leave the exams, take the cannoli.

Ironic. I started this blog to flap about bike commuting and offer my perspective on some random bike products. To some extent, I also needed a place to upload photos for my friends and family. If you flip through the "archives", you'll notice a precipitous drop in blogging activity since 2008. Well, it's simply because I've done a lot less bike commuting. Don't hate me, I already feel like a traitor.

Morning classes or evening classes, for bike commuting it's a lose-lose situation. Well, last semester, I was teaching both (and some in-between). Evening labs ran up to 10pm, then morning classes started at 8am. It was a rough schedule even with a car. I couldn't wait for summer classes, the complete opposite from last year.

For an 8am class, I'm up at 5am. I'm an exceptionally slow starter in the morning, and I need to caffeinate and review my lecture materials. It's rare, but on occasion, I have a late morning class meeting, which gives me the opportunity to bike commute. I stash a bag of clothes in the office so that I can pack light. It's 25-miles (one-way) with a short climb out of Pacifica, but then it's Iowa flat. I get there early so that I can cool down and take the ole' Baby Wipe shower.

Yesterday was the last day of summer classes and final exam day. I try to start exams later in the morning because students perform better when they are rested and have had breakfast. They are often up just as early as I am, and the extra hour or so makes an incredible difference. Exam days tend to be bike commuting days, and even though I had all the exams graded before I left work, I thought - for some dumb reason - that I should still take them home. Perhaps I was dehydrated. I loaded over 16-lbs of gear into a shoulder messenger bag and schlepped it over 25-miles home. For some, this is a normal bike-commute. For some (bike tourers), that's an exceptionally light load. But let's put this in perspective. I weigh south of 130-lbs. I was carrying an extra 12.5% of my body mass over my shoulder. I've carried heavier loads, but there's a huge difference in how you carry it. I'm still not quite sure what exactly weighed so much... Perhaps it was all that extra knowledge in those exams. That extra time really does help; my students did great. Next time, leave the exams, take the cannoli.

Ride safely and happy trails.