November Bike to Work Week Vancouver B.C.

The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition puts on a bike to work week twice a year. Once in May and then in November. They put up commuter stations around Vancouver in strategic locations for promotional reasons and to give commuters a little break. They offer hot and cold drinks. They also have lots of snacks. They usually have some bike mechanics on hand to help with any little problems.

Well the bike to work to week started out with the usual Vancouver weather. Lots of rain. I think it was a record day of rain in Vancouver. My commute is from Surrey to North Vancouver about 37k. I stopped at one of the commuter stations dotted around Vancouver. This station just happened to be on my commute in, located under the Iron Workers Bridge. By the time i got there i was ready for some of there complementary coffee and snacks. I was 30k into my 37k commute. Considering the rain everybody at the station was in great spirits. Nice to see lots of people out considering all the rain. I was told later that about 70 commuters went through that station. The commute home was a lot better. No RAIN, just a great ride.

Tuesdays commute was a lot nicer. Clear skies and dry roads. There were a lot more commuters on the road today. There is nothing better than passing traffic well maybe another cyclist. There are a lot of very fit commuters out there. I learned very quickly that i can't catch every commuter on the road. Lots of fun trying. This makes for exciting ride in. Lots of great personalities out there. I met a commuter that commutes from Surrey to Annacis Island. His round trip is 36k. He has been doing this for 12 years. He said he has logged just over a 100,000k on his commute. He is also on his third bike. He commutes every work day in all weather. As usual there was a station on the Lions Gate Bridge and i made a pit stop there. It takes me about one and a half hours to get from Surrey to the Lions Gate Bridge, about 37k. As of 7:40am about 100 commuters have crossed the bridge. Oh Lisa said to say HI SEAN. I try to get off work a little early so i can ride home in day light. Its a drag riding both ways in the dark.

Thursday i left a little later. This put me on the Iron Workers Bridge at sun up. Wow what a view. Its nice to stop every once and a while to check out the view. Another great day for commuting. Lots of commuters coming over the bridge. It won't be much longer and we will be into rush hour for cyclists.

Friday i left early. My whole commute home was in day light. I decided to take the Central Valley Green Way home. This is an off road route that covers about one third of my commute. It is partially paved and the rest is hard pact gravel. It runs alone a river, lots of trees and a couple of fisher man. Its very quite. Kind of like riding through the forest but still in the city. This was best route of the week.

To sum up my bike to work week. I biked a total of three days. About 220k. I was hoping to make the whole week. My best bike to work week yet has been just over 300k. It has been a while since i have been on my bike. Bike to work week always gets me back on track. It was great to see so many commuters on the road. I think i heard that the commuter stations registered a 123% increase in commuters this year. The best part about bike commuting is no stress in rush hour traffic.