Here in Southwestern Ontario we’re having a weird Autumn. Beautiful coloured leaves, yes, but also record breaking high temperatures. It’s like summer finally arrived but after the start of the school year.
When I wrote about fall on the bike path, I was thinking about people who start out riding with good intentions but who quit in the dark and the cold.
Instead, there have been a few days when I was tempted not to ride because it was too warm. Once at work I had full days of teaching and meetings and I wanted to feel rested and look ready.
Instead, I squished clothes into my panniers and arrived all hot and sweaty. As one does
The squint is from sweat and sunscreen in my eyes.
What made me stick to my plan?
It wasn’t commitment to fitness and physical activity. Nope. There was one simple reason that trumped all that. I simply haven’t bought a parking pass and I’m frugal about parking.
Remote visitor parking is $6 a day but it’s far away. It takes me as long to walk in from visitor parking as it does to ride my bike the whole way, door to door. There are pricier options but I pretty much rule those out automatically.
On the whole I’m glad I’m bike commuting no matter what the weather. I haven’t been getting much other biking in. We’ll see how I hold up in the rain and the dark and later the snow. Luckily I have a fat bike for that.
With any luck that means I can use the multi use path even after the snow starts to fall and the path isn’t plowed. I’m looking forward to that adventure
How about you? Any commitment mechanisms that you use to make sure you do the thing you want to do?
