Commuting

I've been riding to work all summer and it has been quite fun. I live in a suburb west of Denver and commute to Boulder. This gives me my choice of routes to work. I can take the most direct route - north on highway 121/287 to US36. But, this is also usually the slowest and most congested route, so I usually avoid it even in my car. Another major road is hwy 93 which I can get to through a variety of ways. These roads include any combination of 64th, 72nd, 80th, 82nd, 86th, 96th, Alkire St., Carr St., Kipling St., Marshall Dr., McCaslin Blvd., or Oberon Rd. This gives me many different options and I can usually avoid any road construction and not lose much time. And it is quite a scenic drive too.

The round trip is about 50 miles. I get about 60mpg so I have to fill up about every two days or so. I try to fill up before having to switch to reserve. I'm a bit paranoid about running out of gas. Otherwise I could probably stop every 3 days for gas.

I've seen a few animals along my route - lots of prairie dogs, a few golden eagles, turkey vultures, coyotes, deer, many dead snakes on the road, road kill raccoons, and I once hit this gigantic bug. It was very gross. I probably should have pulled over to clean it off but I really wanted to get a photo of it. It was runny and dripped down the visor. Yuck!

My route also takes me around part of Standley Lake. There are usually lots of walkers, joggers and dog walkers around. I also usually see lots of other motorcyclists.

There is motorcycle parking at my building with a parking pass. That is a nice luxury. Although it is right as you come into the parking lot. This is usually the most stressful and dangerous part of the commute - turning into the parking lot. People don't like to slow down and I am always worried that I'll be rear ended as I'm making the turn. Knock on wood, so far so good.