Bike Commuting - GetSetGO!

So my first bike commute of 2012 happened today. It's February and the temperatures were supposed to hit the high 60s - who could resist two wheels in open air with weather like that?!? I didn't even need my Gore Windstopper jacket on the AM ride in, it was that nice outside. This was my first commute to our office since we moved from L'Enfant Plaza to a new building a little north of Union Station and it involves a little more dodging and weaving of traffic and potholes, but overall it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I did manage to get lost in the 1/2 mile between the Mall and Union Station and found myself on an overpass over the train tracks headed to the wrong part of town. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow's commute will be a little less directionally-challenging. I had company on the commute home with my co-worker/friend/fellow-triathlete Janine. She's bike commuted a bunch of times to the new office (and she is smart and has lights on her bike, something I need to get on PRONTO) so I stuck myself to her back wheel as we headed back over the river to the motherland.

It was so nice not to deal with Metro at all today. While I had nurtured hopes that my commute time would be substantially shorter by bike compared to Metro, the vast number of traffic lights between Union Station and the 14th Street Bridge put the kibosh on that one real fast. Both commutes are comparable (but the one by bike is far more reliable and overall more pleasant). If this warm weather sticks around (because, let's face it, I am a fair-weather bike commuter), I'll be on my bike to and from work alot more often.