Perfect commute. AR style.

posted by Dima.

I know quite a bit racer working 9 hours a day Monday to Friday. Yep, we have to work hard to pay all these registration fees and to buy expensive gear for races. I also spend 9 hours a day in the lab. I like what I am doing, and when results are good and keep going, I can stay overnight to collect them all. But eventually I have to go home and return next morning. And that’s the problem…

I live 14 miles straight line from my work. Straight line of North-South diagonal of Washington DC, the city of traffic jams, bridges across Potomac and Anacostia rivers, president cortège, wise-president cortège, secretary of state cortège… You cannot drive your car through there and my commute is 30-35 miles each way around the nation capital. The drive takes about 45 minutes in perfect conditions, but perfect conditions do not exist around the capital beltway. That’s why 2 years ago I switched to biking.

I still cannot go straight line because of the rivers, but 16 miles of trails and sidewalks is no so bad and take me about 55-60 minutes. I ride year around, including rainy days, snow and frizzing rain. I learned how to ride my bike in any conditions and have no more crashes during real AR events. But recently I started a new chapter in my commute, turning it into mini adventure races (two per day). Here how it works:

Stage 1: Biking on Capital Crescent trail from Bethesda to Georgetown – 7 miles.

Stage 2: Transition from bike to paddle at the Jack’s boathouse. Thank to Anna, the owner, for nice service of keeping my sea kayak there.

Stage 3: Paddling from Georgetown to BAFB (military base across the national airport) – 6 miles.

Stage 4: Transition from paddling to running at coast guards station (thanks to guards for letting me in).

Stage 5: Running to the lab – 1 mile.

Now my commute is a perfect straight line. And it takes me 90 to 110 minutes depending on wind direction and my spirit to work hard. I am still not doing it every day, alternating with bike only commuting, but as weather gets better, I will try it more often.

By the way, it’s a good training. Try it.