Happy Bike-to-Work Day!

I asked a random guy to shoot this photo of me at the Caltrain station on my way home from work last year. I'm sporting a blue blouse and brown suit pants (the matching jacket is in my pannier). I've changed my shoes to cleats, and my trouser socks work perfectly to keep my pant legs out of my chain and wheels. The fact that my helmet matches my blouse is a luck accident.

My commute is quite long. When I ride less than 10 miles, I'm perfectly comfortable wearing near-regular clothes. When I ride 30+ miles to work, I admit to wearing spandex.

I've been hearing a lot of new plays on "Bike-to-Work Day" this year. I've heard "Work to Bike" and "Bike instead of Work", and I can relate to that. Since I've never heard the event so paired with an anti-work message, I'm wondering how much the sad state of the economy increases interest in biking both because biking is a more efficient way of travel than just about anything else (thus saving people money they don't have) and because it brings joy to our lives when we might have trouble remembering other reasons to feel happy.

Whether you bike to work, work to bike, or bike instead of work, I wish you a beautiful day on your bike.