Staying in Shape & Riding in DC

Growing up in State College, PA I was blessed with some of the best riding that Pennsylvania has to offer (if you haven't ever been to Central PA... Go). I did not actually know how great the riding was because I didn't start competitively racing until this prior year after I exhausted my Collegiate eligibility (I swam competitively all my life and for the Penn State swim team). Since moving down to DC, the demands of public accounting and learning how to balance the work, riding, and social life has certainly proved to be a creative task. Can all three be done? Can you actually put in your 10 - 12 hour work days, stay in shape for race season (or just for staying in shape's sake), and have a social life? I say yes.

So what is the best method to doing so for the long winter months when the sun goes down at 5:30pm? Grab some winter riding gear, a good pair of tires, a nice bike light, and hop on that bike trail to work. I happen to live around 15 miles away form my work. After some experimenting and exploring different ways to get to work I discovered that it takes me approximately 50 minutes to get to work by riding the metro (door to door), or, if I take my bike, 50 minutes on my bike. Therefore, I can either choose to sit for 50 minutes, or exercise for 50 minutes, either way I get to work in the same amount of time. So the next time you tell yourself you don't have any time to work out due to your busy work/life schedule... think again.

DC has some of the best trails to navigate in and around the capitol area. Not to mention, riding your bike in the city can be much quicker than trying to drive in the rush hour nightmare capital of the USA. So needless to say riding your bike in DC can be one of the safest and most efficient ways to navigate to and from work.

For those of you in the DC area trying to get some miles in this winter during the work week and trying to balance your work schedule... Grab your bike, a pair of Stan's NoTubes wheels & tires (no flats), and i'll see you on the trail at 7:15am & pm.