Commuting Again

So, the weather is cooling off a bit, and the crazy work schedule I've had the last few weeks has eased up some. Put those together and it means I can start riding to work again.

This afternoon I rode the normal route in, but decided to get some extra miles on my trip home. I followed a route I've only taken a few times, and made a wrong turn at one point. This led to a fun downhill run before I realized I was going the wrong way. So I turned on the next street only to face this:


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This is Merrick Street. I plotted this little stretch on Bikely.com, and found that, at least for a small portion of the climb, it was a 40% grade. I'm not sure I believe it's quite that steep, but yeah, it was steep. It was the first time I ever needed the lowest gear in the back and the small chainring in the front. And even then, I barely made it.

But it was worth it. The reason I like this route is it takes me to the western end of West 7th Street, high above downtown. The downhill run into downtown Fort Worth is great.





I stopped just shy of downtown though, jumping onto the trail through Trinity Park, then following the Trinity Trail south toward home. There was a stiff headwind out of the south, but at least the heat isn't so stifling these days.