This is my 3rd year participating in the Thurston County Bike Commute Contest, and my 2nd organizing a team at work. This year I doubled the size of the group (14 people); I'm extra-jazzed that everyone in my department except one signed up.

And today was such a lovely day to start, too. About 40 degrees, cold enough to be nippy on the ears but warm enough to wear fingerless gloves. (My fingerless gloves have better padding, so I prefer them.) Mostly sunny, with enough overcast in the east that I wasn't squinting into the sunrise.

I love my commute. It's about 5 miles, 95% of it on trails. (Olympia Woodland to Chehalis Western) That new trail is fantastic, although I'm really curious what's up with the repair work being done west of Fones Road. Some sort of culvert work, I think, although I'm a little disappointed that it's needed so soon. The trail itself only opened, what, last December? (Note for original reporting idea: contact city & ask?)

In any case, it's very peaceful -- trees, birds, other cyclists. People walking dogs; there's definitely more walkers out & about in the afternoons. I'm in NO way a morning person, but getting moving, seeing Chambers Lake in the early light, cruising along: that wakes me up.

Today I'm turning in my team list; still trying to decide whether to get a t-shirt. (I need another t-shirt like I need a hole in my head, OTOH, this means enough to me that I kinda want one anyway. Plus I like this year's design. If they had baby-doll style shirts, I'd get one in a heartbeat.)