I ride to work most every day. I don’t really like riding in the rain, and some days I have meetings that take me beyond my bicycling limits for workday travel. But any other day—and I've ridden when it’s over 100 degrees and when it’s below 10 degrees—I saddle up and pedal the two miles from my house to the office.

I’m fortunate that about half my ride is in my neighborhood, with calm streets and little traffic. That’s not to say drivers don’t occasionally forget that there may be someone else on the road and roll through an intersection. Crossing Pine Street is generally easier than I expect.

As I ride into downtown, I take back streets—St. Paul Street, which goes behind the Farmer’s Table, and Real Estate Way make my usual route; sometimes I take the road in front of the Y. From there I come in Kennedy Street, wide enough that all the traffic gets into the inside lane, leaving me with a 12-foot bike lane.

Most days, my ride is pretty causal. I often say hello to people walking on the sidewalk. I think about different things—my work day, the letter I started, what that thing was moving in the grass. I try not to get too warmed up, and have found that 10 miles an hour is the threshold for sweating in the summer. And though occasionally I think I’m too tired to ride, I always feel better when I do. The 15 minutes twice a day does my body and mind good.