1st post - sweaty and a bit disjunctive

First post in what may be a lot, or very few. Back at the beginning of the year I decided I would begin riding my bike to work for a number of reasons. I've always run for exercise and it started to feel weird that I drive to some destination to then run. Something about that has always felt silly - driving for 40 minutes round trip to run for 45. I also enjoy shooting photos of things I see around me day to day in Birmingham and I though riding my bike would give me a new angle for that. Of course gas prices, getting fat blah blah blah all played a part. Living only a few miles from work has always made me feel like I could or should be riding rather than driving. The last was a gift from a friend of mine. He had a nice old Trek mountain bike hanging about and said I could have it. Somewhat under false pretenses I took it to be part of a welding/sculpture/bicycle project. I then decided it was too nice a bike to chop up. So there it was gleaming in front of me, the final piece of my little puzzle. Back in February I made my first attempt at this. I rode three days in a row, the last in the rain. I came down with the flu and laid out of work for a week. Then in April I attempted to start it up again. I rode once, came up with a bunch of excuses and blew it off again. Now, in June, and 93 degrees, I'm determined to get this going. Here's my route today (and Yesterday): http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1962425 I headed out today just after calling Shawnie to come pick up an item for work that was too large to carry on my bike. I stopped again about a mile down the road to ask her to pick up my helmet that I had left behind. I was thinking more about what new route I could try instead of what has become my standard route. I use the term standard rather loosely as this is only my 5th day to ride my bike to work in 5 months. However, it's the second day in a row, so it's a streak. I'm considering changing my route after blasting through a basketball game on Division Avenue on my way home last night. I heard the ball BANG against the backboard as I exited the game. I thought "better the backboard then me" and decided not to turn around to look. In addition, the railroad tracks tend to be pretty treacherous on 1st avenue, especially the ones that run diagonal across the road. Really the best, most efficient, route would be just to take the straighter & busier roads. I think I need a few more days to acclimate before I take that on.