My First Bike ride to Work

Hello from London Ontario.  I decided to try riding a bike to work for various reasons and found that after just my first day I was already annoying my family with the many details of my ride until my husband suggested that I write a blog about it. Well the gauntlet has been thrown ( I read too much)  and who knows , maybe I can encourage more people to get out of the traffic jam and onto the paths and sidewalks.
I borrowed my bike from sister because a) I am cheap...and b) I am not known for following through with anything requiring me to do exercise. So Wed June 1 I set off from my house on a red Supercycle that is made for a person about 4 inches shorter than me. I turned around and went back into the house,got a wrench and adjusted the seat about 3 inches higher. Ok so now I am really going. I noticed that along the way ,when cars are stopped waiting for a school bus to load kids...I can keep going.This is cool,definitely an advantage. Also ,you get to smell the flowering bushes at the side of the road,lilacs and honeysuckle are in season right now and if you don't have allergies to pollen or bees this is a good thing. But the first lesson I learned ...keep my mouth shut and breath through my nose...bugs taste awful and they don't like flying into your mouth.
Most of my ride is downhill ,alot of it along Oxford St which is such a busy road I cannot imagine the effect I would have had on traffic this day if I had not been on the sidewalk...I am a big wuss when it comes to cars. I have always told my kids to ride on the sidewalk and that I would pay the ticket if they ever got one. I watched how close to the sidewalk  trucks and cars travel and kept picturing me in a state of nervous breakdown all the way to work and it is not worth it...so hopefully our city leaders will do something right and vote for the new bylaw allowing bikes on sidewalks . 
Once you get closer to the core there is a really nice path through Harris Park along the river. The sounds and smells of traffic are replaced with birds,frogs geese and grenery all around. I forgot I was going to work for a bit.  I got to work a little sweaty and out of breath, but what do you expect, I have not ridden a bike in 25 years and my favorite activity is reading ...I was just happy my heart and lungs decided this was not the day to pay me back for all the chips and bacon I have eaten.