The Why

I had been meaning to get a bike for a while, but it became a necessity when I found out I got a job in Los Gatos. Los Gatos is not really NEAR San Francisco, nor is it on BART or CalTrain. It's a bit out there. It's possible to arrive around the corner from my job via a few different public transportation systems, but I anticipate that the hours they run (especially on the weekends, during which half of my work "week" will transpire) will be incompatible with the times I need to commute. 

For comparison purposes, here is the route I took when I went for my interview:

BART downtown

Walk or bus to CalTrain

CalTrain to San Jose

Light rail to Winchester

Bus to Los Gatos

Actually I recently got some good news regarding this. I had expected to start straight off with the 4x10 schedule (instead of a normal M-F, 9-5, a 5x8, I guess), but actually we're doing a 5x9, so it's M-F, 8-5. This means I can actually commute as explained above (leaving at the crack of dawn -- whoo!)

The good thing about this is not that I can be lazy and pay more money, it's that I can work up slowly to biking everyday and don't have to jump into it all at once and probably strain all my muscles (I'm still a wimp, remember...)

It also means I can take a little more time to plan my route, which is good because I'm not organized AT ALL! ;D

The eventually plan will be to bike to CalTrain and then bike from San Jose to Los Gatos. It's 24 miles, give or take, round trip. I won't find out my final schedule until Monday (I think this Monday, anyhow!) and I'm not sure when that will start, but I'm hoping that I can get a F-M overnight shift. If I work during the day I will get off and not be able to get home due to a lack of running trains! It means some biking in the dark, but I bet traffic is a cinch at night in Los Gatos.