A new commute (Comments: 2)
Author: Julie
Date: 5 August, 2008
Category: Commuting, Julie White, Road Stories, Rochester

Although I’ve been commuting to my office in downtown Rochester regularly for some time now, my job sometimes requires me to attend meetings at the other campus of MCC (Monroe Community College, for non-Rochester readers). That campus is on E. Henrietta Rd., a clogged main artery leading to the land of malls, big grocery stores, empty big box stores, and continued building of new big box stores which will likely fall empty in a few years…and the road is currently under construction so it can handle even more car traffic.
Hence, I have not been anxious to ride my bike there. But then, a stroke of genius! I could ride the Genesee Riverway Trail to the Erie Canal, get off the canal path next to Monroe Community Hospital, and in keeping with Adam’s rules of riding on the sidewalk, take the sidewalk a short distance to campus.
Given that I’ve lived in Rochester for 18 years and been riding the trails for 12, one could say my stroke of genius was somewhat belated. Nonetheless, last week, I did it…I rode from my home (smack between the two campuses) to the Brighton campus of MCC, from there to downtown, and back to my home at the end of the day.
It was a beautiful day, I had little traffic to deal with, and I got in a decent amount of exercise. The only downside was the fact that I changed clothes three times in the middle of the work day. But it’s summer, which makes a change from shorts to a sleeveless dress pretty easy (I keep multiple pairs of shoes at work, as well as an all-purpose dress jacket, so that I don’t have to tote them). Having short hair makes this kind of commute a breeze as well.
Here are some of the highlights.

The path is unmarked next to Monroe Community Hospital.

I’d much rather be on this “roadway” than the one under construction at the top of the post.

This is near the University of Rochester and Genesee Valley Park, where three local trails converge.

The downtown library…a grand building.

Don’t you miss the days when buildings had inspirational quotes inscribed on them?

Home away from home.



2 comments to “A new commute”