I could commute to work by bicycle from my old house. The whole trip was 8.5 miles, of which 3 miles of which were on the Minuteman Bike Path. The whole trip, home to work, was 269 feet of elevation up and only 66 feet down. So while there were hills (one bad one in particular), there were no unnecessary hills.

Today I tried to commute to work by bike from my new house. The route recommended by Google was also around 8.5 miles, however, there was 380 feet of elevation gain and 290 feet of elevation loss. This means lots of hills, including two really bad ones. And the whole route was along a busy street without a shoulder.

Here is the elevation profile from my old house.

And here is the route I tried this morning from my new house. The gray lines are alternate routes. That first hill was a killer, but it was the last two hills that really did me in since I was pretty tired by then. Total uphill — 384 feet.

On the way home, I tried a different route that was longer, but less hilly. If I reverse that route, you can see that it will only have 207 feet of elevation gain, but it will be a half mile longer. And there is still a steep hill at the end.

I suspect that I will still commute to work, but less frequently. Probably once a week until it gets too dark in the morning to travel safely.

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