The case for a longer commute
By Marc Miele, American Family Ventures Finance and Operations Director
The American Family Insurance Spark building in Madison, Wisconsin is state-of-the-art, and there are lots of wonderful things about working there.
One thing I love is that you can commute there in many ways. You can walk, drive, ride a bus, use a rideshare or bike.
This summer I started biking to work from my home on the East side of Madison. And, it’s easy with Madison’s extensive bike trails and Spark’s inside bike storage.
Part of my route is along the shores of Lake Monona. If you’re not familiar with Madison, you can see the state Capitol across the lake. Just to the east of the Capitol, you can see the top of the Spark Building. This view was my inspiration to try to kayak and portage to work.
It takes about an hour and a half from door to desk. The experience makes it worth it. Here’s how it works:
· I leave home around 6 a.m.
· Once I reach the lake, it takes about 45 minutes to kayak the 3 miles across the lake.
· Then, when I reach the shore, it’s a 15-minute walk to The Spark.
· Once I’m at work, I store the kayak in the bike rack and get ready in the locker room at Spark.
You might wonder — why make your commute longer?
The reaction from people when they hear I’m doing this typically falls into one of two buckets.
1. “Wow! That’s awesome. Can I come with you?”
2. “Why would you do that? Are you trying to be green? Is this a mindfulness exercise?” And, my favorite one, “Is this a mid-life crisis thing?”
I think the real answer is, I like to try new things. Especially where there’s no blueprint.
At work during the past decade, I’ve been blessed with opportunities to lead teams, creating new businesses for AmFam. I didn’t have expertise in all of these efforts and taking them on involved risk.
What I did have was a framework: Leverage the expertise of your team. Plan, but don’t fall in love with the plan because it can change. Be the calm one. Use checklists to make sure nothing falls between the cracks.
I used this framework in my kayaking adventure.
I live about a mile from the shore of Lake Monona and the Spark is about a half mile from the nearest beach. So, leaning on my framework helped me figure out the logistics.
I don’t have much kayaking experience, so I checked in with experts at a local kayak store who gave me advice on portage carts and dry bags.
I made several practice runs on Sunday mornings and the night before my first workday commute, I made a checklist of everything I needed.
On the morning of the commute, all went well until I hit the shore on the other side of the lake.
That’s when the mission hiccup revealed itself. I discovered the pin holding the wheel on the portage cart had fallen off into the lake.
It’s only a long walk to the Spark if you’re lugging a kayak on your back!
After I did a quick inventory of my dry bag, I improvised with a key chain and made it to the Spark Building. That night, I improved my process by adding locking wheel pins.
I really enjoy watching the sunrise over the Madison skyline, and talking to the people in the fishing boats in the morning.
I’m looking forward to continuing my unique ways of commuting. Several people have asked if we could commute together, and I’m already planning paddle boarding and canoeing commuting adventures.
This framework will really come into play when I come up with some creative winter commuting ideas!
