Commute and bikes

Rode the Monkey to work today. Felt good to finally not drive to work for a change. Even though my commutes have been short, under 9 miles each way at the old house and right at 3 miles each way from our new place, those miles start to add up over the months. Commuting is a good way for me to make sure I get some miles in each week. I also tend to ride the commutes fairly hard, which is a big difference from the long slow rides that I normally like to take, and is good for me as well. Over the last year I've mainly used my Cayne Single speed as my commute bike. Even though it's steel, it's fairly light, and it's easy enough to just hop on and go. I'm thinking that I might take the old Schwinn that I bought and turn it into a single speed commuter. It would take some weight off the bike and with the wider tires, and fenders it would be a better bike for bad weather. My other option is to donate it to the newly formed Des Moines Bike Kollective, and then buy a used Surly LHT that I've had my eyes on for the last couple of weeks. As long as one bike leaves when another one arrives, I'll probably be able to get away with that.