And now, a moment of self-congratulations.

[saffronhare]

I rode a bike to work today. There were all sorts of reasons for not doing it, but they were all gutless. So I did it.

Mapquest shows the most direct driving route as 5.46 miles, but that route seemed too harrowing. I bet my route was closer to 6.5 miles -- it took me about 30 minutes and involved two stops to put air in the tires, which were squidgy.



I am an inept cyclist. Sure, I'm pretty smooth on the dance floor...but my clumsiness in stopping, starting, and signaling a turn is such that I barely avoid being a danger to myself. Heck, I don't even know how to operate my gears. A backpack would have been much more clever-er than a satchel slung across my back. And did I mention that it's not actually my bike? Yeah, it's Princess Boredom's. (She was very condescending when I asked to borrow it.)I have no idea whose helmet I wore, though it seemed to fit nicely. The brakes are squeaky and my knees came up Way High, which I bet is Not Good.

If anybody feels inclined to get me a shiny new bike for my birthday, I'd like one of these Town Bikes, pretty please:

http://www.breezerbikes.com/

That said, I'm so very pleased to have done it. I'm also very pleased that agrnmn will pick me up for the homeward journey on his way back from gymnastics with Princess !Kaboom. I don't think I could make the round trip just yet. (Give me a few weeks doing it one way first.) Besides, I was going south...and that's like going downhill, right? If I can just manage to do it twice a week -- maybe Tuesdays and Fridays -- then I'll be getting some serious exercise AND saving gas. A gallon or two each month isn't a lot, but it makes a difference, I think.

Things I noticed:
In the neighborhood between 71st & 75th Streets, today is trash day.
South of 75th Street, the sidewalks are super-wide (like triple width).
There are some seriously aggressive squirrels around old downtown OP.
No hill is tougher to pedal up than the Last Hill.

Right now, I feel like my own sweaty little hero.

UPDATE: It's 1 p.m. and I'm still walking. Glad to be feeling no soreness at all, even after sitting at my desk all morning. My muscles are good to me; I should do better for them. And there are no actual bike trails I could follow from home to work -- in fact, this area of OP is a dead zone for bike trails. The route I followed should work just fine, but I'll want to look for a better place to cross 75th Street.

Comments

Re: not asking why it has no seat

[zylch.livejournal.com]

It has no seat because a certain Chaos hound ate it in lieu of stuffed animals over the winter :) My fault, really, for leaving it where he could get at it. But if you've got an extra just lying around, I wouldn't say no.

Re: not asking why it has no seat

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Well, in honor of my girlfriend's dog, then, I am even more pleased to say that I do in fact have a bike seat sitting in my garage. You are welcome to it at any time.