cycling!
Today I rode my bike to work! I survived, and everything, and it wasn't even difficult to work and not crash during the day. Of course, I live ridiculously close to work, on the scale of these things, so if I totally wore myself out on 3.5 miles, that would be a bit embarassing. I do remind the world that the last stretch near work has a significant uphill slope, but I don't claim that it's a *difficult* bike ride. Door to desk, 30 minutes, including time to fuss with the lock, and wrap my pants legs out of the chain, and wash my face once I got there. About 20-25 minutes on the road.
Cars here aren't used to bikes, which actually makes life easier. My style of riding is not the "I have every right to be in this lane so suck it up and deal, pollutionist SUV bastards!" school of thought, and as a driver and pedestrian, I lost some respect for the cyclists who blow though every stop sign and let the laws apply only to cars, so I'm not being particularly assertive. Say what you will about the terrible Massachusetts drivers, one of the things that makes traffic so unpredictable is the willingness of any individual to pause in the middle of the street to allow another car to pull out of a side-street or driveway - and doubly so (plus squealing brakes) for a pedestrian standing near a crosswalk (quote from another transplanted midwesterner, "we were just standing there looking to see where the store we wanted was, and traffic stopped for us, so we figured it would be rude not to cross. Then we had to cross back, but by then we were stopping different cars."). This was to my advantage today - since bicycles are not that common, they nearly count as pedestrians. I had traffic stop dead on a rather busy street just because I was turning left. Weird. Probably a combination of Massachusetts and small town.
Anyway, I survived the experience, and will definitely do it again. I'm tired but not exhausted... we'll see about sore later.
My thoughts:
- I wonder if having a rear-view mirror thing on my helmet would be actually useful, or just awkward.
- I will eventually learn what to wear in terms of a jacket - this morning I was cold at the beginning and warm at the end.
- Having my gears working smoothly would be a great help. I don't want to have to spend 30 seconds searching for first gear while fighting up a steep hill. Did an adjustment and it helped, but there's clearly more fussing to be done.
- I want a rack so I don't have to carry my stuff in a backpack or messenger bag.
- I wish my face didn't turn bright red at any sign of exertion.
- Cycling 7 miles in two halves is no excuse for eating as many cookies as I've had today.
I've successfully come up with an excuse for driving tomorrow (dry cleaner's re: wedding dress) but I'm optimistic about wanting to try again on Friday.
Cars here aren't used to bikes, which actually makes life easier. My style of riding is not the "I have every right to be in this lane so suck it up and deal, pollutionist SUV bastards!" school of thought, and as a driver and pedestrian, I lost some respect for the cyclists who blow though every stop sign and let the laws apply only to cars, so I'm not being particularly assertive. Say what you will about the terrible Massachusetts drivers, one of the things that makes traffic so unpredictable is the willingness of any individual to pause in the middle of the street to allow another car to pull out of a side-street or driveway - and doubly so (plus squealing brakes) for a pedestrian standing near a crosswalk (quote from another transplanted midwesterner, "we were just standing there looking to see where the store we wanted was, and traffic stopped for us, so we figured it would be rude not to cross. Then we had to cross back, but by then we were stopping different cars."). This was to my advantage today - since bicycles are not that common, they nearly count as pedestrians. I had traffic stop dead on a rather busy street just because I was turning left. Weird. Probably a combination of Massachusetts and small town.
Anyway, I survived the experience, and will definitely do it again. I'm tired but not exhausted... we'll see about sore later.
My thoughts:
- I wonder if having a rear-view mirror thing on my helmet would be actually useful, or just awkward.
- I will eventually learn what to wear in terms of a jacket - this morning I was cold at the beginning and warm at the end.
- Having my gears working smoothly would be a great help. I don't want to have to spend 30 seconds searching for first gear while fighting up a steep hill. Did an adjustment and it helped, but there's clearly more fussing to be done.
- I want a rack so I don't have to carry my stuff in a backpack or messenger bag.
- I wish my face didn't turn bright red at any sign of exertion.
- Cycling 7 miles in two halves is no excuse for eating as many cookies as I've had today.
I've successfully come up with an excuse for driving tomorrow (dry cleaner's re: wedding dress) but I'm optimistic about wanting to try again on Friday.