3 Hooker Morning - The First 300 Miles
I've been riding my Yokota road bike ($50 Craigslist score) for a little while now. I ride it to work once or twice a week lately. I've put over 300 miles on it since I got a computer for it to track my miles. It's still in pretty much the original condition that I bought it in. I have replaced the tubes, tires, brake lines and levers, replaced the bar tape, added a rack and lubed up most of the bearings and chain. I had to scuff up the brake pads to get them to grip well, and I have had to true the wheels about 5 times in those 300 miles. I've had to lube the chain 3 times. I rode with new lube over the old lube for the first 100 miles before soaking it in degreaser and starting over with fresh lube.
The Yokota has been ridden many more times than the Schwinn fixed gear bike, mainly because I've gotten really used to having a bike rack with pannier bag. The fixie doesn't yet have a rack, but I've ordered one for it. The pannier bag I've been using is starting to show signs of wear and is falling apart after only 15o miles or so. My route to work is filled with rough roads. about 1/3 of it is on cracked up asphalt with glass and gravel in my path. I'm glad I paid the extra few $$ for the kevlar tires, as I have had only 1 flat tire. The strong CrMo steel frame has held it's own pretty well.
All of this brings me to Today:
In all my time of riding this year, I've never seen a prostitute while riding to or from work until this past week. Last Wednesday, I saw my first. She was standing outside of a closed blue collar office bldg down the street from Baby Dolls with a car in the lot in front of her. This was on the way home. Friday, I saw one in the morning on the way to work. She caught me at a slow crossing and even asked if I had change for a $20. I declined and went on my way, not really disturbed or anything. I just thought it was odd that a hooker would be talking to a guy on a bike...at 8am, no less. These first two were black women.
Today was a very odd experience. Also near N.W. Highway but much further West, I came across 3 caucasian hookers, all within a block or two of each other. The first looked like she might be homeless, the second was wearing a bright red prom dress with 4" pumps and hair worn up while the third one looked like white trash from the mid cities with those ugly bright colored gardening sandal things and the sluttiest thing she could find at Wal-Mart, which didn't really flatter her much. If I continue to see morning hookers, I'm going to become a hooker fashion critic. After passing by the one in the prom dress on the side walk, a tow truck stopped in the middle of NW Highway to talk to her. He stopped all traffic to do this, allowing me to safely make it across the otherwise constant stream of traffic.
I really enjoy my days when I ride to work. If I didn't do other things some evenings, I'd ride more often. The only thing that sucks is having to get up at 6:30am to make it to work safely by 9. If I completely haul ass and don't really shower at work, I can make it in an hour, but if I'm not just about ready to leave by 7:30, I usually don't even try. The actual ride to work takes 40 minutes most days. It takes 50-55 minutes to come home (uphill, tired, South winds, etc). I can cool down, shower and change in no less than 15 minutes. If I rush it, I end up putting clothing on a body that's still pumping out sweat and I soak my clothes. All in all, I just about have the process down.
The Yokota has been ridden many more times than the Schwinn fixed gear bike, mainly because I've gotten really used to having a bike rack with pannier bag. The fixie doesn't yet have a rack, but I've ordered one for it. The pannier bag I've been using is starting to show signs of wear and is falling apart after only 15o miles or so. My route to work is filled with rough roads. about 1/3 of it is on cracked up asphalt with glass and gravel in my path. I'm glad I paid the extra few $$ for the kevlar tires, as I have had only 1 flat tire. The strong CrMo steel frame has held it's own pretty well.
All of this brings me to Today:
In all my time of riding this year, I've never seen a prostitute while riding to or from work until this past week. Last Wednesday, I saw my first. She was standing outside of a closed blue collar office bldg down the street from Baby Dolls with a car in the lot in front of her. This was on the way home. Friday, I saw one in the morning on the way to work. She caught me at a slow crossing and even asked if I had change for a $20. I declined and went on my way, not really disturbed or anything. I just thought it was odd that a hooker would be talking to a guy on a bike...at 8am, no less. These first two were black women.
Today was a very odd experience. Also near N.W. Highway but much further West, I came across 3 caucasian hookers, all within a block or two of each other. The first looked like she might be homeless, the second was wearing a bright red prom dress with 4" pumps and hair worn up while the third one looked like white trash from the mid cities with those ugly bright colored gardening sandal things and the sluttiest thing she could find at Wal-Mart, which didn't really flatter her much. If I continue to see morning hookers, I'm going to become a hooker fashion critic. After passing by the one in the prom dress on the side walk, a tow truck stopped in the middle of NW Highway to talk to her. He stopped all traffic to do this, allowing me to safely make it across the otherwise constant stream of traffic.
I really enjoy my days when I ride to work. If I didn't do other things some evenings, I'd ride more often. The only thing that sucks is having to get up at 6:30am to make it to work safely by 9. If I completely haul ass and don't really shower at work, I can make it in an hour, but if I'm not just about ready to leave by 7:30, I usually don't even try. The actual ride to work takes 40 minutes most days. It takes 50-55 minutes to come home (uphill, tired, South winds, etc). I can cool down, shower and change in no less than 15 minutes. If I rush it, I end up putting clothing on a body that's still pumping out sweat and I soak my clothes. All in all, I just about have the process down.