My first day of riding my bike to work was more of an adventure in preparation and planning than travel.
I ran around the house like someone who just found out they had to catch a plane in a half an hour. I had to find the clothes to wear while riding and I had to pack my work clothes in my backpack, plus my work shoes. I wanted to pack up a lunch, after all I was not going to use this as an excuse to eat a lot of carbs since the idea was to save money by not giving in to the oil companies rip off gas prices. I found a few extra tools; a pair of pliers, a wrench, and a screwdriver just in case I needed to fix something on the way and tossed them in my backpack. A wind breaker was a good idea since the weather was bad. I found an old bar of deodorant under the sink and tossed it in the backpack. I stuffed in a couple of plastic bags since you never know when you may need a plastic bag. Once I had my backpack bloated beyond capacity I crammed it into the milk crate attached to the back of my bicycle. After about a half an hour I got it all together and was ready to hit the road.
I time budgeted one hour and ten minutes to complete my ride and change in the employee's bathroom. I left on time and rode into the coldest April 23rd in anybody's memory. My hands were turning strange colors in the icy wind. Rain spattered on my helmet and ran down my glasses. The rain let up just to give me hope so it could crush my hopes as I was nearing work by drenching me; which was kind of welcome since I was working up a sweat as I stood on the pedals to crank my way up the last hill to work.
I got to work with twenty minutes to spare. It was plenty of time to clean up and clock in.
I ran around the house like someone who just found out they had to catch a plane in a half an hour. I had to find the clothes to wear while riding and I had to pack my work clothes in my backpack, plus my work shoes. I wanted to pack up a lunch, after all I was not going to use this as an excuse to eat a lot of carbs since the idea was to save money by not giving in to the oil companies rip off gas prices. I found a few extra tools; a pair of pliers, a wrench, and a screwdriver just in case I needed to fix something on the way and tossed them in my backpack. A wind breaker was a good idea since the weather was bad. I found an old bar of deodorant under the sink and tossed it in the backpack. I stuffed in a couple of plastic bags since you never know when you may need a plastic bag. Once I had my backpack bloated beyond capacity I crammed it into the milk crate attached to the back of my bicycle. After about a half an hour I got it all together and was ready to hit the road.
I time budgeted one hour and ten minutes to complete my ride and change in the employee's bathroom. I left on time and rode into the coldest April 23rd in anybody's memory. My hands were turning strange colors in the icy wind. Rain spattered on my helmet and ran down my glasses. The rain let up just to give me hope so it could crush my hopes as I was nearing work by drenching me; which was kind of welcome since I was working up a sweat as I stood on the pedals to crank my way up the last hill to work.
I got to work with twenty minutes to spare. It was plenty of time to clean up and clock in.
